Al-Rawi Natheer H, Al Nuaimi Ahmed S, Sadiqi Ansia, Azaiah Elaf, Ezzeddine Dunia, Ghunaim Qoot, Abbas Zeyad
Quintessence Int. 2019;50(3):245-250. doi: 10.3290/j.qi.a41907.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the persistent high-frequency noise produced by dental equipment could cause hearing impairment among the dental professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the hearing capacity of 90 randomly selected dental practitioners from different specialties working in the UAE. The participants were approached in their workplace and their hearing capacity was evaluated using the pure tone audiometer.
Twenty dental practitioners suffered from hearing impairment, which constitutes 22.2% of the studied sample. At high frequencies, left ears were more affected than right ears, but this was not statistically significant. There was a direct relationship between working hours per week and the hearing capacity, but this did not reach a statistically significant level. The lowest hearing capacity was detected in males at a significantly lower value compared to females.
Positive correlation was found between years of experience and reduced hearing capacity among dental practitioners. In addition, males had a significantly higher median count of severely affected hearing frequencies compared to females. Online pure tone audiometric testing is an easy, cost-effective tool that can be used to self-assess the hearing capacity of dental professionals, and it is recommended to perform this test annually.
本研究的目的是确定牙科设备产生的持续高频噪声是否会导致阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）的牙科专业人员听力受损。
本横断面研究旨在评估从阿联酋不同专业随机选取的90名牙科从业者的听力。在他们的工作场所对参与者进行调查，并使用纯音听力计评估他们的听力。
20名牙科从业者患有听力障碍，占研究样本的22.2%。在高频时，左耳比右耳受影响更严重，但这在统计学上不显著。每周工作时间与听力之间存在直接关系，但未达到统计学显著水平。男性的听力最低值明显低于女性。
发现牙科从业者的工作年限与听力下降之间存在正相关。此外，与女性相比，男性严重受影响的听力频率中位数明显更高。在线纯音听力测试是一种简单、经济高效的工具，可用于自我评估牙科专业人员的听力，建议每年进行此项测试。
