Do hearing protectors protect hearing

Details

• Personal Author:
  Davis, Rickie R. ; Groenewold MR ; Masterson, Elizabeth A. ; Themann, Christa L.
• Description:
  Background: We examined the association between self-reported hearing protection use at work and incidence of hearing shifts over a 5-year period. Methods: Audiometric data from 19,911 workers were analyzed. Two hearing shift measures-OSHA standard threshold shift (OSTS) and high-frequency threshold shift (HFTS)-were used to identify incident shifts in hearing between workers' 2005 and 2009 audiograms. Adjusted odds ratios were generated using multivariable logistic regression with multi-level modeling. Results: The odds ratio for hearing shift for workers who reported never versus always wearing hearing protection was nonsignificant for OSTS (OR 1.23, 95% CI 0.92-1.64) and marginally significant for HFTS (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.00-1.59). A significant linear trend towards increased risk of HFTS with decreased use of hearing protection was observed (P¼0.02). Conclusion: The study raises concern about the effectiveness of hearing protection as a substitute for noise control to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in the workplace. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Hearing Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Men Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Audiometry Auditory-system Author Keywords: Noise Exposure-levels Hearing-conservation Hearing-protection Hearing Protection Humans Models Noise-control Noise-induced-hearing-loss Noise-induced Hearing Loss Noise-protection Occupational Hearing Loss Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Risk-factors Surveillance-programs Work-areas Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  57
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044057
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2014 Sep; 57(9):1001-1010
• Contact Point Address:
  Matthew R.Groenewold, PhD, MSPH, 275 E.Main St.MSHS1-EJ, Frankfort, KY 40621
• Email:
  gyr5@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:85c4044621cc7ca172ec00a5a821934ae925b4c46dd031ba02dc52e123bd7d8a3a31367dd22eb773c796a4713517e8d272cad1f35b2b14d06f0315af00980486
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199908/cdc_199908_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 116.78 KB ]