Prevalence of Workers with Shifts in Hearing by Industry: A Comparison of OSHA and NIOSH Hearing Shift Criteria

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Occup Environ Med
• Personal Author:
  Masterson, Elizabeth A. ; Sweeney, Marie Haring ; Deddens, James A. ; Themann, Christa L. ; Wall, David K.
• Description:
  Objective
  
  The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence of workers with National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health significant threshold shifts (NSTS), Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard threshold shifts (OSTS), and with OSTS with age correction (OSTS-A), by industry using North American Industry Classification System codes.
  
  Methods
  
  2001-2010 worker audiograms were examined. Prevalence and adjusted prevalence ratios for NSTS were estimated by industry. NSTS, OSTS and OSTS-A prevalences were compared by industry.
  
  Results
  
  20% of workers had an NSTS, 14% had an OSTS and 6% had an OSTS-A. For most industries, the OSTS and OSTS-A criteria identified 28-36% and 66-74% fewer workers than the NSTS criteria, respectively.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Use of NSTS criteria allowing for earlier detection of shifts in hearing is recommended for improved prevention of occupational hearing loss.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Adolescent Adult Audiometry, Pure-Tone Cross-Sectional Studies Female Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Humans Industry Male Middle Aged National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health, U.S. Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Prevalence Retrospective Studies Risk Factors United States United States Occupational Safety And Health Administration

  More +
• Source:
  J Occup Environ Med. 56(4):446-455
• Pubmed ID:
  24662953
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4535326
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a58e61cc660799f26e16b51f6f9bfef2175061eae0652870f28ab9f52da86b38
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/32861/cdc_32861_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 387.92 KB ]