Prevalence and Pattern of Using Headphones and Its Relationship with Hearing Loss among Students

Background: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most important public health problems. There is scant information about NIHL, the prevalence and using patterns of headphones and music player devices in Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and using patterns of earphones and investigate the relationship between earphone use and hearing loss in a sample of students from Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 890 students were randomly selected using a proportional cluster sampling method in April and May 2015. The students completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing the pattern of their earphone use and hearing loss. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the cut-off point for the questionnaire. Results: The results suggested that 60.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): 56.9 - 66.4) of the students reported a history of hearing loss and hearing impairment and 86.4% (95% CI: 84.0 - 88.5) of the participants reported using an earphone in the past. Most of the participants listened to music on their cell phones (81.7%) and 89.6% of them used headphones for listening to music. The results indicated that 51.3% of those who used earphones used earbud-style earphones, 42.2% used supra-aural earphones, and 6.5% used headphones. Students who used earphones, those who used earphones more frequently during the week, and those who used earphones for more years had higher hearing loss scores compared to other students. Conclusions: Students have a risky pattern of using personal listening devices. The higher hearing loss score among headphone users requires further attention in order to implement interventions to increase students’ awareness and attitude towards the use of headphones.