Clinical and Experimental Audiology, ENT Department, Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Room D2-211, P.O. Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2011 Jun;84(5):577-90. doi: 10.1007/s00420-010-0606-3. Epub 2011 Jan 4.
Noise exposure is an important and highly prevalent occupational hazard in the construction industry. This study examines hearing threshold levels of a large population of Dutch construction workers and compares their hearing thresholds to those predicted by ISO-1999.
In this retrospective study, medical records of periodic occupational health examinations of 29,644 construction workers are analysed. Pure-tone audiometric thresholds of noise-exposed workers are compared to a non-exposed control group and to ISO-1999 predictions. Regression analyses are conducted to explore the relationship between hearing loss and noise intensity, noise exposure time and the use of hearing protection.
Noise-exposed workers had greater hearing losses compared to their non-noise-exposed colleagues and to the reference population reported in ISO-1999. Noise exposure explained only a small proportion of hearing loss. When the daily noise exposure level rose from 80 dB(A) towards 96 dB(A), only a minor increase in hearing loss is shown. The relation of exposure time and hearing loss found was similar to ISO-1999 predictions when looking at durations of 10 years or more. For the first decade, the population medians show poorer hearing than predicted by ISO-1999.
Duration of noise exposure was a better predictor than noise exposure levels, probably because of the limitations in noise exposure estimations. In this population, noise-induced hearing loss was already present at the beginning of employment and increased at the same rate as is predicted for longer exposure durations.
噪声暴露是建筑行业中一个重要且普遍存在的职业危害。本研究调查了荷兰大量建筑工人的听力阈限值，并将其与 ISO-1999 进行了比较。
在这项回顾性研究中，分析了 29644 名建筑工人定期职业健康检查的医疗记录。将噪声暴露工人的纯音听阈与非噪声暴露对照组和 ISO-1999 预测值进行比较。进行回归分析以探讨听力损失与噪声强度、噪声暴露时间和使用听力保护之间的关系。
与非噪声暴露同事和 ISO-1999 报告的参考人群相比，噪声暴露工人的听力损失更大。噪声暴露仅解释了一小部分听力损失。当每日噪声暴露水平从 80dB(A)升高到 96dB(A)时，听力损失仅略有增加。当观察 10 年或更长时间的暴露时间与听力损失的关系时，发现与 ISO-1999 预测值相似。对于第一个十年，人群中位数的听力比 ISO-1999 预测的要差。
噪声暴露时间比噪声暴露水平更能预测听力损失，这可能是因为噪声暴露估计存在局限性。在该人群中，噪声性听力损失在开始就业时就已经存在，并以与较长暴露时间相同的速度增加。
