Low body mass index and jaw movement are protective of hearing in users of personal listening devices

Abstract

Jaw movement and low BMI (<23) reduced the overall sound level of PLDs at the ear canal. Sound pressure levels detected in the external ear canal of our subjects using earbud earphones were significantly lower under conditions of jaw movement/BMI <23. Our research invites further studies on a larger group of PLD users to correlate these variables with hearing threshold shifts over time.