Hearing Health Promotion and Safe Listening Behavior for Elementary School Children in Chiang Mai (A Pilot Study)
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Abstract
Background: Hearing health promotion and a safe listening behavior project should raise awareness of hearing loss prevention, change hearing behavior affecting hearing, and decrease the prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss. This study aims to 1) Observe hearing and listening behavior in the students, 2) Design the Safe-Listening intervention, and 3) Assess the effectiveness of the Safe-Listening intervention
Methods: This project composed of a prospective one-group pretest-posttest design study was conducted in Chiangmai Rajabhat University Demonstration School during the first semester of the year 2022. This project had two main activities: promotional activities and an educational program. The education covered three main topics: i) basic anatomy of ears, ii) common environmental noise level and noise-induced hearing loss, and iii) hearing protection. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed by before and after self-reported questionnaires. Hearing behaviors were evaluated by self-reported and proxy-reported questionnaires.
Results: Two hundred and twenty-eight parents and 200 students completed the questionnaires. Of parents, 28.6% reported a high degree of worry regarding their children’s hearing loss, 63.0% reported never allowing their children to be exposed to loud noise, and 59.6% reported never informing their children to use hearing protective devices. Of the students, 19.5% felt difficulty hearing, 50.0% did not know their hearing status, 30% did not want to use hearing protection devices, and 30.0% thought exposure to loud noise causes hearing loss. The mean score of student’s knowledge about hearing after the program was higher, but it was not statistically different.
Conclusion: Safe listening health promotion is important for protecting children from noise-induced hearing loss. Further studies in a larger population regarding cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of the intervention were suggested.
Keywords: personal listening devices, safe listening, noise-induced hearing loss, hearing health promotion
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