Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Karabuk University, Karabuk, Turkey.
Department of Audiology, Karabuk University, Vocational School of Health Services, Karabuk, Turkey.
Int J Environ Health Res. 2022 Dec;32(12):2708-2717. doi: 10.1080/09603123.2021.1987395. Epub 2021 Oct 10.
Hearing protection apparatus (HPAs) are frequently used to prevent the detrimental effect of noise on the hearing system. However, it is not known exactly whether wearing HPAs in workers protects the vestibular system. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of wearing HPAs in preventing vestibular loss caused by noise. Eighty-one workers exposed to chronic noise were divided into three groups according to their HPAs wearing status. Pure-tone audiometry test was used to evaluate the hearing. Caloric test and visual analogue scale were used to evaluate their vestibular systems. The pure-tone average of the workers who constantly wore HPAs was better than that of the other groups (p< 0.05). There was no difference between the groups in the vestibular tests (p > 0.05). This study demonstrated that HPAs do not protect the vestibular system but protect the hearing system in the inner ear from the harmful effects of noise.
听力保护器（HPA）常用于防止噪声对听觉系统的有害影响。然而，目前尚不清楚工人佩戴听力保护器是否能保护前庭系统。本研究旨在调查佩戴听力保护器预防噪声引起的前庭功能丧失的效果。根据佩戴 HPA 的情况，将 81 名接触慢性噪声的工人分为三组。纯音测听用于评估听力。冷热试验和视觉模拟评分用于评估他们的前庭系统。持续佩戴 HPA 的工人的纯音平均值优于其他两组（p<0.05）。前庭测试三组间无差异（p>0.05）。本研究表明，听力保护器不能保护前庭系统，而是保护内耳的听觉系统免受噪声的有害影响。
