Hearing capacity and noise hazard preventive behaviors: a study of the existing audiograms in high-risk health care workers with noise-induced hearing loss
Keywords:
audiograms, hearing capacity, health care workers, noise hazard preventive behaviorsAbstract
Abstract
Regular exposure to noise pollution is also one of the risk factors that increase the risk of hearing loss among health care workers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess hearing capacity, noise hazard preventive behaviors, and to determine the association between the working data and noise hazard preventive behaviors. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020. This study was conducted to evaluate the hearing threshold level using pure tone audiometry test and face-to-face questionnaires among 70 high-risk health care workers with noise-induced hearing loss in six departments in a tertiary hospital. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze the factors related to noise hazard preventive behaviors. The results revealed that the audiometric tests of 14/70 health care workers were abnormal. Half of the healthcare workers (34/70) did not use hearing protection devices. Most health care workers (23/36) intermittently used earplugs during the activity. Work experience was significantly related to noise hazard preventive behaviors (p=0.001). However, the age of health care workers, underlying disease, work experience, and the use of hearing protection devices was not statistically associated with hearing loss. Half of the healthcare workers did not consistently use hearing protection devices. Therefore, to reduce the risk of noise hearing loss among health care workers. Therefore, it should be promoted and programmed for an increased awareness of the use of hearing protection devices.
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