'Medical University Prof. Dr. Paraskev Stoyanov - Varna'
Doi
Abstract
Modern life in conditions of globalization and increasing freedom of movement of people and goods is a prerequisite for increasing transport activity. As a part of it, water transport meets increased demand with flexible operation of various types of vessels, equipped with modern technologies, materials and systems. Of course, in addition to the accomplished success are some new ecological problems. Some of them are related to noise pollution. The frequencies of hearing disorder are studied among deck, machine and kitchen crew. There are 388 subjects in the study (374 or 98.4% men and 6 or 1.6% women), average age of 43,49 ± 10,7 years. Pure tone audiometry was performed. The results show pronounced professional etiology of hearing loss with peak violations at 4000Hz for machine crew. There are statistically significant correlations of the average hearing loss with age, work experience, body mass index and chronic non-communicable diseases. Additional prophylactic measures are needed to control noise levels on board vessels, medical monitoring of workers in hazardous environments and audiometric functional study of mechanics at least every two years, in accordance with international standards
