American study raises fears that long-term mobile phone use may damage hearing

The findings of a study, Audiological Disturbances in Long-Term Mobile Phone Users, presented to the annual meeting of ear, nose and throat doctors, held in Washington DC last week, has raised the possibility that long-term use of mobile phones may cause inner ear damage leading to high frequency hearing loss.

A press release, issued by the American Academy of Otolaryngology, says that according to research 100 people who had used mobile phones for over a year suffered increases in the degree of hearing loss over the span of 12 months. Furthermore, the study also discovered that people who used their phones for more than 60 minutes a day had a worse hearing threshold than those with less use.

High frequency hearing loss is characterized by the loss of ability to hear consonants such as s, f, t, and z, even though vowels can be heard normally. Consequently, people hear sounds but cannot make out what is being said.

Authors, Naresh K. Panda, MBBS, MS, DNB, FRCSEd; Sanjay Munjal, PhD; Jaimanti Bakshi, MS (ORL), DNB, warn users of cell phones to look out for ear symptoms such as ear warmth, ear fullness, and ringing in the ears (tinnitus) as early warning signs that you may have an auditory abnormality. They also suggest the use of earphones, which they found to be safer than holding a mobile phone up to the ears.

A report published in the UK earlier this month, by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research management committee, said that more research was needed into the long-term health effects of mobile phone use but didn’t identify hearing loss as a concern.