Prevalence of high frequency hearing loss consistent with noise exposure among people working with sound systems and general population in Brazil: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Music is ever present in our daily lives, establishing a link between humans and the arts through the senses and pleasure. Sound technicians are the link between musicians and audiences or consumers. Recently, general concern has arisen regarding occurrences of hearing loss induced by noise from excessively amplified sound-producing activities within leisure and professional environments. Sound technicians' activities expose them to the risk of hearing loss, and consequently put at risk their quality of life, the quality of the musical product and consumers' hearing. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of high frequency hearing loss consistent with noise exposure among sound technicians in Brazil and compare this with a control group without occupational noise exposure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a cross-sectional study comparing 177 participants in two groups: 82 sound technicians and 95 controls (non-sound technicians). A questionnaire on music listening habits and associated complaints was applied, and data were gathered regarding the professionals' numbers of working hours per day and both groups' hearing complaint and presence of tinnitus. The participants' ear canals were visually inspected using an otoscope. Hearing assessments were performed (tonal and speech audiometry) using a portable digital AD 229 E audiometer funded by FAPESP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no statistically significant difference between the sound technicians and controls regarding age and gender. Thus, the study sample was homogenous and would be unlikely to lead to bias in the results. A statistically significant difference in hearing loss was observed between the groups: 50% among the sound technicians and 10.5% among the controls. The difference could be addressed to high sound levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The sound technicians presented a higher prevalence of high frequency hearing loss consistent with noise exposure than did the general population, although the possibility of residual confounding due to unmeasured factors such as socioeconomic status cannot be ruled out.</p

Relação entre a queixa auditiva e os achados audiológicos de um grupo de idosos ativos

OBJETIVO: investigar a presença de queixa auditiva em um grupo de idosos ativos e verificara possível relação entre a autopercepção da condição de escuta e os achados audiológicos.MÉTODOS: foram avaliados 55 idosos socialmente ativos, de ambos os sexos e faixa etária igual ou superior a 60 anos. As variáveis analisadas foram as respostas à três perguntas: "O(a) senhor(a) acha que escuta bem?", "O(a) senhor(a) escuta rádio ou televisão em volume muito alto?" e "O(a) senhor(a) tem dificuldade para escutar quando muitas pessoas conversam ao mesmo tempo?" que foram comparadas às médias tritonais dos limiares das frequências de 500, 1000 e 2000 Hz (MTT1) e de 3.000, 4.000 e 6.000 Hz (MTT2), Limiar de Reconhecimento de Fala (LRF) e Índice Percentual de Reconhecimento de Fala (IPRF).RESULTADOS: os idosos que referiram não escutar bem, apresentaram piores desempenhos nas médias de todas as variáveis analisadas. Os idosos que mencionaram aumentar o volume do rádio ou televisão não apresentaram diferença estatisticamente significante na análise da MTT2 em comparação aos que não o fazem, porém, houve esta diferença quando analisadas as variáveis MTT1, LRF e IPRF. Os sujeitos que referiram dificuldade de escutar quando muitas pessoas conversam ao mesmo tempo, não apresentaram diferença estatisticamente significante, mas as médias das variáveis evidenciaram piores desempenhos destes sujeitos, quando comparados àqueles sem a queixa.CONCLUSÃO: houve presença de queixa auditiva em todas as questões e foi verificada relação entre a autopercepção da condição de escuta e os resultados da avaliação audiológica