Syeda Tasnim Tabassum Hridi , Mohammad Azmain Iktidar , View ORCID Profile Arrafi Tamjid , Punam Ghosh , View ORCID Profile Kazi Sudipta Kabir , View ORCID Profile Abdullah Al Zaber , Rifat Tasnim Babu , Maliha Mehzabeen , Aysharja Das Gupta , Sreshtha Chowdhury , Simanta Roy
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.02.24311428 Syeda Tasnim Tabassum Hridi 1 North East Medical College , South Surma, Sylhet, 31004 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Chittagong Medical College Hospital , Chattogram, Bangladesh
Background Online education gained its popularity in the education system during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The online platform, including social media, was institutionalized globally for the purpose of tutoring to keep the education process ongoing under feasible circumstances. However, the post-pandemic continuation of online education and prolonged usage of electronic devices imposed a greater risk of health issues related to sensory impairment. Our study aimed to determine the impact of online education on students’ hearing status and its associated factors.
Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1030 students of 11th grade and above who were undergoing online education in Dhaka and Chattogram. Data were collected through the online administration of a structured questionnaire containing questions on sociodemographic status, family history of diseases, personal history of comorbidities, information related to screentime exposure, and SSQ-12 (Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing -12) scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s chi-square test, two independent sample t-tests, and multiple linear regression analysis were employed to obtain the results.
Result The mean SSQ score of the study participants was 7.74±1.37. In bivariate analysis, gender, family income, family history of diseases (e.g., obesity, headache, hearing problem), personal history of diseases (e.g., obesity, insomnia), device type (mobile/tablet, computer), average daily screen time with sound, and break pattern during online learning were significantly (p
Conclusion This current study indicates the detrimental effect of online education on the hearing of young students in Bangladesh. Future studies should explore the long-term hearing effects of online education and guide the policy makers towards necessary preventive approaches.
The authors have declared no competing interest.
The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The study proposal was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of North South University (approval no: 2022/OR-NSU/IRB/0403).
I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.
I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).
I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.
Data cannot be shared publicly because of participants' confidentiality and institutional restriction. Data are available from the North South Institutional Data Access / Ethics Committee for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. However, the data can be provided to the editorial board members upon request.
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.