An assessment of the potential risk of hearing loss from earphones based on the type of earphones and external noise

Abstract

The prevalence of personal sound equipment (i.e. earphones) are undeniable, due to the convenience it provides in certain conditions. However, in certain environments earphones could subject users to unintended consequences like hearing loss. In this experiment, the researchers sought to identify the effect of external noise level and the type of earphones on the perceived satisfactory volume level and sound quality of a user. These were assessed through a three-phase methodology namely; benchmarking, data collection, and data analysis. From a pool of 22 respondents, the results show that people do tend to increase their perceived satisfactory volume level depending on the noise level in the environment and on the type of earphones they were using.