A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida has found that up to one-quarter of college students who were tested during the study suffered from hearing loss.
By Cheryl Tanita, Au.D.
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida has found that up to one-quarter of college students who were tested during the study suffered from hearing loss. Although the study was small, the researchers were somewhat alarmed by their findings.
"You would expect normal hearing in that population," lead researcher Colleen Le Prell, an associate professor in the department of speech, language and hearing sciences, said in a university news release on the study. "The criteria for normal hearing we used for the study were, we thought, extremely liberal criteria."
The study participants included 56 students who were asked to assess their own hearing, and then underwent hearing tests. One-quarter of the students who believed they had normal hearing did not. In fact, those students had 15 decibels or more of hearing loss at one or more test frequencies. While hearing loss at that level does not necessitate a hearing aid, the students' ability to learn could be affected. Among these students, 7 percent had 25 decibels or more of hearing loss, which is clinically diagnosed as mild hearing loss. The students' hearing loss occurred in the range of frequencies important for speech discrimination, as well as in higher frequencies.
It has long been suspected that increased rates of hearing loss in young adults may be attributed to the widespread use of personal music players. This study did find that the highest levels of high-frequency hearing loss were in male students who said they used personal music players.
The study was published recently in a special supplemental issue of the International Journal of Audiology.
Cheryl Tanita is an audiologist and staff member of Shohet Ear Associates.