Suggested Guidelines for Studying the Combined Effects of Occupational Exposure to Noise and Chemicals on Hearing

Details

• Personal Author:
  Little MB ; Morata, Thais C.
• Description:
  The present document, which describes recommended standardized procedures, aims to assist individual investigators plan a study on the effects of industrial chemicals on the auditory system, collect and analyze environmental and hearing sensitivity data that are accurate and comparable to data acquired by others. This draft document is currently being reviewed by the NoiseChem Research Group. In this peer review stage we are currently accepting critiques and suggestions to this proposal. Investigations on the aforementioned topic are necessary since there is strong evidence that occupational hearing loss may be caused not only by noise but also by exposure to certain chemicals in the work environment. Since some industrial chemicals are known to be ototoxic, it is plausible to expect that if these chemicals occurred in high enough concentrations in the workplace they could affect hearing. Laboratory studies have yielded a finding not expected, namely that when simultaneous exposure to noise and chemicals occur, the hearing loss observed was greater than the expected hearing loss from noise added to the expected hearing loss from the chemical. If this synergism is verified in humans, then changes will be required in the limits that are set for occupational hazards in order to prevent occupational hearing loss. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Construction Industry Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Noise Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-workers Auditory-system Chemical-agent-detectors Construction-workers Factory-workers Hearing-disorders Hearing-loss Noise-levels Occupational-hazards Workers
• ISSN:
  1463-1741
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  73-87
• Volume:
  4
• Issue:
  14
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023013
• Citation:
  Noise Health 2002 Jan-Mar; 4(14):73-87
• Contact Point Address:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway/C27, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  tmorata@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Hearing Loss
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Noise & Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a21b5a72702b7a28b64f363369c693436c7cad6f133dda94bd96388706c4c6e295c17b2e971c31ba9a52bbc04ac0eeaf4dddd8d68099359d36a352314b4b860
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199605/cdc_199605_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 388.67 KB ]