"It's about wanting to disappear from the world… " - an interpretative phenomenological analysis on the meaning of music and hearing-related risks

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the role and meaning of music in adolescents' lives and the adolescents' ways of understanding how music listening can impact hearing-health.

Methods: Open-ended interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The analysis involves both individual and more generalized investigations based on the contributions from seven participants.

Findings: The findings show that music is an integrated and habitual aspect of the adolescents' daily lives, used as a tool for emotion regulation, cognitive enhancement, and creating personal space where one can be free from outside criticisms and distractions. There is a preference for music listening in headphones which creates a more intense and private experience. There are varying levels of awareness of the potential hearing-health risks, but the profound meaning of music for their well-being often overshadows any concerns.

Conclusions: Despite awareness of potential hearing-health risks, the adolescents prioritize the immediate emotional and cognitive benefits of music. Technological advancements and increased social media interactions contribute to a trend towards more personalized music listening. These insights call for more complex intervention strategies and models for health promotion which account for the positive aspects of music listening, instead of merely focusing on the potential risks of loud music.

Keywords: Music; adolescent; health promotion; hearing health; meaning; risk awareness; well-being.

Figure 1.

Example of the analysis process within a case (steps 1–5). Showing the process of analysing one case which was a part of creating the resulting (group level) superordinate themes.

Figure A1.

Example of the analysis process—across all participants (step 6). Individual overarching themes that led to creating the resulting group level superordinate themes.