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SEMINAR: Hearing risk related to excessive music exposure in portable listening device users

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Today's date is Friday, March 29, 2024
Hearing risk related to excessive music exposure in portable listening device users : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series Other events...
The Seminar: In recent years, the usage of personal listening devices (PLD) such as mp3 players and iPods has become increasingly popular, particularly among teenagers and young adults. While experts agree that hearing risk related to inappropriate use of these devices exists, the extent of hearing damage in these users is still unclear. We have investigated the listening habits, amount of sound exposure from PLDs and the hearing status of two high-risk groups (high school students and university students). Although about 5% of the listeners were exposed to harmful sound levels, we failed to detect any clear cases of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). However, hearing thresholds of PLD users at several test frequencies were positively correlated with their total music exposure. In addition, compared with non-users, frequent PLD users showed evidence of subtle cochlear outer hair cell damage and poorer extended high-frequency hearing thresholds. These results indicate the presence of an early stage of hearing damage in high-risk PLD users. Considering the fact that hundreds of millions of PLDs are sold worldwide, even if a small percentage of users were to listen at unsafe levels, this would potentially put millions at risk of NIHL and pose a significant public health issue. As NIHL is a permanent disability, preventive steps should be taken to reduce possible hearing impairment associated with excessive sound exposure from PLDs.

The Speaker: Dr Kumar Seluakumaran is a senior lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur where he has been a faculty member since 2007. He completed his undergraduate MBBS degree in Malaysia and his Ph.D. at the University of Western Australia. His research interests lie in the area of control of auditory efferents, detection of auditory signals in background noise and tinnitus. In recent years, he has been also studying the hearing effects related to non-occupational noise exposure in adolescents and young adults. He is presently in Perth for 6 month as a visiting research fellow at the school of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, UWA.
Speaker(s) Dr Kumar Seluakumaran, Senior Lecturer, Department of Physiology University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur & Visiting Research Fellow, School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology, UWA
Location Room 1.81, Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Building North
Contact Debbie Hull <[email protected]> : 6488 3313
Start Tue, 28 May 2013 13:00
End Tue, 28 May 2013 14:00
Submitted by Debbie Hull <[email protected]>
Last Updated Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:58
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