Occupational hearing loss among workers at a wood manufacturing company in Binh Duong province, 2022

Abstract

Hearing loss or occupational deafness occurs due to noise in the workplace. This occupational disease results from prolonged exposure to high levels of noise at the workplace, causing irreversible damage to the inner ear. This study aimed to describe occupational hearing loss among workers at a wood manufacturing company in Binh Duong province, 2022. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 128 workers randomly selected from a wood manufacturing company in Binh Duong. Participants were interviewed and had their hearing systems examined. Data on the level of noise were also collected from the company’s secondary data. Results indicated that noise levels ranged from 65.7 dBA to 95.6 dBA with 28 out of 141 samples (19.9%) exceeding the regulated noise levels. Among the 128 workers, 3.9% had hearing loss in their right ear, 1.6% in their left ear, and 19.6% hearing loss in both ears. The prevalence of occupational deafness
was 9.4%.