The Use of the Kurtosis-Adjusted Cumulative Noise Exposure Metric in Evaluating the Hearing Loss Risk for Complex Noise

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hamernik RP ; Heyer NJ ; Qiu W ; Xie H-w ; Zhang M-b ; Zhang P ; Zhao Y-m
• Description:
  Objective: To test a kurtosis-adjusted cumulative noise exposure (CNE) metric for use in evaluating the risk of hearing loss among workers exposed to industrial noises. Specifically, to evaluate whether the kurtosis-adjusted CNE (1) provides a better association with observed industrial noise-induced hearing loss, and (2) provides a single metric applicable to both complex (non-Gaussian [non-G]) and continuous or steady state (Gaussian [G]) noise exposures for predicting noise-induced hearing loss (dose-response curves). Design: Audiometric and noise exposure data were acquired on a population of screened workers (N = 341) from two steel manufacturing plants located in Zhejiang province and a textile manufacturing plant located in Henan province, China. All the subjects from the two steel manufacturing plants (N = 178) were exposed to complex noise, whereas the subjects from textile manufacturing plant (N = 163) were exposed to a G continuous noise. Each subject was given an otologic examination to determine their pure-tone HTL and had their personal 8-hr equivalent A-weighted noise exposure (LAeq) and full-shift noise kurtosis statistic (which is sensitive to the peaks and temporal characteristics of noise exposures) measured. For each subject, an unadjusted and kurtosis-adjusted CNE index for the years worked was created. Multiple linear regression analysis controlling for age was used to determine the relationship between CNE (unadjusted and kurtosis adjusted) and the mean HTL at 3, 4, and 6 kHz (HTL346) among the complex noise-exposed group. In addition, each subject's HTLs from 0.5 to 8.0 kHz were age and sex adjusted using Annex A (ISO-1999) to determine whether they had adjusted high-frequency noise-induced hearing loss (AHFNIHL), defined as an adjusted HTL shift of 30 dB or greater at 3.0, 4.0, or 6.0 kHz in either ear. Dose-response curves for AHFNIHL were developed separately for workers exposed to G and non-G noise using both unadjusted and adjusted CNE as the exposure matric. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis among complex exposed workers demonstrated that the correlation between HTL3,4,6 and CNE controlling for age was improved when using the kurtosis-adjusted CNE compared with the unadjusted CNE (R 2 = 0.386 versus 0.350) and that noise accounted for a greater proportion of hearing loss. In addition, although dose-response curves for AHFNIHL were distinctly different when using unadjusted CNE, they overlapped when using the kurtosis-adjusted CNE. Conclusions: For the same exposure level, the prevalence of NIHL is greater in workers exposed to complex noise environments than in workers exposed to a continuous noise. Kurtosis adjustment of CNE improved the correlation with NIHL and provided a single metric for dose-response effects across different types of noise. The kurtosis-adjusted CNE may be a reasonable candidate for use in NIHL risk assessment across a wide variety of noise environments. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Metal Workers Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Textile Industry Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Analytical-processes Audiometry Author Keywords: Cumulative Noise Exposure Data Processing Dose Response Ear Examinations Employee Exposure Equal Energy Hypothesis Exposure-levels Hearing-loss Hearing Tests Industrial Noise Kurtosis Manufacturing Noise-exposure Noise-induced-hearing-loss Noise-induced Hearing Loss Noise-levels Noise Measurement Occupational Exposure Regression Analysis Risk Analysis Risk Assessment Standards Statistical Analysis Statistical Quality Control Steelworkers Textile Workers Work-environment

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• ISSN:
  0196-0202
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 2 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  312-323
• Volume:
  37
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050883
• Citation:
  Ear Hear 2016 May/Jun; 37(3):312-323
• Contact Point Address:
  Wei Qiu, Auditory Research Laboratories, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA
• Email:
  qiuw@plattsburgh.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Plattsburgh State University, Plattsburgh, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080901
• Source Full Name:
  Ear and Hearing
• End Date:
  20120831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0e006fdbbcc78d67629ad34f368e745ca0de4577cb1f7c193b775b879c0ee12636e07a3780cda25491960800784bcc5ebea1a466bada989efb939002b5a3562d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/211075/cdc_211075_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 621.02 KB ]