Abstract
Working memory is a system that is responsible for transient holding and processing of new and already stored information. It also involves processing for reasoning, comprehension, learning and memory updating. Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers that are designed to be held in place close to a user’s ear. They are electroacoustic transducers which convert electrical signals to a corresponding sound in the user’s ear. Several studies have recently shown a link between cognitive abilities and response to hearing aid and signal processing in the brain. Therefore, the relationship between headphone usage among healthy subjects become pertinent. This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of headphone on working memory using N-back task. One hundred (100) participants (55 headphone users and 45 non-headphone user’s) within the age range of 18-31 years were assessed. Participants were instructed to keep in memory, a series of letters and say “target” whenever there was a repetition of letter with exactly one intervening letter and to remain silent when any other letter appeared. The results of this study showed that there was no statistically significant difference in working memory between headphone and non-headphone users with p>0.05. In conclusion, this study revealed headphone use has no effect on working memory of the participants subjected to N–back test.
Highlights
Working memory is a type of short-term memory which has a crucial cognitive function that allows storage of information across delay periods supporting ongoing and upcoming behaviors [1]
There are many studies that show working memory capacity is correlated with a wide range of brain functions and higher order cognitive skills such as attention task, resistance of being distracted, sustained attention, reading comprehension, reasoning, problem solving and fluid intelligence [5, 6]
We evaluated the effect of gender on prolonged use of headphone on working memory
Summary
Working memory is a type of short-term memory which has a crucial cognitive function that allows storage of information across delay periods supporting ongoing and upcoming behaviors [1]. In the last 20 years, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions have increased from 12.4 million to over 5.6 billion, involving about 70% of the global population Electromagnetic field radiations from mobile phones may cause adverse health problems such as headache, sleep disorders, impairment of memory, lack of concentration, dizziness, increased frequency of seizures in epileptic children, brain tumors and high blood pressure [7]. These electromagnetic field radiations are mostly mediated into auditory pathway via the headphones. The present study aimed at investigating the possible adverse effects use of headphones caused to working memory in long term mobile headphones users
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