Faculty of Otorhinolaryngology
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Item OCCUPATIONAL NOISE EXPOSURE AND HEARING LOSS AMONG CEMENT BLOCK FACTORY WORKERS: A COMPARISON OF TWO ASSESSMENT METHODS(AMOO-QUAYE, GRACE NAA AGOWA, 2022-10-18) AMOO-QUAYE, GRACE NAA AGOWAIntroduction Occupational exposure to excessive noise leading to sensorineural noise induced hearing loss is becoming more pertinent in developing countries as industrialization and infrastructure development increase. The need to develop a tool that efficiently detects this phenomenon as well as the need to, map out noise exposure by industry to enable stronger preventive measures’ enforcement is becoming more relevant. Hence, the aim of the study was to determine and compare the prevalence of hearing loss among cement block factory workers using two hearing assessment methods, evaluate their knowledge of the effects of noise on hearing, noise level exposure and assess their knowledge and use of hearing protection devices (HPDs). Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was designed to investigate hearing loss among a group of 143 cement block factory workers and 132 controls from March 2021 to December 2021. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess knowledge of the effects of noise on health and use of HPDs. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) (conventional and extended high frequency (EHFA) was used to measure hearing threshold levels to determine prevalence of hearing loss and distortion products otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were measured to determine reduced amplitudes. Comparisons of the pure tone averages between the noise exposed and the nonexposed groups was done by independent t-tests, whilst comparisons of percentages of individuals with hearing loss was done using chi-square tests. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results The mean age of the cases was 29.3 years ±9.2 years compared to that of the controls which was 28.6years ± 6.7 years. The mean duration of work for cases and controls was 3.0years ± 3.2years and 4.4years ± 3.57 years respectively. About half (51.6%) had awareness of the effects of noise on health among block factory workers with usage of hearing protective devices among very few (16.1%). The mean maximum noise level in the block factories was very high (101.8± 4.5dBA). The prevalence of hearing loss was significantly higher among cases than controls by all methods. For the better hearing ear, it was 14.7% among cases and 3% among controls. Extended high frequency audiometry yielded 41.6% hearing loss prevalence among the noise exposed but 15.9% among the nonexposed. Low amplitude DPOAE was recorded 43% among cases and 31.8% in the control group and this was significantly higher than for pure tone audiometry (p<0.05) in both groups. Conclusion Hearing loss prevalence was higher among cases than controls. DPOAEs detected the most abnormalities as compared to conventional PTA and EHFA. Though roughly half of the block factory workers had some knowledge of the effect of noise on their health and of HPDs, only few of them used the protective devices. The current study also showed that noise levels in all the block factories exceeded the permissible industrial noise levels.