Apple introduced the ability to track its noise level performance on the Apple Watch back in 2019. The company also initiated three clinical research studies at the facility, including screening for hearing health. Now, a year later, Apple has shared some preliminary results for World Hearing Day.
For the Apple Hearing Study, Apple partnered with the University of Michigan to see how daily sound performance could affect hearing over time. In a briefing, Dr. of the University of Michigan. Rick Netzell noted that "thousands" of participants in the study volunteered their data and, in addition to regular questionnaires, participated in regular hearing tests. The study also looked at the noise exposure of headphones and was not necessarily limited to data collected from the Apple Watch. For example, headphone exposure data can also be collected from the iPhone and iPad. That said, researchers were able to obtain more detailed data from watch users, including environmental noise, heart rate, heart rate variability, and exercise.
According to the World Health Organization guidelines, according to Nietzel, one of the preliminary data is that one in five experienced hearing loss, and it appears that there is a link between chronic environmental noise and heart disease . In addition, approximately 50% of the participants currently work, or previously worked, in a loud workplace. Another surprising tidbit was that despite the lockdown, many participants still had high environmental noise exposure (although the overall noise risk was approximately half). About 10% of the participants were diagnosed with hearing loss professionally, but despite that diagnosis, 75% did not use adjuvant aids such as hearing or kernel implants. Another 10% had average headphone sound exposure that exceeded the weekly WHO limit, and 20% had daily exposure greater than the WHO limit. Another daring finding was that 25% regularly experienced a ringing in the ears that may be tinnitus a few times per week and their hearing by a professional was not nearly 50% in at least a decade.
The findings are indeed very impressive when you consider the scale and detailed data that wearables can report only with passive health-monitoring. A major problem with health research may be that the findings may come from a limited sample that may not be indicative of the general population or do not have an inherent bias (ie, substantial BIPOC topics, etc.), with Weerables, you Can actually do. Continually conducting research with a very large segment of the population. For example, the Apple Heart Study succeeded in gaining 400,000 participants in eight months, the largest virtual study ever.
On that front, Netzel stated that he believes the Apple Hearing Study participants are an overall accurate representative of the general population. He also said that access to location data, for example, could help researchers see more esoteric patterns. For example, researchers may now ask questions such as, "Is hearing loss worse in an area with more air pollution?"
The Apple Hearing Study still continues, and Nietzel still notes more to learn. In particular, Netzel pointed to understand how specific noise performance and headphone listening patterns may affect future hearing health, including tinnitus, as well as exploring the relationship between hearing and heart health. In the meantime, though, it's probably a good idea if we all reduced the volume on our headphones.
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