Hear me out: Adolescents’ hearing health in a world full of music players

The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of hearing
acuity (Part I), personal listening device use (Part II), and the use of distortion product
otoacoustic emissions as a screening tool for hearing loss (Part III) in adolescence. The
key aims are as follows:
• To gain more insight in the prevalence and risk factors for sensorineural hearing loss
(Chapter 2 and 3).
• To investigate the accuracy of self- reported measures of personal listening device
use (Chapter 4).
• To examine the relationship between objectively measured personal listening device
use and hearing acuity (Chapter 5).
• To examine which factors are associated with unsafe use of personal listening
devices (Chapter 6).
• To investigate the role of distortion product otoacoustic emissions in the screening
of early stages of noise- induced hearing loss (Chapter 7)