Headphone/Earphone Usage Practices and its Health Effects among College goingStudents: A Cross-Sectional Study from South India

Introduction: Noise induced hearing loss is one of the most common public health problems occurring due to use of headsets. The usage of earphone/ headphone has been increasingly used in the recent times due to online learning. To determine the usage practices of headphone/earphone and associatedObjective: effects among college students of Tamil Nadu. A cross-sectional study was conducted amongMethod: college students in Tamil Nadu from January to February 2022. Snowball sampling technique was used, and 640 students respondedto a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire circulated through online platform. Results: Out of 640 students, 57.1% were female students, 71.5% students used earphones for less than 5 hours, 32.5% students cleaned earphone daily, 46.6% didn’t share their earphone, whereas 83.1% of students experienced at least one symptom or sign on using earphone. Due to online learning,Conclusion: earphone usage and its effects was increased among students in our study, so awareness about rational use of earphones is much needed among the younger generations

Influência do tipo de transdutor na deficiência auditiva de grau profundo / Influence of the type of transducer in profound hearing loss

TEMA: indivíduos com deficiência auditiva de grau profundo podem apresentar respostas por vibração com os fones supra-aurais devido a grande área do crânio exposta à vibração nestes transdutores. OBJETIVO: verificar a influência do tipo de transdutor na obtenção dos limiares auditivos por via aérea em indivíduos com deficiência auditiva neurossensorial de grau profundo. MÉTODO: 50 indivíduos, com idades variando de 16 a 55 anos, foram submetidos a anamnese, meatoscopia, e posteriormente, a audiometria tonal liminar e limiar de detecção de voz (LDV). As audiometrias tonal e vocal foram realizadas tanto com fones supra-aurais TDH-39 quanto com os fones de inserção ER-3A. RESULTADOS: nas audiometrias tonal e vocal, notamos que, com o fone de inserção, foram obtidos limiares auditivos mais elevados do que os obtidos com o fone supra-aural, com significância estatística nas freqüências de 250Hz e 1000Hz. Ao observarmos a diferença entre os resultados obtidos com o transdutor TDH-39 e o ER-3A em cada orelha separadamente, notamos que a diferença foi maior na orelha direita com significância estatística somente na freqüência de 250 Hz. Em relação ao sexo, notamos que as diferenças entre os transdutores foram maiores no sexo masculino com significância estatística na freqüência de 250 Hz. No entanto, no LDV, a diferença maior foi encontrada no sexo feminino. CONCLUSÃO: deficientes auditivos neurossensorias de grau profundo bilateral apresentam limiares de audibilidade mais elevados (piores) com os fones de inserção do que com os fones supra-aurais nas freqüências baixas, evidenciando a existência das respostas por vibração com os fones supra-aurais.

BACKGROUND: individuals with profound hearing loss may present vibrotactile responses when tested with supra-aural earphones due to the large skull area exposed to vibration in these transducers. AIM: to verify the influence of the type of transducer when assessing air conducted pure tone thresholds in individuals with profound sensorineural hearing loss. METHOD: 50 individuals, ranging in age from 16 to 55 years, were submitted to a clinical history questionnaire, meatoscopy, and pure tone and speech audiometry, using both TDH-39 supra-aural earphones and ER-3A insert earphones. RESULTS: in both pure tone and speech testing, thresholds were higher when obtained using insert earphones, with statistical significant differences for 250Hz and 1000Hz. Considering right and left ear testing with the different transducers, this difference was greater for the right ear, with statistical significant differences only for 250 Hz. Regarding gender, it was observed that the difference between the transducers was greater in males, with statistical significant differences for 250 Hz. However, in the SDT (Speech Detection Threshold), the greatest difference was found in females. CONCLUSION: people with bilateral sensorineural profound hearing loss presented higher (worse) thresholds with insert earphones (ER-3A) than with supra aural earphones (TDH-39) for low frequencies (250Hz and 1000Hz), confirming the existence of vibrotactile responses with supra aural earphones.

Avaliação da exposição de operadores de teleatendimento a ruído / Telemarketing operators noise exposure assessment

Existe um crescimento elevado da oferta de produtos e serviços das empresas de teleatendimento. Porém, os operadores usuários de fones de ouvido mostram- se afetados pela exposição a ruído, podendo estar sujeitos à perda auditiva permanente e irreversível devido à exposição acima dos limites permissíveis.Os métodos tradicionais de medição da exposição a ruído não são adequados quando a fonte sonora é instalada diretamente sobre o sistema auditivo externo (orelha) através do uso de fones. Neste trabalho, a norma ISO 11904 é usada para avaliar a exposição a ruído em operadores de teleatendimento, considerando duas técnicas: cabeça artificial padronizada e microfone em ouvido real. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que os dois métodos aplicados são eficientes e efetivos, podendo contribuir na avaliação apropriada da exposição a ruído em usuários de fones de ouvido de teleatendimento.

There is a fast expansion in the number of products and services offered by telemarketing companies. However, operators using earphones showed to be affected and could have been subjected to permanent and irreversible auditory loss due to exposure above the permitted levels. The traditional methods for measuring noise exposure have not proved to be efficient when the sound source (earphones) is placed directly on the external auditory system (ears). In this study ISO 11904 was used as a standard to evaluate telemarketing operators exposure to noise. Two technical approaches were taken into consideration: a standardized artificial head and a microphone placed at operators ear. Final results demonstrated that both techniques are efficient and effective, and can contribute to evaluating adequately the earphone users exposure to noise in telemarketing.