Nonoccupational noise and hearing capability of children and young adults

Abstract

There has been considerable literature over the past decade ascertaining a worsening of the hearing capability of young persons. It is supposed that this may be caused by some peculiarities of the modern way of living, that is, man-made noise (e.g., noisy hobbies). To get insight in some components of the real noise exposure of young people dosimetric measurements were performed in schools as well as in discotheques and as spectators of sports events (football matches and some indoor sports like basketball). For discotheques equivalent sound pressure levels of 95–105 dB(A) are typical; for indoor sports they are in many cases on the same order of magnitude. Persons frequently attending such events may get an exposure which is comparable with occupational noise exposure above the daily average of 85 dB. Furthermore, audiometric testings of children and young adults at the age of 14–25 years were performed. The high-frequency range (8–16 kHz) was taken into special consideration, since it is assumed to be important for the early detection of noise-induced hearing threshold shifts. Hearing thresholds together with the results of questionnaires are presented showing an increasing threshold shift with age already at young people, especially in the frequency region above 10 kHz.