Evaluating young people's listening practices: a public health issue

Listening to music through headphones or earphones has become commonplace with the development of new technologies. If this listening is prolonged over long periods and at high noise levels, it exposes young people to risks to their hearing systems. The WHO (2021) indicates that one person in four is expected to have hearing problems by 2050, and 1.1 billion young people worldwide could be at risk of hearing loss due to dangerous listening habits. Three French organizations (Le RIF, Bruitparif and CidB) have joined forces, with the support of the regional health agency of Ile de France, to coordinate their hearing risk prevention campaign and carry out a study ahead of the campaign to find out about listening practices using headphones or earphones, concert attendance and the precautions taken by teenagers to protect themselves from hearing risks. The results, based on a sample of 2,685 teenagers (secondary school), will provide a snapshot of practices so that prevention messages can be adapted during awareness campaigns.