Mobile phone use among children and its impact on hearing: Our experience at a tertiary care teaching hospital

Introduction
The wide use of mobile phones in the world has raised the possibility of exposure to radiofrequency waves causing many side effects to the health of users, and even more in children.

Aim of the study
To study the impact of radiofrequency waves of mobile phones on the hearing of the children in a tertiary care teaching hospital.

Material and methods
We studied two groups of children of age less than 16 years. One group comprised 52 mobile phone users for more than one hour per day for more than one year, and the second group comprised 52 children who were non-users or used a mobile phone for less than one hour per day for less than one year.

Results
The children using mobile phones for more than one hour (2-3 hours) per day for more than one year had 5 dB loss in 7.2%, 10 dB loss in 4.5%, and 15 decibel loss in 2.5% of cases. There was a 5 dB loss in 7.9 and 10 dB in 5.5% of cases in those using mobiles 3-4 hours per day. There was sensorineural hearing loss in 28.6% of the children and 3.6% in the control group.

Conclusions
This study did not show any significant hearing loss in children using mobile phones.