Prevalence and global estimates of unsafe listening practices in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Introduction

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of unsafe listening practices from exposure to personal listening devices (PLDs) and loud entertainment venues in individuals aged 12–34 years, and to estimate the number of young people who could be at risk of hearing loss from unsafe listening worldwide.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of unsafe listening practices from PLDs and loud entertainment venues. We searched three databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021 that reported unsafe listening practices in individuals aged 12–34 years. Pooled prevalence estimates (95% CI) of exposed populations were calculated using random effects models or ascertained from the systematic review. The number of young people who could be at risk of hearing loss worldwide was estimated from the estimated global population aged 12–34 years, and best estimates of exposure to unsafe listening ascertained from this review.

Results

Thirty-three studies (corresponding to data from 35 records and 19 046 individuals) were included; 17 and 18 records focused on PLD use and loud entertainment venues, respectively. The pooled prevalence estimate of exposure to unsafe listening from PLDs was 23.81% (95% CI 18.99% to 29.42%). There was limited certainty (p>0.50) in our pooled prevalence estimate for loud entertainment venues. Thus, we fitted a model as a function of intensity thresholds and exposure duration to identify the prevalence estimate as 48.20%. The global estimated number of young people who could be at risk of hearing loss from exposure to unsafe listening practices ranged from 0.67 to 1.35 billion.

Conclusions

Unsafe listening practices are highly prevalent worldwide and may place over 1 billion young people at risk of hearing loss. There is an urgent need to prioritise policy focused on safe listening. The World Health Organization provides comprehensive materials to aid in policy development and implementation.

Related collections

Most cited references 73

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews

Matthew J L Page, Joanne E. Mckenzie, Patrick Bossuyt … (2022)

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, published in 2009, was designed to help systematic reviewers transparently report why the review was done, what the authors did, and what they found. Over the past decade, advances in systematic review methodology and terminology have necessitated an update to the guideline. The PRISMA 2020 statement replaces the 2009 statement and includes new reporting guidance that reflects advances in methods to identify, select, appraise, and synthesise studies. The structure and presentation of the items have been modified to facilitate implementation. In this article, we present the PRISMA 2020 27-item checklist, an expanded checklist that details reporting recommendations for each item, the PRISMA 2020 abstract checklist, and the revised flow diagrams for original and updated reviews.

0 comments Cited 3143 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Adding insult to injury: cochlear nerve degeneration after "temporary" noise-induced hearing loss.

S Kujawa, M Liberman (2009)

Overexposure to intense sound can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. Postexposure recovery of threshold sensitivity has been assumed to indicate reversal of damage to delicate mechano-sensory and neural structures of the inner ear and no persistent or delayed consequences for auditory function. Here, we show, using cochlear functional assays and confocal imaging of the inner ear in mouse, that acoustic overexposures causing moderate, but completely reversible, threshold elevation leave cochlear sensory cells intact, but cause acute loss of afferent nerve terminals and delayed degeneration of the cochlear nerve. Results suggest that noise-induced damage to the ear has progressive consequences that are considerably more widespread than are revealed by conventional threshold testing. This primary neurodegeneration should add to difficulties hearing in noisy environments, and could contribute to tinnitus, hyperacusis, and other perceptual anomalies commonly associated with inner ear damage.

0 comments Cited 389 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health

Mathias Basner, Wolfgang Babisch, Adrian Davis … (2014)

Noise is pervasive in everyday life and can cause both auditory and non-auditory health effects. Noise-induced hearing loss remains highly prevalent in occupational settings, and is increasingly caused by social noise exposure (eg, through personal music players). Our understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in noise-induced hair-cell and nerve damage has substantially increased, and preventive and therapeutic drugs will probably become available within 10 years. Evidence of the non-auditory effects of environmental noise exposure on public health is growing. Observational and experimental studies have shown that noise exposure leads to annoyance, disturbs sleep and causes daytime sleepiness, affects patient outcomes and staff performance in hospitals, increases the occurrence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and impairs cognitive performance in schoolchildren. In this Review, we stress the importance of adequate noise prevention and mitigation strategies for public health. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

0 comments Cited 355 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMJ Glob Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMJ Glob Health

Journal ID (hwp): bmjgh

Journal ID (publisher-id): bmjgh

Title: BMJ Global Health

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )

ISSN (Electronic): 2059-7908

Publication date Collection: 2022

Publication date (Electronic): 27 October 2022

Volume: 7

Issue: 11

Electronic Location Identifier: e010501

Affiliations

[1 ] departmentDepartment of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery , Medical University of South Carolina , Charleston, South Carolina, USA

[2 ] departmentClinical Sciences , Lund University , Lund, Sweden

[3 ] departmentCluster of Healthier Populations , World Health Organization , Geneva, Switzerland

[4 ] Octoma , Octoma, Mexico

[5 ] departmentDepartment of Noncommunicable Diseases , World Health Organization , Geneva, Switzerland

Author notes

[Correspondence to ] Dr Lauren K Dillard; dillalau@ 123456musc.edu

Author information

Lauren K Dillard http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8631-1341

Article

Publisher ID: bmjgh-2022-010501

DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010501

PMC ID: 9723884

PubMed ID: 36379592

SO-VID: 7bc28a65-064e-4990-8016-2ed33ae6b52e

License:

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

History

Date received : 23 August 2022

Date accepted : 04 October 2022

Custom metadata

special-feature unlocked

special-feature press-release

Keywords: health policy,prevention strategies,public health,ent diseases,systematic review

Data availability:

Keywords: health policy, prevention strategies, public health, ent diseases, systematic review