personal listening devices; pure‑tone audiometry; university students; leisure noise exposure

Introduction: The World Health Organization estimates that over 5% of the world’s population hasdisabling hearing loss that impacts quality of life. Nearly 50% of people aged 12–35 years in middleandhigh-income countries are exposed to unsafe noise levels from personal audio devices.Aim: The aim was to measure and compare hearing thresholds in young adults in relation to noiseexposure from personal audio devices.Method: The study included Czech students from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ostravaand Slovak students from Comenius University in Bratislava. Inclusion criteria were age 19–30 yearsand subjectively normal hearing. Individuals with acute conditions affecting hearing, diagnosed hearingimpairment, or asymmetric hearing loss were excluded. Participants completed an online questionnairefocusing on leisure-time noise exposure and lifestyle factors. Hearing thresholds were assessed usingpure-tone audiometry (frequency range 125–8,000 Hz). Data were processed using Microsoft Excel andStata v.17 at a 5% significance level.Results: The sample consisted of 409 respondents (49.6% Czech students), with a mean age of 20.6years (SD = 1.6) and a predominance of women (67.7%). Personal listening devices were the mainsource of leisure noise among university students, used by 95.8% of respondents. Most participants(81.9%) had no maximum volume limit set on their devices when listening through headphones.Participants who used higher volume levels showed higher hearing thresholds at certain frequencies.Slovak students preferred higher volume levels than Czech students (p = 0.001), and men spent moretime listening than women (p<0.001).Conclusion: Personal listening devices represent a major source of leisure noise in young adults, andlong-term exposure to high volumes may increase the risk of early changes in hearing thresholds.

Introduction: The World Health Organization estimates that over 5% of the world’s population hasdisabling hearing loss that impacts quality of life. Nearly 50% of people aged 12–35 years in middleandhigh-income countries are exposed to unsafe noise levels from personal audio devices.Aim: The aim was to measure and compare hearing thresholds in young adults in relation to noiseexposure from personal audio devices.Method: The study included Czech students from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ostravaand Slovak students from Comenius University in Bratislava. Inclusion criteria were age 19–30 yearsand subjectively normal hearing. Individuals with acute conditions affecting hearing, diagnosed hearingimpairment, or asymmetric hearing loss were excluded. Participants completed an online questionnairefocusing on leisure-time noise exposure and lifestyle factors. Hearing thresholds were assessed usingpure-tone audiometry (frequency range 125–8,000 Hz). Data were processed using Microsoft Excel andStata v.17 at a 5% significance level.Results: The sample consisted of 409 respondents (49.6% Czech students), with a mean age of 20.6years (SD = 1.6) and a predominance of women (67.7%). Personal listening devices were the mainsource of leisure noise among university students, used by 95.8% of respondents. Most participants(81.9%) had no maximum volume limit set on their devices when listening through headphones.Participants who used higher volume levels showed higher hearing thresholds at certain frequencies.Slovak students preferred higher volume levels than Czech students (p = 0.001), and men spent moretime listening than women (p<0.001).Conclusion: Personal listening devices represent a major source of leisure noise in young adults, andlong-term exposure to high volumes may increase the risk of early changes in hearing thresholds.