The Effects of Short-Term and Long-term Hearing Changes on Music Exposure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Sunghwa You,Tae Hoon Kong,Woojae Han

doi:10.3390/ijerph17062091

Abstract

The present study explores the scientific evidence on whether music exposure temporarily or permanently affects hearing sensitivity in young adults. Six electronic databases were searched using related keywords for the four categories of personal listening devices, listening habits, hearing outcomes, and age. The Hedges’ g and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. A Higgins I2 was also used to check for heterogeneity. To test for publication bias, funnel plots were drawn using Egger’s regression. Based on the inclusion criteria, 16 studies were divided into two groups to identify short-term hearing changes (n = 7) and long-term hearing changes (n = 9). In the short term, there was no significant immediate change in the thresholds or amplitudes after the music exposure, although pure-tone thresholds (PTAs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) did show the highest effect size (−0.344, CI −0.727 to 0.038) and (0.124, CI −0.047 to 0.296) at 4 kHz. On the other hand, for long-term hearing changes, the PTA provided the highest effect size at 6 kHz (−0.525, CI −0.897 to −0.154) and 8 kHz (–0.486, CI −0.819 to −0.152), while also implying that habitual and repeated personal listening device (PLD) usage can act on some significant hearing changes in audiological tests. We conclude that the use of a PLD produces a few temporary hearing changes at 4 kHz after its use but that the changes are then reversed. However, it is important to note heavy PLD users’ experience regarding permanent changes in their hearing thresholds at high frequencies, and the public should be educated on this issue.

Highlights

Excessive noise exposure, which usually causes damage to the ear’s hair cells, is considered a major cause of hearing disorders worldwide [1]
No significant differences were found at pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) for either group
PTA and preferred listening levels (PLLs), and a negative correlation exists between DPOAEs and PLLs

Summary

Introduction

Excessive noise exposure, which usually causes damage to the ear’s hair cells, is considered a major cause of hearing disorders worldwide [1]. Many contemporary researchers have become concerned about the hearing loss induced by listening to music on personal listening devices (PLDs) in public [2,3]. PLDs have become increasingly popular over the last two decades, and their form has changed from a portable CD player, MP3 player, or iPod [4] to a mobile phone (or smartphone) with a free MP3 player function [5]. With their rapid development, PLDs allow users to listen to high-quality music for. Public Health 2020, 17, 2091; doi:10.3390/ijerph17062091 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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Conclusion