PURPOSE: To characterize the hearing habits of personal stereo users, without hearing complaints and to correlate the hearing habits and the audiological findings of these adults. METHODS: Eighty-five adults (54 females and 31 males), aged between 18 and 34 years, without occupational noise exposure, and personal stereo users participated in this study. They answered a questionnaire about hearing habits and had their hearing tested at the Federal University of São Paulo. The procedures included: Pure Tone Audiometry; High-frequency Audiometry; Immitance measures; Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE) and Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE). RESULTS: Study participants have been exposed for more than two hours daily to music presented through headphones for over four years, usually when while commuting. Difficulty understanding in a noisy environment increases with environment noise and twenty-one subjects reported having tinnitus. The majority is worried about hearing health and believes that bad habits can damage their hearing. There was a 6 kHz notch in the audiometric which is characteristic of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). The longer the time (in years) of sound exposure, the greater the chance of TEOAE absence and incidence of tinnitus. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that, although individuals did not have hearing complaints, issues related to noise exposure were observed, such as tinnitus, stress and difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments.
Audiology; Preventive health services; Music; Hearing loss; Risk factor