Professor Moon Il-jun's Team, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Samsung Seoul Hospital

Professor Moon Il-jun of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Samsung Medical Center is seeing a patient.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] A study has found that the 'noise cancellation' feature of earphones can help protect hearing.

Professor Moon Il-jun and Dr. Seol Hye-yoon from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Samsung Seoul Hospital conducted a study on 30 Korean adults to compare noise levels and preferred listening volumes with and without the noise cancellation feature activated. The results were published in the recent issue of the international journal Healthcare, announced on the 11th.

The research team divided the subjects into 15 hearing-impaired and 15 normal-hearing individuals and measured the effect of noise cancellation using wired and wireless in-ear earphones. Assuming common everyday situations, experiments were conducted in noise environments typical of buses and cafes (80 dB). It was confirmed that activating the noise cancellation feature significantly reduced the volume of surrounding sounds in both low-frequency ranges (250 and 500 Hz) and the entire frequency band (200~6000 Hz).

When the noise cancellation feature was turned on, normal-hearing individuals experienced a reduction of about 12 dB in low-frequency sounds on the bus and 12~14 dB in the cafe. Hearing-impaired individuals also saw a reduction of about 8~12 dB in the same low-frequency range in both bus and cafe environments. This effect was maintained even when the frequency range was expanded to the entire frequency band. The research team explained that the same trend was observed in 'KEMAR,' a device used to evaluate the effect of noise cancellation, which is not a human subject.

The team also compared the differences in preferred listening volumes of the subjects, finding that the listening volume level was significantly lower when the noise cancellation feature was activated compared to when it was deactivated.

Professor Moon emphasized, “With the widespread use of personal audio devices such as earphones and headphones, the incidence of 'noise-induced hearing loss' is increasing among adolescents. Starting with this study, which confirmed the 'potential of noise cancellation features' for hearing protection, active research should continue to investigate the effects of these features.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.