Demographic patterns of acoustic shock syndrome as seen in a large call centre

Abstract

Call centers represent one of the fastest growing industries in East Africa. However, there are health and safety hazards unique to this new industry. This field is underexplored for workers of call centers in East Africa and this study sought to establish the presence of acoustic shock syndrome, the age and sex characteristics of the staff involved and to determine correlation between duration of exposure and development of Acoustic shock syndrome. In a descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 1351 employees, male 579 and female 772 subjects were recruited. They were screened for Acoustic shock syndrome. The age group of the subjects for this study ranged from 19-55 years. Those subjects with other medical conditions were excluded. The subjects were screened for acoustic shock syndrome using a questionnaire and the age, sex and duration of work was also sort. The total number of people with Acoustics shock syndrome were 385. This study has noted that 13% of workers at call centers develop Acoustic Shock syndrome irrespective of their duration of exposure. Males and females are affected equally. The peak groups affected are those with 3 and 5 years of work experience. Methods of noise measurement in such work environments need to be implemented so that a time weighted average can be established for protection of exposed workers.