Short-term effects of simultaneous cardiovascular workout and personal music device use on the outer hair cell function of young adults

Background: Recreational noise exposure, including personal music device use (PMD), has become a growing public health concern, as it may potentially result in the development of hearing difficulties.Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the differential impact and short-term effects of simultaneous cardiovascular workout and PMD use on the outer hair cell (OHC) function of young adults.Method: A quantitative research approach was followed. In this study a pre-test post-test approach was used and twelve subjects participated in three 1 h testing conditions with altered variables including: (i) exposure to PMD use in isolation, (ii) exposure to cardiovascular workout in isolation, and (iii) simultaneous exposure to the latter mentioned. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were conducted pree and post exposure for each testing condition as primary indicator of cochlear responses. The process consisted of a cycling procedure through the preset stimulus frequency sequence, measuring the 2f₁—f₂ (75—70 dBSPL) and constructing a plot of DPOAE levels as a function offrequency.Results: Individual testing conditions did not result in statistically significant changes of the DPOAE response, however a significantly different profile in the DPOAE response level increase/decrease for the higher frequencies (6—8 kHz) was obtained when comparing the different sessions. Exposure to cardiovascular workout condition in isolation indicated a clear trend of an increased DPOAE response level between the pre-exposure and post exposuretesting from 2 kHz to 8 kHz with a maximum increase at 6 kHz. Both the music-only condition and the combined condition resulted in a clear trend of decreased DPOAE response amplitudes between the pre-exposure and post-exposure testing for the higher frequencies.Conclusion: Findings support the notion of a clear effect of cardiovascular workout with and without music exposure on the OHC function at higher test frequencies, as measured by DPOAEs. Decreased DPOAE amplitudes between 2 kHz and 8 kHz were observed with music exposure and the opposite effect was observed for cardiovascular workout in isolation.