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A study on the effect of prolonged mobile phone use on pure tone audiometry thresholds of medical students of Sikkim.

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Das S, Chakraborty S, Mahanta B. · 2017

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The study found a significant difference in average air and bone conduction hearing thresholds between exposed and non-exposed ears.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study among medical students who had used mobile phones for the past 5 years. They assessed the effect of mobile phones on pure tone audiometry thresholds in the exposed ear and the non-exposed ear. The study found a significant difference in average air conduction and bone conduction hearing thresholds between the exposed and non-exposed ears. A significant rise in both air and bone conduction thresholds at individual frequencies between the exposed and non-exposed ears was also noted.

Why This Matters

The study aimed to examine the effect of mobile phone use on average pure tone audiometry thresholds and on high-frequency thresholds at 2, 4, and 8 kHz. The researchers noted that the study showed changes in the hearing threshold of the exposed ear compared with the non-exposed ear. They acknowledged many unanswered questions that provide an avenue for further research. Until concrete evidence is available, they suggested limiting the duration of mobile phone usage.

Exposure Information

A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 2 kHz - 8 kHz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 2 kHz - 8 kHzPower lines50/60 HzCell phones~1 GHzWiFi2.4 GHz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz

Study Details

The objective of the study was to study the effect of mobile phone on average pure tone audiometry (PTA) threshold of the person and to study the changes in the pure tone threshold at high frequencies such as 2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz among the students with prolonged exposure to mobile phones.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students who have been using mobile phones f...

The study shows that there is a significant difference in average air conduction (AC) and bone condu...

The study conducted shows changes in the hearing threshold of the exposed ear when compared with the nonexposed ear. There are however lot of unanswered questions which provide an interesting avenue for further research. Till concrete evidence is available the only feasible way to control its exposure is to limit the duration of usage of mobile phones.

Cite This Study
Das S, Chakraborty S, Mahanta B. (2017). A study on the effect of prolonged mobile phone use on pure tone audiometry thresholds of medical students of Sikkim. J Postgrad Med. 63(4):221-225, 2017.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2017_a_study_on_the_2014,
  author = {Das S and Chakraborty S and Mahanta B.},
  title = {A study on the effect of prolonged mobile phone use on pure tone audiometry thresholds of medical students of Sikkim.},
  year = {2017},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28272071/},
}
PubMed: 28272071

Cited By (8 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students who had used mobile phones for the past 5 years.
The study found a significant difference in average air conduction and bone conduction hearing thresholds between the exposed and non-exposed ears. A significant rise in both air and bone conduction thresholds at individual frequencies between the exposed and non-exposed ears was also noted.
The objective was to study the effect of mobile phone on average pure tone audiometry threshold and on high-frequency thresholds at 2, 4, and 8 kHz among students with prolonged exposure.
The researchers noted many unanswered questions that provide an avenue for further research.
Until concrete evidence is available, the researchers suggested limiting the duration of mobile phone usage.