Hearing Health and Listening Habits of High School Students and Parent Perspectives in East Tennessee
Nicole Richart, B.S., Marcy K Hite, Au.D., Ph.D., and Shannon Bramlette, Au.D., Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, College of Clinical and Rehabilitative and Health Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.
Childhood noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a serious health concern with increasing prevalence. Previous studies have recommended including hearing conservation programs in schools, yet it is often missing from curriculum. Several studies have been conducted with high school students to determine listening habits and preconceived ideas of NIHL and hearing conservation, focusing on personal listening devices. Overall, those results suggest that most high school students are unaware of the dangers of noise exposure to auditory health, both in the short- and long term. The purpose of this study was to adapt previously developed surveys for use with East Tennessee high school students and their parents to identify sources of childhood noise exposure in addition to personal listening devices and to assess the level of hearing conservation education, if any, students have previously received. The results would also be used to determine if further hearing conservation education would be beneficial for this population. This study is unique in that both the student’s and the student’s parent’s perspectives were assessed. Students were asked to answer questions regarding types of noise exposure, duration of exposure, signs of early hearing loss, and use of hearing protection when in high noise exposure environments. The parent survey asked the parent of the child to assess these same areas as they believe their child experiences and/or behaves. Data would have been compared between the student and their parent’s responses to evaluate differences between student’s self-assessment and their parent’s assessment of their child’s listening habits and knowledge of hearing conservation. Data analysis would have been completed both within and between groups, looking for overall attitudes held within the student and parent populations as well as evaluating the differences between student and parent attitudes. It was expected that students would under-report their noise exposure per week, parents would over-report their child’s noise exposure, and both groups would report having little knowledge relating to hearing conservation. Overall, we would expect the results to show there is an increased need for hearing conservation education in schools. One East Tennessee high school agreed to participate, however after multiple reminders there were no surveys completed by students or parents, most likely due to COVID-19. Efforts to recruit other area schools to participate were unsuccessful. The necessity for this study still remains, and so continuation of recruitment and data collection would be ideal. Future efforts to improve recruitment outcomes could include scheduling an in-person or virtual meeting with high school administration to discuss the study to better facilitate participation. Additionally, the parent consent and survey distribution process could be streamlined to encourage a higher rate of participation in the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1723 |
| Date | 18 March 2021 |
| Creators | Richart, Nicole, Hite, Marcy, Bramlette, Shannon |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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