Analysis on situation of hearing loss in noise-exposed workers in a boiler factory

Objective To explore the effects of productive noise on hearing of workers in a boiler factory.Methods The noise levels in workplaces of the factory were detected systematically,meanwhile,the hearing of 105 noise-exposed workers and 109 workers without noise exposure were examined by pure tone audiometer.Results The results showed that 61 workers were determined as high-frequency hearing loss,the incidence of hearing loss in these noise-exposed workers was 58.10%,the rates of hearing loss in both language frequency and high frequency were significantly higher than those of control group(P0.05);the average hearing threshold of 3000—4000 Hz in noise-exposure group was all significantly higher than that of control group(P0.05),the hearing loss of bilateral ears basically was coincident.The χ2 trend test suggested that the incidence of high-frequency hearing loss showed some rising trend along with the noise-exposed length,the day noise exposure and the cumulative noise exposure(CNE),the P values were 0.0001,0.0017 and 0.0004 respectively.Conclusion The hearing of workers have been already injured by the noise of the factory,it is necessary to take active preventive measures immediately for protecting workers' health.