METHODS: The study included healthy volunteers aged 18-25 with no known ear disease or hearing loss. Participants completed a questionnaire, underwent otoscopic and tympanometric examinations, and determined preferred music volumes in an audiometry booth using calibrated music samples of their preferred genres. Hearing thresholds up to 16 kiloHertz (kHz) were measured. Daily music exposure for each participant was normalized to 8 h to calculate a time-weighted average of 8 h (TWA8). Total exposure (TE) was calculated by multiplying TWA8 by the number of years of music listening.
RESULTS: A total of 32.4% of participants had TWA8s above 65 dB. Their hearing thresholds at 125, 250, 500, and 16,000 Hz and the average of 125 Hz-8 kHz were significantly higher. Participants with TWA8s above 65 dB were also more prone to speaking loudly and experiencing communication difficulties on the phone. Those with a TE of more than 400 experienced significantly more speech discrimination difficulty in noisy environments and temporary hearing loss/tinnitus after exposure to loud music. Participants with a TE above 700 had worse thresholds at 4, 14, and 16 kHz frequencies, as well as 125-8000 Hz and 500-4000 Hz averages compared to those with a TE below 700.
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that recreational music with much lower exposure levels than the universally accepted TWA8 of 85 dB could negatively impact hearing in healthy young adults. Therefore, maintaining a maximum TWA8 of 65 dB is recommended.
方法:该研究包括年龄在18-25岁之间、无耳部疾病或听力损失的健康志愿者。参与者填写了一份问卷,进行了耳镜和鼓室检查,并使用其首选流派的校准音乐样本在测听室中确定首选音乐音量。测量高达16千赫(kHz)的听力阈值。将每个参与者的每日音乐暴露归一化为8小时,以计算8小时的时间加权平均值(TWA8)。总暴露量(TE)通过将TWA8乘以听音乐的年数来计算。
结果:总共32.4%的参与者的TWA8s在65dB以上。他们在125、250、500和16,000Hz以及平均125Hz-8kHz的听力阈值明显更高。TWA8s高于65dB的参与者也更容易大声说话并在电话中遇到沟通困难。TE超过400的人在嘈杂的环境中经历了明显更多的语音辨别困难,并且在暴露于嘈杂的音乐后出现了暂时性的听力损失/耳鸣。TE高于700的参与者在4、14和16kHz频率下的阈值更差,以及125-8000Hz和500-4000Hz的平均值,与TE低于700的平均值相比。
结论:这项研究提供了证据,表明与普遍接受的85dB的TWA8相比,娱乐音乐的暴露水平低得多,可能会对健康年轻人的听力产生负面影响。因此,建议保持65dB的最大TWA8。