Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to screen the hearing thresholds of university students, determine their daily personal headphone usage durations, and evaluate their speech perception performance in noise.

Patients and Methods: Between January 2022 and january 2023, a total of 90 university students (20 males, 70 females; mean age: 22.13±2.50 years; range, 18 to 32 years) were enrolled in this study. Participants were divided into two groups based on their daily personal headphone usage duration: Group 1 (< 3 h/day, n = 43) and Group 2 (> 3 h/day, n = 47). Routine pure-tone (125-8000 Hz) and speech audiometry, high-frequency audiometry (9-20 kHz), and immittance measurements were performed. Speech-in-noise perception performance was also assessed. ANCOVA was used to control for age and sex, and Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple comparisons.

Results: No significant differences were found between the groups in routine hearing thresholds or speech-in-noise performance (p > 0.05). Regarding extended high-frequency thresholds, although Group 2 tended to have higher thresholds at 14, 16, and 18 kHz compared to Group 1, these differences did not reach statistical significance after adjusting for age, sex, and multiple comparisons (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that while prolonged headphone use shows a clinical trend toward elevated high-frequency thresholds, the results remain statistically non-significant in the adjusted models. Raising awareness about safe listening habits among young adults remains crucial for the long-term preservation of auditory health.

Citation: Kutlu S, Aydoğan Z, Baydan Aran M, Arslan M, Tokgöz Yılmaz S. Effects of using personal headphones on hearing: Example of faculty of health sciences students. Praxis Otorhinolaryngol 2026;14(2):97-103. https://doi. org/10.5606/kbbu.2026.15010.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

AI Disclosure
The authors declare that artificial intelligence (AI) tools were not used, or were used solely for language editing, and had no role in data analysis, interpretation, or the formulation of conclusions. All scientific content, data interpretation, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors further confirm that AI tools were not used to generate, fabricate, or ‘hallucinate’ references, and that all references have been carefully verified for accuracy.

S.K., M.A.: Conceived and developed the original idea for the study; S.K., M.A., S.T.Y..: The study design was established; S.T.Y.: Provided overall supervision and control of the research process; Z.A.: Data collection and processing were conducted; S.K., M.A.: Analysis and interpretation of the data were performed; M.B.A., Z.A., S.K.: The literature review and the initial writing of the article were carried out; S.T.Y.: Conducted the critical review of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

This study was supported by the Ankara University Scientific Research Projects Unit (Project No: 21B0242001).