Longitudinal assessment of noise exposure in a cohort of construction workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Neitzel RL ; Seixas, Noah S. ; Stover B
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: To address questions surrounding noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) from variable noise, we have been evaluating noise exposures and changes in hearing in a prospective cohort of construction workers (representing eight trades) and controls. In this paper, we develop and explore several long-term exposure estimates for cohort members. METHODS: We followed cohort members between 1999 and 2009 and interviewed them approximately annually to obtain a detailed work history for the previous subject-interval while also collecting tests of hearing sensitivity. Over the same period, we also collected a sample of full-shift average noise measurements and activity information. We used data from these two sources to develop various exposure estimates for each subject for specific subject intervals and for the duration of the study. These estimates included work duration, trade-mean (TM)-equivalent continuous exposure level (L(EQ)), task-based (TB) L(EQ), a hybrid L(EQ) combining TB and subjective information, and an estimate of noise exposure 'peakiness'. RESULTS: Of the 456 subjects enrolled in the study, 333 had at least 2 interviews and met several inclusion criteria related to hearing sensitivity. Depending on the metric used, between one-third and three-quarters of 1310 measured full-shift noise exposures exceeded permissible and recommended exposure limits. Hybrid and TB exposure estimates demonstrated much greater variability than TM estimates. Work duration and estimates of exposure peakiness showed poor agreement with average exposures, suggesting that these metrics evaluate different aspects of exposure and may have different predictive value for estimating NIHL. CONCLUSIONS: Construction workers in the cohort had subject-interval and study-average exposures which present a substantial potential risk of NIHL. In a subsequent paper, we will use these estimates to evaluate the exposure-response relationship between noise and NIHL. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Environmental Monitoring Hearing Hearing Loss Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-limits Exposure Assessment Exposure Variability Hearing-loss Hearing-tests Job-analysis Long-term-exposure Long-term-study Models Noise-exposure Noise-frequencies Noise-levels Noise-measurement Noise-sources Noise-transmission Occupational-exposure Permissible-concentration-limits Permissible-limits Risk-analysis Risk-factors Task-performance

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• ISSN:
  0003-4878
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040143
• Citation:
  Ann Occup Hyg 2011 Oct; 55(8):906-916
• Contact Point Address:
  Richard. L. Neitzel, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
• Email:
  rneitzel@u.washington.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• End Date:
  20100831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:08d1565eb2142988486b42e48dd8bf0a056d9d19558910cd25179cb2cf3c5941065a0b8d6d97c42831d0ffc5804a1a42a99f2df5366379e5591a79a795cb5b8f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193107/cdc_193107_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 343.80 KB ]