ABSTRACT

Purpose: The present study aims at comparing the adverse effects of EHF hearing loss with Digit In Noise perception, between two age groups-Young adults and Early adulthood. Methods: A total of 30 participants aged between 18 to 25 years as Young adults group and 26 to 35 years as early adulthood group were included in the study. All the participants were having EHF hearing loss with normal conventional audiogram. Digit in Noise test was carried out for these subjects. Digit in Noise recognition threshold was considered here. Results: When compared to young adults group, the early adulthood population exhibited poorer thresholds at EHFs as well as 95% of the participants in this group showed poor scores in DIN test. Among the young adults group, 46.6% showed poor DIN scores. Conclusions: Poor DIN recognition thresholds along with EHF loss despite normal conventional audiogram results necessitate the inclusion of EHF audiometry and Speech in noise test as part of the routine audiological evaluations. This helps in early detection, monitoring and prevention of hearing loss even during the third decade of human life.