Post-exposure effect of music through personal listening device (PLD) on speech perception in noise test in young adults

Introduction: Tinnitus is often perceived temporarily after noise exposure, usually disappearing within a few hours. However, a significant number of young people perceive permanent tinnitus which is the most frequent symptom following exposure to noise via PLDs. Objective: To evaluate the effect of music exposure through (PLD) with and without tinnitus on results of EHFA, TEOAEs, ABR and SPIN tests in normal hearing young adults. Patients and Methods: Sixty normal hearing young adults were included in this study, fifteen as a control group and forty-five PLDs users as study group, the study group were subdivided according to the presence of tinnitus into two subgroups. All subjects were submitted to basic audiological evaluation (pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and immittancemetry), Extended high frequency audiometry (EHFA), transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), auditory brainstem response (ABR) and speech perception in noise (SPIN) test. Results: There were statistically significant differences in extended high frequency audiometry (HFA) at different frequencies among study and control groups. There were statistically significant differences in transient evoked otoacoustic emission test (TEOAEs) response among control and study groups. There were no statistically significant differences in absolute and inter-peak latencies of low and high repetition rate ABR among control and studied groups. There were statistically significant differences in speech perception in noise test (SPIN) among the control and study groups. Conclusion: : exposure to recreational noise due to excessive PLDs usage cause elevated EHFA thresholds, decreased TEOAEs amplitudes and decreased SPIN scores despite normal conventional PTA thresholds.