Noise and Hearing Damage in Construction Apprentices

Details

• Personal Author:
  Seixas, Noah S.
• Description:
  In summary, the results of this study demonstrate that: Depending on the trade, construction workers are exposed over 85 dBA in about 70% of work shifts using the NIOSH exposure standard, and in about 30% of shifts using the les-protective OSHA exposure standard. Although non-occupational activities occasionally have high noise levels, these exposures make a meaningful contribution to total noise exposure for only a small fraction of construction workers. Although construction workers can attain good noise exposure attenuation using hearing protection devices, hearing protection is worn less than 20% of the time when exposure levels are over 85 dBA. As a result of this low use time, workers achieve an average of less than 3 dB of noise reduction in a full-shift exposure. Task-based assessment of noise exposure provides a comprehensive approach to estimation of noise levels associated with construction work. Construction workers were able to recall their work tasks with a high degree of accuracy. However, the large degree of variability in noise exposure between individuals doing the same task makes the estimated exposure level for any individual highly imprecise. Noise exposure can be summarized in a variety of exposure metrics. Those expressing an average level (including the NIOSH LEQ and OSHA LAVG) are very highly correlated with each other, and use of any of these average metrics probably makes little difference to the exposure-response analysis. Metrics which express the variability and impulse component of noise - exposure parameters which are very important in construction work - are poorly correlated with the average metrics. Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) directly monitor noise induced damage to the cochlea. Although a number of challenges were identified in the use of DPOAEs for monitoring changes in hearing, their test-retest variability is lower than that of pure tone behavioral audiometry, and therefore provides better sensitivity to subtle changes. However, with the particular protocol used for our study, the variability from year to year was slightly higher than previously reported in the literature. Construction work experience was associated with worse hearing (higher hearing thresholds and lower DPOAEs) in our baseline cohort of 434 subjects, with the effect seen most clearly at 6 kHz. Over an average of about 2.4 years of work in construction (3.4 annual tests) at estimated exposures of 85-90 dBA, there was a measurable decrease in DPOAEs of about 0.5 dB per year at 4 kHz. No measurable change was seen in audiometry. Further follow-up of this group of construction workers will help determine if the observed changes in DPOAEs are predictive of later changes in audiometric thresholds. If so, DPOAEs may form an important tool for monitoring and preventing hearing damage. In the mean time, increased efforts to reduce noise exposure among construction workers and prevent the development of significant hearing impairment are needed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Hearing Hearing Loss Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Audiometry Auditory System Construction Industry Construction Workers Hearing Loss Prevention Hearing Protection Noise Exposure
• Publisher:
  University of Washington
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-37
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057820
• Citation:
  Seattle, WA: University of Washington, 2004 Sep; :1-37
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Noise and hearing damage in construction apprentices
• End Date:
  20100831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6da2a5aa88b0a53b828248eb03aacf769781d46e7c65725ee2aae86a4dd23c06f1a70015664804f03de239022d8625753d4d30e927a90a1a35aa59a86bfd6ca6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215040/cdc_215040_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.13 MB ]