On April 11, 2019, students Mikayla Jucewicz ’20, Toshiana Figueroa ’20, and Estrella Sosa ’18 presented research on awareness of noise-induced hearing loss among college students at the Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association state conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Jucewicz and Figueroa are health sciences majors in the speech language pathology (SLP) track. Sosa will be entering the SLP master’s degree program at Moravian this summer. Faculty advisor Monica Kaniamattam, assistant professor in rehabilitation sciences, accompanied the students.
“College students participate in activities, such as concert-going and listening to loud music on headphones, that increase their risk for noise-induced hearing loss,” says Figueroa. “The objective of our study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of noise-induced hearing loss and hearing conservation among students within the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC).”
“We found that students are exposing themselves to dangerous levels of sounds and music, which may result in noise-induced hearing loss, and that there is a need to educate students on hearing conservation to help them maintain their hearing health,” says Sosa, who hopes one day to work with children or adults with neurological disorders.
All three Moravian students found the experience of presenting their research at the state conference valuable to their pursuit of graduate education in SLP, where they will use those skills. Jucewicz added that it gave her a new perspective on the field she plans to enter.
“I attended a neuroscience conference as an undergrad,” says Sosa, “but still, it was exciting to share our findings with other researchers and have the opportunity to look at other studies.”