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- Fredriksson, Sofie, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Preschool teachers have an increased risk of hearing-related symptoms and report more occupational noise exposure compared to randomly selected women
- 2016
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Ingår i: Occupational Health: Think Globally, Act Locally, EPICOH 2016, September 4–7, 2016, Barcelona, Spain. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. ; 73:A191
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Noise-induced hearing disorder has been thoroughly studied among workers in industry-like settings, but less so in female-dominated occupations. In Sweden, noise-related occupational disease among women are reported most frequently in the education sector. We analysed questionnaires from 4,932 women with preschool teacher’s degree who have worked in preschool compared to 5,065 randomly selected women without preschool work-history (response rate 51% vs. 38%). The age range was 24–71 in both cohorts (mean 46 [SD 11] among preschool teachers and 51 [11] among controls). Prevalence and prevalence ratio in age-strata and Mantel-Haenszel pooled risk were calculated for hearing-related symptoms. Noise exposure was compared between the cohorts. A 5% level of significance was applied. Occupational noise exposure and noise annoyance were significantly more common among teachers than controls: 75% vs.31% and 69% vs.26%, respectively. Still, significantly fewer teachers used hearing protection: 3% vs. 4%. Prevalence of hearing-related symptoms was much higher among teachers than controls: sound-induced auditory fatigue (71% [95% CI: 70–72] vs. 31% [30–32]), difficulty perceiving speech (46% [45–47] vs. 26% [25–27] and hyperacusis (38% [37–39] vs. 18% [17–19] and slightly higher for hearing loss (19% [18–20] vs. 17% [6–18] and tinnitus (19% [18–20] vs. 15% [14–16]. Teachers had a twofold risk of sound-induced auditory fatigue (PR-MH 2.2 [95% CI: 2.1–2.3] and hyperacusis (PR-MH 2.1 [1.9–2.2] compared to controls, when adjusted for age. The risk was also increased for difficulty perceiving speech (PR-MH 1.8 [1.7–1.9], tinnitus (PR-MH 1.4 [1.3–1.6] and hearing loss (PR-MH 1.4 [1.3–1.5]. Mean age of onset was significantly lower among teachers for all symptoms, except for hyperacusis (p = 0.902). Leisure-noise was significantly more common among controls. Family history of hearing loss did not differ (p = 0.411). The study is the first to show that preschool teachers have an increased risk of hearing-related symptoms, which may be caused by the work environment.
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| 2. |
- Fredriksson, Sofie, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Validating self-reporting of hearing-related symptoms against pure-tone audiometry,otoacoustic emission, and speech audiometry
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Audiology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1499-2027 .- 1708-8186. ; 55:8, s. 454-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To validate self-reported hearing-related symptoms among personnel exposed to moderately high occupational noise levels at an obstetrics clinic. Design: Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for questionnaire items assessing hearing loss, tinnitus, sound sensitivity, poor hearing, difficulty perceiving speech, and sound-induced auditory fatigue. Hearing disorder was diagnosed by pure-tone audiometry, distortion Product otoacoustic emissions, and HINT (Hearing In Noise Test). Study sample: Fifty-five female obstetrics personnel aged 22–63 participated; including 26 subjects reporting hearing loss, poor hearing, tinnitus, or sound sensitivity, and 29 randomly selected subjects who did not report these symptoms. Results: The questionnaire item assessing sound-induced auditory fatigue had the best combination of sensitivity 85% (95% CIs 56 to 100%)and specificity 70% (95% CIs 55 to 84%) for hearing disorder diagnosed by audiometry or otoacoustic emission. Of those reporting sound-induced auditory fatigue 71% were predicted to have disorder diagnosed by otoacoustic emission. Participants reporting any hearing-related symptom had slightly worse measured hearing. Conclusions: We suggest including sound-induced auditory fatigue in questionnaires for identification of hearing disorder among Healthcare personnel, though larger studies are warranted for precise estimates of diagnostic performance. Also, more specific and accurate hearing tests are needed to diagnose mild hearing disorder.
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