Hearing Conservation Program for Agricultural Students: Short-Term Outcomes from a Cluster-Randomized Trial with Planned Long-Term Follow-Up

Details

• Personal Author:
  Berg RL ; Broste SK ; Fitz-Randolph M ; Kirkhorn SR ; Knobloch MJ ; Linneman JG ; Marlenga B ; Pickett W ; Wood DJ
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: (1) To conduct a contemporary analysis of historical data on short-term efficacy of a 3-year hearing conservation program conducted from 1992 to 1996 in Wisconsin, USA, with 753 high school students actively involved in farm work; (2) to establish procedures for assessment of hearing loss for use in a recently funded follow-up of this same hearing conservation program cohort. METHODS: We analyzed a pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial, with schools as the unit of randomization. Thirty-four rural schools were recruited and randomized to intervention or control. The intervention included classroom instruction, distribution of hearing protection devices, direct mailings, noise level assessments, and yearly audiometric testing. The control group received the audiometric testing. RESULTS: Students exposed to the hearing conservation program reported more frequent use of hearing protection devices, but there was no evidence of reduced levels of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that, since NIHL is cumulative, a 3-year study was likely not long enough to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention. While improvements in reported use of hearing protection devices were noted, the lasting impact of these behaviors is unknown and the finding merits corroboration by longer term objective hearing tests. A follow-up study of the cohort has recently been started. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Education Environmental Monitoring Hearing Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Sense Organs Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Audiological-testing Audiometry Author Keywords: Agriculture Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Hearing-conservation Hearing-level Hearing-protection Hearing-tests Hearing Conservation Noise-exposure Noise-induced Hearing Loss Noise-levels Noise-sources Work-areas Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Youth

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• ISSN:
  0091-7435
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  49
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036547
• Citation:
  Prev Med 2009 Dec; 49(6):546-552
• Contact Point Address:
  Barbara Marlenga, National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, 1000 North Oak Avenue, Marshfield, WI 54449
• Email:
  marlenga.barbara@mcrf.mfldclin.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080801
• Source Full Name:
  Preventive Medicine
• End Date:
  20120731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a6615842ac5c8fe660c771aebaead05f4cb40fe2cddc76c2c93bd68c8ed22fe5ee0c32c0b6513ba953a1494ca196de32e01f66c2836cb1d0e136e16a6bb7b50b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187920/cdc_187920_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 361.79 KB ]