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EVALUATION OF HEALTH SCIENCES FACULTY STUDENTS' HABITS IN USING PERSONAL LISTENING DEVICES, KNOWLEDGE OF HEARING LOSS, AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS HEARING HEALTH PROTECTION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Dr. Bilgehan TEKİN DAL1, Nil Gizem EYREKKAYA1, Selda TAŞ1
1Gazi Üniversitesi, Odyoloji, Ankara, Türkiye Objective: This study surveyed the knowledge, experiences, attitudes, practices, and preferences of Health Sciences Faculty students regarding hearing health and the use of personal listening devices.

Material and Methods: The Personal Listening Device and Hearing Questionnaire, developed by Danhauer et al., was translated and culturally adapted into Turkish for this study. The research was conducted in two phases: the first phase involved the translation and cultural adaptation of the questionnaire, and the second phase included data collection from 353 undergraduate students. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 28.0 software, and differences based on demographic variables were evaluated using the chi-square test.

Results: Of the participants, 97.2% reported using personal listening devices, 73.7% stated that they increased the volume while using these devices, and 66.6% experienced hearing problems afterward. Female students demonstrated higher awareness of hearing health compared to male students (p<0.05). Audiology students exhibited the highest levels of awareness regarding hearing health and protective measures, while Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation students showed better awareness in specific areas compared to other departments.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that hearing health awareness should be enhanced and safe listening practices promoted due to the widespread use of personal listening devices. Differences observed among departments emphasize the potential of education as an effective tool to increase awareness and encourage safe listening habits. Keywords : Personal listening devices, undergraduate students, recreational noise