Auditory risk behaviours and hearing problems among college students in Serbia.

Aim: To investigate an association of auditory lifestyle and risk behaviours with hearing loss and to identify the leading hearing problems among college students in Serbia exposed to loud music.

Methods: The participants of the study comprised 780 college students of the High Medical School of Professional Studies of Belgrade (653 females and 127 males), the majority of whom were between 19 to 24 years of age. A cross sectional study was conducted in order to investigate the association between exposure to noise in one's leisure time and subsequent hearing problems using a self-reporting questionnaire.

Results: A total of 640 (82.1%) of students had a habit of listening to loud music, 421 (65.8%) experienced tinnitus and 79 (10.1%) had a subjective feeling of hearing loss. The most significant association between self-reported hearing loss was living in noisy environments (p=0.000), and the appearance of difficulties (vertigo, anxiety) (p=0.000), as well as usage of personal music devices (p=0.087).

Conclusion: While students who were exposed to loud sound levels may still not have shown serious hearing problems or hearing loss, a great number did experience tinnitus or some other difficulties after listening to music at loud volumes.