[Audiometric surveillance of occupational environment].

Noise levels in Danish workplaces at which hearing impairment will occur in more than 10% of the workers are still frequent. Annually 300 cases are compensated for noise induced hearing loss at a national level. This may indicate that the current national hearing protection strategy, which relies on noise reduction only, is insufficient. By audiometric screening early hearing loss will be detected and further progression may be halted. This paper reviews the methods of continuous audiometric screening of noise exposed worker populations. Reliability and validity are discussed, and an overview of quality assurance programmes is given. It is concluded that a national hearing conservation program should be implemented in Denmark.