Awareness and Experience of Tinnitus in Nepalese Young Adult Population

Abstract

Introduction The prevalence of tinnitus is increasing in younger adult rapidly. It is increasing mainly because of increased daily noise levels due to the unrestrained usage of recreational devices like mobile phones, MP3s, iPods, and other personal stereos. The aim of this study is to describe awareness and experience of tinnitus among younger adult with respect to the existence, cause, effects, and management. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 205 young adult Nepalese population between the age ranges between 20 and 40 years through online survey mode. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS 25.0 software. Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics. Results Result showed more than half of the participants (59.2%) were aware about the existence of tinnitus; however, only 16.1% of participants were aware about the effect of tinnitus. The incidence of tinnitus was found to be high (11.71%) in Nepalese population. Conclusion Even though most of the participants were found to be aware about existence of tinnitus, most of them were not aware about the effect of tinnitus and its cause. This result has implications for audiologist who are involved in hearing health care program across the various age groups. As per this study, since most of the participants pointed to the Internet as their source of awareness, that could be further tapped on to provide awareness in these age groups.