Amplified music with headphones and its implications on hearing health in teens

To analyze the habits and behavior of adolescents exposed to amplified music with headphones and its implications on their hearing health.

One hundred thirty-one high school students, aged 15 to 18 years were given a questionnaire containing closed questions regarding their habits and behavior related to personal stereos use. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study and used the Chi-square test.

It was shown that 79% of young people make use of portable music devices, 61.83% have a habit of using them often, 34.35% have long periods of exposure, and 37.40% use them at high volume. In terms of symptoms, present were: difficulty concentrating 63.36%; the need to ask people to repeat what was said 64.12%; the need to increase the TV volume 43.51%; tinnitus 38.93%, excitability 38.93%; and 36.64% of teens say they are somewhat worried about losing their hearing through the use of personal stereos. For the preventive aspects, 90.84% believe that noise is part of society, 80.92% find it important to reduce noise pollution, 51.91% would like to know the influence of the noise/pollution, but 74.81% would not like to participate in projects with questions about hearing health.

The youths in this study are making indiscriminate use of personal stereos with headphones, within a population at risk for hearing loss considering its habits. Hearing Health Promotion Programs are recommended for this population.