Details:

Alternative Title:
Int J Audiol
Personal Author:
Mosites, Emily ; Neitzel, Richard ; Galusha, Deron ; Trufan, Sally ; Dixon-Ernst, Christine ; ... More +
Mosites, Emily ; Neitzel, Richard ; Galusha, Deron ; Trufan, Sally ; Dixon-Ernst, Christine ; Rabinowitz, Peter ; Less -
Description:
Objective We assessed the reliability of a hearing risk factor screening survey used by hearing conservation programs for noise-exposed workers. Design We compared workers’ answers from the screening survey to their answers to a confidential research questionnaire regarding hearing loss risk factors. We calculated kappa statistics to test the correlation between yes/no questions in the research questionnaire compared to answers from one and five years of screening surveys. Study Sample We compared the screening survey and research questionnaire answers of 274 aluminum plant workers. Results Most of the questions in the in-company screening survey showed fair to moderate agreement with the research questionnaire (kappa range: −0.02, 0.57). Workers’ answers to the screening survey had better correlation with the research questionnaire when we compared five years of screening answers. For nearly all questions, workers were more likely to respond affirmatively on the research questionnaire than the screening survey. Conclusions Hearing conservation programs should be aware that workers may underreport hearing loss risk factors and functional hearing status on an audiometric screening survey. Validating company screening tools could help provide more accurate information on hearing loss and risk factors.
Subject:
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Adult
Aluminum
Article
Audiometry, Pure-Tone
Behavioral Measures
Demographics/Epidemiology
Female
Hearing Conservation
Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced
Humans
Male
Mass Screening
Metallurgy
Middle Aged
Noise
Noise, Occupational
Occupational Diseases
Reproducibility Of Results
Risk Factors
Surveys And Questionnaires

Source:
Int J Audiol. 55(12):782-786. ;
Pubmed ID:
27609310
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC5718840
Document Type:
Journal Article ;
Funding:
R01 OH008641/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ;
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:5e82f73e036906c8a0b31b574e30710c747e7d07c4d3ff1aef00b3f32a08f316
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	NIHMS921535-supplement-Appendix_A.pdf	pdf
  	NIHMS921535-supplement-Appendix_B.pdf	pdf
  	nihms921535.nxml	xml

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