Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan 25;20(3):2161.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032161.

Hearing Care: Safe Listening Method and System for Personal Listening Devices

Fei Chen  1   2 , Hui Xue  1   2 , Meng Wang  1 , Zhiling Cai  1 , Shipeng Zhu  1   2
Affiliations

Hearing Care: Safe Listening Method and System for Personal Listening Devices

Fei Chen et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Excessive use of Personal Listening Devices (PLDs) and prolonged exposure to noise from loud music create many potential risks associated with hearing loss. To this end, the World Health Organization has published Recommendation ITU-T H.870 in 2019, which provides adults and children with a set of recommendations for sound dosage and operating times needed to avoid potential hearing risks. Some studies have investigated noise exposure of related applications for listening safety, resulting in some related recommendations and applications; however, these studies often do not pay attention to measurement error, which is important for human real noise exposure estimation to avoid hearing loss. This paper proposes a method for calculating noise exposure that can accurately calculate the actual noise sound-pressure level (SPL) and PLD dosage based on the WHO-ITU standard. We develop a calculation method and design a listening system that includes (i) a Safe Listening Personal Listening Device (SL-PLD) that can measure the listening dose in real time and control the output volume effectively, (ii) a Safe Listening Application (SL-APP) for assisting the SL-PLD to check the listening status in real time and provide alerts. Our experimental results show that (i) the proposed noise calculation method can reach 0.88 dB deviation under the 76 dB reference SPL and 98.8% accuracy, as compared to the SoundCheck tool measurement, (ii) the proposed SL-PLD controls the SPL output effectively as the dose increases, and (iii) the SL-APP determines the dosage usage and will provide a warning when the dosage exceeds a preset value. Therefore, users can adjust their listening behavior for more secure listening by using our methods and applications.

Keywords: dose calculation; hearing loose; safe listening APP; safe listening device.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sound-level deviation caused by the speaker makes dose estimation inaccurate. The speaker’s frequency response curve has a 3 dB deviation at frequency point 500 Hz.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SL-PLD and Core-Board hardware architecture.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Safe listening software architecture in PLD.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Speaker Frequency Response measurement and SPL bias for dose calculation.
Figure 5
Figure 5
SPL Accuracy experiment platform and measurement result. (a) is the SPL measurement platform. Wear SL-PLD on artificial ear, connect with BT and play tone at different frequency and SPL; read the measured noise power. (b) is the real measured SPLs (dBA) from the measurement tool.
Figure 6
Figure 6
SPL suppression with growing Dose. With the growth of the accumulated Dose, the time spent at the target volume grows longer, which is good for the user’s listening experience.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Daily dose usage status.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Weekly dose usage status.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Eichwald J., Scinicariello F., Telfer J.L., Carroll Y.I. Use of Personal Hearing Protection Devices at Loud Athletic or Entertainment Events Among Adults—United States, 2018. MMWR. Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2018;67:1151–1155. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6741a4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Hearing Loss Due to Recreational Exposure to Loud Sounds: A Review. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2015.
    1. Gopal K.V., Champlin S., Phillips B. Assessment of Safe Listening Intentional Behavior Toward Personal Listening Devices in Young Adults. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2019;16:3180. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16173180. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. You S., Kwak C., Han W. Use of Personal Listening Devices and Knowledge/Attitude for Greater Hearing Conservation in College Students: Data Analysis and Regression Model Based on 1009 Respondents. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:2934. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17082934. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diviani N., Zanini C., Amann J., Chadha S., Cieza A., Rubinelli S. Awareness, attitudes, and beliefs about music-induced hearing loss: Towards the development of a health communication strategy to promote safe listening. Patient Educ. Couns. 2019;102:1506–1512. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2019.03.013. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types