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
. 2016 Apr;66(3):208-14.
doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqv168. Epub 2015 Oct 15.

Hearing conservation in the primary aluminium industry

A M Donoghue  1 , N Frisch  2 , C Dixon-Ernst  3 , B J Chesson  4 , M R Cullen  5
Affiliations

Hearing conservation in the primary aluminium industry

A M Donoghue et al. Occup Med (Lond). 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Noise-induced hearing loss has been an intractable problem for heavy industry.

Aims: To report our experience in reducing the incidence of age-corrected confirmed 10 dB hearing shifts (averaged over 2, 3 and 4 kHz) in employees in the primary aluminium industry in Australia over the period 2006-13.

Methods: We analysed annual audiometric data to determine the number of permanent hearing shifts that occurred in employees in two bauxite mines, three alumina refineries and two aluminium smelters. Annual hearing shift rates were calculated based on the number of employees tested per year. Hearing conservation initiatives undertaken during the study period are described. An assessment of similar exposure group noise exposures was also undertaken to determine the magnitude of noise exposure reduction during the study period.

Results: Across all operations, hearing shift rates declined from 5.5% per year in 2006 to 1.3% per year in 2013 (P < 0.001). The decline in shift rates was greater in mines and refineries, where baseline shift rates were higher, than in smelter workers. Modest reductions in noise exposure occurred during the study period.

Conclusions: We observed a substantial decline in hearing shift rates during the study period. We describe the hearing conservation initiatives that were collectively associated with this decline. We suspect these initiatives could be deployed relatively easily and at modest cost in other industries with noise-exposed employees.

Keywords: Audiometry; hearing loss; minerals processing; mining; noise; noise-induced hearing loss; smelter..

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Age-corrected confirmed 10 dB hearing shift rate (% per year) for all of Alcoa of Australia’s mines, refineries and smelters combined. Trend P < 0.001.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Age-corrected confirmed 10 dB hearing shift rate (% per year) for Alcoa of Australia’s mines, refineries and smelters viewed separately. Trend: Mines P < 0.001, Refineries P < 0.001, Smelters P < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. NIOSH. Noise and Hearing Loss Prevention [Internet]. Washington, DC: National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; [cited 16 June 2015]. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise (27 September 2015, date last accessed).
    1. Masterson EA, Deddens JA, Themann CL, Bertke S, Calvert GM. Trends in worker hearing loss by industry sector, 1981–2010. Am J Ind Med 2015;58:392–401. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schulz TY. Individual fit-testing of earplugs: a review of uses. Noise Health 2011;13:152–162. - PubMed
    1. Alcoa Inc. Environment Health and Safety Standard 71.9 Hearing Conservation and Engineering Noise Control. New York: Alcoa Inc, 2014; 1–10.
    1. OSHA. Occupational Noise Exposure Standard 1910.95 [Internet]. Washington, DC: Occupational Safety and Health Administration; [cited 07 January 2015]. https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS... (27 September 2015, date last accessed).

Publication types

MeSH terms