Personal Listening Device Use and Attitude to Noise in Relation to Depression and Anxiety among Medical Students

• Published in: Noise & health 2023-07, Vol.25 (118), p.176-182
• Main Authors: Backovic, Dusan, Vukasinovic, Danka, Ilic, Branislav, Soldatovic, Ivan, Zivojinovic, Jelena Ilic, Tomanic, Milena, Babic, Silvana, Vlaisavljevic, Zeljko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety - epidemiology; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety Disorders; Attitudes; Background noise; Beverages; Cigarettes; Cross-Sectional Studies; depression; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - etiology; Epidemiology; Female; Humans; Isotonic beverages; Male; Medical students; Mental depression; Mental health; music; Noise; Noise pollution; Original; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Students; Students, Medical; Tinnitus; Youth
• ISSN: 1463-1741; 1998-4030
• DOI: 10.4103/nah.nah_27_23

High levels of environmental noise may lead to psychological symptoms. The present study has hypothesized that personal listening device (PLD) use and a negative attitude to noise are significantly related to anxiety and/or depression. This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 431 six-grade students (35% male) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. All students completed the questionnaires related to socio-demographic data, noise/music exposure habits, behaviors related to PLD use, tinnitus, headaches, consumption of alcohol, coffee, energy drinks and cigarettes, YANS (Youth Attitude to Noise Scale), CES-D (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression), and GAD-7 (Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment - 7 item scale) questionnaires. There were 396 (91.9%) of investigated students who used PLD, with more frequent use among girls compared to boys (95.0% and 86.8%, respectively; p = 0.002). We found no significant relationship between the frequency of PLD use and depression and anxiety. However, continuous daily PLD use longer than 1 hour was significantly and positively related to depression (p = 0.006). Students with depression had a lower total YANS score compared to those without depression, indicating a more negative attitude toward noise (p = 0.042). Students with no difficulties to concentrate in noise and with a positive attitude to daily noises had about 37% lower chance to suffer from depression and anxiety, respectively. PLD use is common among medical students and may be associated with their mental health. Longer than 1 hour of continuous daily use of PLD may be positively related to depression. We also found a significant relationship between difficulties concentrating in noisy environments and depression, and between negative attitudes to daily noises and anxiety.