Hearing Thresholds, Tinnitus, and Headphone Listening Habits in Nine-Year-Old Children
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International Journal of Audiology ISSN: 1499-2027 (Print) 1708-8186 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iija20 Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old children Sara Båsjö, Claes Möller, Stephen Widén, Göran Jutengren & Kim Kähäri To cite this article: Sara Båsjö, Claes Möller, Stephen Widén, Göran Jutengren & Kim Kähäri (2016) Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old children, International Journal of Audiology, 55:10, 587-596, DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1190871 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2016.1190871 © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Published online: 22 Jun 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 456 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=iija20 Download by: [Linköping University Library] Date: 07 November 2016, At: 05:25 International Journal of Audiology 2016; 55: 587–596 Original Article Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old children Sara Ba˚sjo¨1,2, Claes Mo¨ller1, Stephen Wide´n1,Go¨ran Jutengren3 & Kim Ka¨ha¨ri4 1Audiological Research Centre, School of Health and Medical Sciences / Swedish Institute for Disability Research, O¨ rebro University Hospital, O¨ rebro University, O¨ rebro, Sweden, 2HEAD Graduate School, Linko¨ping University, Linko¨ping, Sweden, 3School of Health Sciences, University of Bora˚s, Bora˚s, Sweden, and 4Division of Audiology, Sahlgrens’ Academy at Go¨teborg University, Go¨teborg, Sweden ABSTRACT Objective: Investigate hearing function and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old Swedish children. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted and included otoscopy, tympanometry, pure-tone audiometry, and spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE). A questionnaire was used to evaluate headphone listening habits, tinnitus, and hyperacusis. Study sample: A total of 415 children aged nine years. Results: The prevalence of a hearing threshold 20 dB HL at one or several frequencies was 53%, and the hearing thresholds at 6 and 8 kHz were higher than those at the low and mid frequencies. SOAEs were observed in 35% of the children, and the prevalence of tinnitus was 5.3%. No significant relationship between SOAE and tinnitus was found. Pure-tone audiometry showed poorer hearing thresholds in children with tinnitus and in children who regularly listened with headphones. Conclusion: The present study of hearing, listening habits, and tinnitus in nine-year old children is, to our knowledge, the largest study so far. The main findings were that hearing thresholds in the right ear were poorer in children who used headphones than in children not using them, which could be interpreted as headphone listening may have negative consequences to children’s hearing. Children with tinnitus showed poorer hearing thresholds compared to children without tinnitus. Key Words: Children, hearing loss, hearing threshold, listening habits, portable music players, SOAE, tinnitus, tympanometry Introduction thresholds for adolescents and young adults who use headphones compared to those who do not use headphones (Kim et al, 2009; Listening to music with portable music players is a common leisure Kumar et al, 2009; Peng et al, 2007). Only a few studies have activity in adolescents (Kim et al, 2009). Research has shown that addressed listening habits with headphones and hearing function in adolescents and young adults (17–23 years) listen for 1.5 hours per adolescents, and to our knowledge, no such studies of nine-year-old day on average (ranging from 10 minutes to 4 hours) (Kumar et al, children have been published previously, (Peng et al, 2007) and 2009). Furthermore, 80% of 13- to 18-year-olds listen to music (Kim et al, 2009) concluded that long-term use of headphones in using headphones for 1–3 hours per day (Kim et al, 2009). Current adolescents can impair hearing function and that the prevalence of portable music player technology provides very good sound quality, hearing loss increased with increased years of use of portable music (Kumar et al, 2009) reported that the sound level used by players with headphones. No studies have investigated hearing adolescents aged 17–23 years was 73–79 dB A on average (ranging function and listening habits in nine-year-old children; therefore, from 40 to 93 dB A, depending on the device). The used sound level this area of study deserves exploration. Hearing thresholds in was not affected by whether the sound environment when listening children and adolescents vary between previous studies (Blandy & was silent or noisy. Hearing function is affected by both long- and Lutman, 2005; Haapaniemi, 1996; Marcoux et al, 2012). In a short-duration noise (Kujawa & Liberman, 2006). Studies on population of 131 ten-year-old children (Haapaniemi, 1996), listening to music with headphones have indicated poorer hearing reported that the best hearing thresholds ranged from 2.7 dB HL Correspondence: Sara Ba˚sjo¨, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, O¨ rebro University, SE-701 82 O¨ rebro, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 12 November 2015; revised 15 March 2016; accepted 13 May 2016) ISSN 1499-2027 print/ISSN 1708-8186 online ß 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non- commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1190871 588 S. Ba˚sjo¨ et al. Abbreviations do to protect against this exposure. It is also important to know the SOAE Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions current status of hearing function in children because hearing loss at TTS Temporary threshold shift young ages can have consequences in school in terms of learning difficulties, and because hearing ability deteriorates later in life. One conclusion from the above-mentioned research is that conflicting results have been found regarding the hearing function and listening habits of children and that there is a lack of at 0.25 kHz to 2.6 dB HL at 8 kHz (Blandy & Lutman, 2005) information for this specific age group. The aims of the study showed similar hearing thresholds in seven-year-olds (n ¼ 80), were to investigate the hearing function and headphone listening whereas (Marcoux et al, 2012) reported poorer hearing thresholds in habits and to analyse possible differences due to listening habits in a population of 217 children and adolescents aged 10–17 years nine-year-old Swedish children. (10 dB HL at 0.5 kHz to 8 dB HL at 8 kHz) (Shargorodsky et al, 2010) showed that the prevalence of hearing loss has increased since 1988 and that 19.5% of adolescents (12–19 years) had a pure- Materials and Methods tone average (PTA, 0.5, 1, 2 kHz) worse than 15 dB HL. Even minimal, monaural, or binaural sensorineural hearing loss has been Participants shown to have negative impacts on learning ability, language The study was performed in 21 schools located in rural and urban development, and performance in school (Jamieson et al, 2004; areas around the middle part of Sweden, and nine-year-old children Daud et al, 2010). were invited to participate. The invitations and informed consent Hearing disorders are not restricted to hearing loss; they also were sent to the caregivers together with two letters with involve tinnitus and hyperacusis. Research has shown that the information regarding the study, one for the caregivers and one prevalence of tinnitus increases with age (Wide´n & Erlandsson, for the children. Within each school, 50% of the children were 2004) reported an increase in tinnitus in adolescents 13–19 years randomly selected. The exclusion criteria were as follows: absence old. Previous research is inconsistent in terms of the prevalence of of informed consent, poor Swedish language knowledge (assessed tinnitus in children (age 9–19), for whom reported prevalences vary by the teacher), or the presence of a known cold, ventilation tubes, between 6.8% (Wide´n & Erlandsson, 2004) and 14% (Holgers & or tympanic membrane perforations. The number of included Juul, 2006). Thus, knowledge regarding the prevalence of tinnitus in children and the methods are presented in Table 1. nine-year-old children remains limited. Some children were excluded due to common colds etc. Children are exposed daily to sound in traffic, pre-school, (n ¼ 304). The vast majority of children performed all tests and school, and leisure activities; therefore, it is important to investigate the questionnaire (see Table 1). The study was approved by the how this exposure affects the hearing of children and what we can regional ethics board (Dnr: 2009/140). Table 1. Overview of children and methods. n = 720 children were invited to participate in the study n = 304 children were excluded (see text on p 4) n = 416 (204 boys and 212 girls) participated Pure tone audiometry Tympanometry Spontaneous Questionnaire Otoscopy otoacoustic emission (SOAE) n = 415 n = 408 n = 402 n = 416 n = 415 right ears n = 408 right ears n = 402 right ears n = 413 left ears n = 408 left ears n = 396 left ears Boys = 204 Girls= 212 Boys = 203 Boys =201 Boys = 197 Girls= 212 Girls= 207 Girls= 205 Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, listening habits in children 589 Measurements categorized the sound into one of three different categories: All tests employed were conducted according to ISO 8253-1:2010 buzzing, pure-tone, or roar. The audiologist also asked how often (ISO, 2010). The test procedures included otoscopy (in the case of the sound was experienced, and the occurrence was categorized as abnormalities, no further tests were conducted) and tympanometry seldom, 1–3 times/week, daily, or always/constant.