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Associations of Earphone Use with Tinnitus and Anxiety/Depression
Jay Hyug Choi1, Sung Su Park1, So Young Kim1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, CHA University College of Medicine, Korea.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the association of earphone use with audiologic and psychologic factors.
Materials And Methods:
Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012 data were collected for participants aged ≥12 years old with earphone use ≥1 hour/day. They were matched to a control group for age, sex, income, and education level. The relationship between earphone use and the hearing thresholds of pure-tone audiometry, tinnitus, and psychologic factors such as depression and anxiety, and other quality of life variables was analyzed using multiple logistic regression tests with complex sampling.
Results:
Among the participants, 22.9% (449/1955) of earphone users and 18.1% (355/1600) of control participants had tinnitus (P < 0.001). Earphone users showed 1.27-times higher odds for tinnitus (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09-1.50, P = 0.003). Moreover, 6.5% (128/1955) of earphone users and 5.0% (97/1600) of control participants had anxiety and depressive symptoms (P = 0.033). Earphone users showed 1.32-times higher odds for anxiety and depressive symptoms (95% CI = 1.14-1.52, P = 0.040). Nevertheless, the hearing thresholds were comparable between earphone users and control participants.
Conclusion:
Earphone use was associated with tinnitus and anxiety or depressive symptoms.
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