Effect of exposure to recreational noise on hearing threshold levels in medical students

Introduction: Noise exposure may cause a kind of sensorineural hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is known as an occupational disease, but the effect of exposure to recreational noise is not completely understood. This study aimed to assess the impact of exposure to recreational noise on hearing status. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 304 medical students. The participants were randomly selected from medical students in years 4 to 6 and were divided into two groups regarding their exposure to recreational noise. Conventional audiometry was done for all participants, and hearing thresholds at different frequencies were compared between two groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS (ver. 20) using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney U, and chi-square tests. Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.18±3.14 years. In total, 74.7% of participants were exposed to recreational noise. The mean duration of noise exposure was 4.67±2.91 years. The most frequent exposure was to music via a headphone or hands-free (27.3%). All hearing thresholds in both groups were within the normal range and there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding hearing thresholds. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that any exposure type of recreational noise (music, eulogy, or lecture) in the young population did not affect hearing thresholds.