Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul 20;7(3):1126-34.
doi: 10.14661/2015.1126-1134. eCollection 2015 Jul.

Evaluation of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) among workers at an Industrial Company exposed to different industrial noise levels in 2014

Sajad Zare  1 , Parvin Nassiri  2 , Mohammad Reza Monazzam  2 , Akram Pourbakht  3 , Kamal Azam  4 , Taghi Golmohammadi  5
Affiliations

Evaluation of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) among workers at an Industrial Company exposed to different industrial noise levels in 2014

Sajad Zare et al. Electron Physician. .

Abstract

Background: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is usually one of the main problems in industrial settings. The aim of this study was to determine whether changes in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in different DPOAE are caused by exposure to different levels of noise at different time intervals among workers exposed to noise.

Methods: This case-control study was conducted in the autumn of 2014 on 45 workers at Gol Gohar Mining and Industrial Company, which is located in Sirjan in southeast Iran. The workers were divided into three groups based on their noise exposure, i.e., 1) 15 office workers as a control group with exposure to low levels of noise, 2) 15 workers from manufacturing departments who were exposed to a medium level of noise, and 3) 15 workers from manufacturing departments who were exposed to high levels of noise. The SNRs at the frequencies of 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 6000 Hz were measured in both ears at three different time intervals during the shift work. SNRs of 6 or greater were considered as inclusion criterion. Repeated measures, the Spearman rank-order correlation test, and paired t-test analyses were used with α = 0.05 being the level of significance.

Results: For all frequencies in the right and left ears, the SNR values were more than 6, thus all SNR values were considered as acceptable responses. The effects of time and sound pressure level (SPL) on SNR were significant for the right and left ears (p = 0.027 and < 0.001, respectively). There was a statistically significant correlation between the SNR values in the right and left ears for the time intervals 7:30-8:00 A.M. and 13:30-14:00 P.M., which implied that an increase in the duration of exposure led to reduced SNR values (p = 0.024, r = 0.948).

Conclusions: The comparison of the SNR values in the right and left ears (for all frequencies and the three different SPLs) indicated that the values decreased during the shift work.

Keywords: hearing loss; noise-induced; otoacoustic emissions; signal-to-noise ratio.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Means of the SNR values at different frequencies in the right ear
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Means of the SNR values at different frequencies in the left ear
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rachiotis G, Alexopoulos C, Drivas S. Occupational exposure to noise, and hearing function among electro production workers. Auris Nasus Larynx. 2006;33(4):381–5. doi: 10.1016/j.anl.2006.03.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kopke RD, Weisskopf PA, Boone JL, Jackson RL, Wester DC, Hoffer ME, et al. Reduction of noise-induced hearing loss using L-NAC and salicylate in the chinchilla. Hear Res. 2000;149(1):138–46. doi: 10.1016/S0378-5955(00)00176-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sayapathi BS, Su AT, Koh D. The impact of different permissible exposure limits on hearing threshold levels beyond 25 dBA. Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2014;16(10) doi: 10.5812/ircmj.15520. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Halvani GH, Zare M, Barkhordari A. Noise induced hearing loss among textile workers of Taban factories in Yazd. Journal of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. 2009;15(4):69–74. (In Persian)
    1. Moussavi-Najarkola S, Khavanin A, Mirzaei R, Salehnia M, Muhammadnejad A, Akbari M. Noise-induced outer hair cells’ dysfunction and cochlear damage in rabbits. Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2012;14(10):647. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources