Personal audio device use and hearing impairment among high school students in Beijing / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the use of personal audio devices and hearing impairment among high school students, so as to provide reference for the development of adolescent hearing health work.@*Methods@#The simple random sampling method was used to collect research data relating to 1 768 high school students. The situation of personal audio players, headphone and hearing damage were investigated by using a self designed questionnaire, so as to identify the related factors of hearing impairment which were analyzed statistically by multivariate Logistic regression.@*Results@#The use rate of PAP and earphones was 98.64% and 94.12 %, respectively, and the use rate of female students(99.68%, 96.42%) was higher than that of male students(97.43%, 91.43 %)( χ 2=16.69, 19.79, P <0.01). Hearing impairment accounted for 13.35%. The Logistic regression analysis showed that PAP service years ( OR =1.59, P <0.05) were related to hearing impairment. Gender ( OR =0.60), in ear earphones ( OR =1.38), earplug earphones ( OR =1.37), and quiet use >1 h ( OR =1.50) were independently influenced with symptoms of hearing impairment during/after earphone use( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#High usage rates of personal audio equipment among high school students lead to hearing impairment and related symptoms. Non essential use should be reduced.