Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences and Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14221, USA.
Department of Sense Organs, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 2;17(23):8963. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17238963.
Occupational noise exposure accounts for approximately 16% of all disabling hearing losses, but the true value and societal costs may be grossly underestimated because current regulations only identify hearing impairments in the workplace if exposures result in audiometric threshold shifts within a limited frequency region. Research over the past several decades indicates that occupational noise exposures can cause other serious auditory deficits such as tinnitus, hyperacusis, extended high-frequency hearing loss, and poor speech perception in noise. Beyond the audiogram, there is growing awareness that hearing loss is a significant risk factor for other debilitating and potentially life-threatening disorders such as cardiovascular disease and dementia. This review discusses some of the shortcomings and limitations of current noise regulations in the United States and Europe.
职业性噪声暴露约占所有失能性听力损失的 16%，但由于现行法规仅在噪声暴露导致有限频率范围内的听阈移时才将听力损伤认定为与工作场所相关，因此实际数值和社会成本可能被严重低估。过去几十年的研究表明，职业性噪声暴露可引起其他严重的听觉缺陷，如耳鸣、听觉过敏、高频扩展听力损失和噪声环境下言语感知能力下降。除听力图外，人们越来越认识到听力损失是心血管疾病和痴呆等其他使人衰弱且可能危及生命的疾病的重要危险因素。本文讨论了美国和欧洲现行噪声法规的一些缺陷和局限性。
