Ear infection and hearing loss amongst headphone users

The use of headphone has been thought to cause infection in the ear canal and contribute to hearing loss. In this study, we examined 136 Customer Service Representative from Celcom (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. who use headphone throughout their working hours. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of ear canal infection and other related diseases of the ear, nose and throat. Their hearing thresholds were also determined using the Amplaid 309 Clinical Audiometer. We found no incidence of infection of the external ear canal amongst the subjects. There were 4 cases of chronic middle ear infection and 4 cases of impacted wax. Hearing impairment was found in 25 subjects (21.2%). However, there was no significant association between hearing loss and the exposure to sound from headphone usage because the high frequencies were not predominantly affected. There was also no association between hearing loss and duration of service.