Hearing conservation campaigns for adolescents: visibility and effects reported by university students
Invited paper
Ghent University
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 08:40 - 09:00
0.4 Brussels (189)
Abstract:
Concern is growing that the prolonged exposure to various sources of
electronically amplified music increases the risk of leisure time noise-
induced hearing loss (NIHL). In this regard, (young) adolescents are an
especially vulnerable group because they often participate in leisure time
activities where music is played at higher amplitude levels. To prevent
NIHL
in this age group, several Flemish organizations and legal institutions have
conducted campaigns to raise awareness and to promote adequate hearing
conservation behaviour. These campaigns are communicated through the regular
media such as television and radio, but also via social network sites.
However, teenagers and young adolescents might not be the most easy group to
persuade of safe and sensible behaviour, especially when this applies to
positively appreciated activities involving music.
The current study aims to investigate the benefits of seven recent hearing
conservation campaigns by focusing on three outcome parameters, (1) the
visibility of the campaigns among adolescents, (2) the factional knowledge
of
adolescents in preventing NIHL, and (3) their reported behaviour with
respect
to hearing conservation. To address these questions, a comprehensive written
survey has been conducted at the start of the academical year among 477
Flemish university students between 18 and 20 years old. To include
differences in backgrounds and personal interest, the participants come from
three different disciplines, namely social, natural, and medical sciences.
The first results show that 60.6 % of the participants had already heard of
at
least one hearing conservation campaign. In this group, more hearing
problems
are reported together with generally more concern about hearing loss. The
effect of familiarity with hearing conservation campaigns on factual
knowledge
is not very distinct. By contrast, familiarity with campaigns has a
significantly positive effect on the reported use of personal hearing
protection.