Occupation and behavioural factors on hearing impairment in workers in noise-producing occupations

Introduction. Identification of early signs of occupational hearing loss among workers in noise occupations is an extremely important aspect of preserving the labour potential of the economy.

Materials and methods. Sociological (survey to identify behavioural factors), hygienic (study of factors in the working environment and the labour process) and clinical-functional (anthropometry, examination by an otorhinolaryngologist, audiometry) studies of workers (two hundred six people) in noise occupations in bearing production were carried out.

Results. Working conditions of workers in the production of bearings have been established to be characterized by the impact of increased levels of noise, general and local vibration, thermal radiation, and the hardness of the labour process. Depending on the type of production operations performed and the complex of influencing factors, working conditions are classified as harmful degrees 2–4 (classes 3.2–3.4). The proportion of people with hearing impairment was 16.5% of the total number of those examined. The prevalence of hearing impairment increased statistically significantly with increasing age (p<0.001). In the group of workers with hearing impairment, compared to the group without impairment, an excess of the proportion of people who do not adhere to the principles of a healthy lifestyle - smoking, insufficient physical activity, unhealthy diet was found; a statistically significant excess of the proportion of people with a body mass index level indicating to the presence of pre-obesity and obesity (p=0.005).

Limitations determined by the boundaries of the study of industrial and behavioural factors that determine hearing impairment among workers in noise-producing occupations at a bearing production enterprise.

Conclusion. There is shown the role of occupation and behavioural factors in the development of hearing impairment in metalworking workers, which requires further research to develop comprehensive preventive measures.

Compliance with ethical standards. The studies were conducted in compliance with the requirements of ethical standards and the principles of the WMA Declaration of Helsinki (2013 edition). Voluntary informed consent was obtained from all study participants. The study was approved by the local ethical committee of the Saratov International Research Center for Hygiene, Federal Scientific Research Center for Medical and Preventive Technologies for Public Health Risk Management (protocol №1 dated 10.01.2024).

Contribution:
Spirin V.F – concept and design of the study, text writing, editing;
Novikova T.A. – analysis and interpretation of results, writing text, text writing;
Komleva N.E. – editing, approval of the final version of the article;
Mazilov S.I. – collection and statistical processing of data.
All co-authors – responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: February 14, 2024 / Accepted: April 9, 2024 / Published: June 17, 2024

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