Encouraging Hearing Loss Prevention in Music Listeners Using Personalized Technology: Questionnaire Study

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Public Health
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a preventable condition affecting millions.
• Current personal listening devices lack effective tools for users to assess and prevent NIHL risk.
• Listeners often rely on estimations rather than data for hearing loss prevention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the perceived usefulness of a hypothetical device for NIHL prevention.
• To identify the most effective methods for encouraging NIHL prevention through risk notifications.
• To compare the efficacy of auditory, external visual, and visual risk notification types.

Main Methods:

• An open, web-based survey was distributed via Amazon Mechanical Turk and Reddit.
• The survey assessed self-reported NIHL awareness, willingness to reduce audio volume, and notification type preference.
• Data were collected from 116 respondents between July 13-17, 2020.

Main Results:

• Despite high perceived risk (82.8%), over half (51.7%) took no preventative action.
• Auditory notifications were found to be significantly more effective (P=.03) in encouraging prevention (62% likelihood) compared to visual types (50% likelihood).
• A majority (69%) were willing to use risk notifications and adjust audio volume.

Conclusions:

• A hypothetical device offering accurate data for NIHL prevention is perceived as useful.
• Auditory notifications appear to be the most effective method for promoting NIHL prevention.
• Further research is needed to optimize the implementation of NIHL prevention technologies.