Subjective tinnitus and its association with use of ear phones among students of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The ear can be damaged by excessive noise levels. Noise can arise from variety of occupational/recreational sources causing tinnitus, hearing loss and hyperacusis. The use of different types of ear phones for entertainment has become very common/fashionable among our youths. This research aims to determine the prevalence of use of ear phones for entertainment and the prevalence of subjective tinnitus in students in an urban university setting; and the relationship between the two. This is a descriptive, cross sectional study of students of the college of medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria from January to April 2012. A total of 388 willing participants (203 males, 185 females) were recruited by stratified random sampling from the 14 student hostel blocks. A self administered questionnaire was used. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0.1. The prevalence of earphone use among the students and subjective tinnitus was 95.6% and 20.6% respectively. More than 90% of the ear phone users had duration of ear phone use of duration of 3 to 6 years.