Assessment of occupational noise induced hearing loss via a smartphone application

Abstract

Exposure to excessive noise for long duration is one of the avoidable occupational health hazards with substantial physiological and social effect. When engineering controls and work practices are not realistic, hearing protectors should be used for reducing sound exposure to safe levels. But accurate assessment of noise induction is necessary before taking any adequate measures. The effects of occupational noise induced hearing loss are higher in the developing regions compared to the developed countries. This is due to lack of prevalent epidemiological data regarding risk factors and costs of NIHL. Hence, in this paper, we have estimated the degree of occupational NIHL among people from different professions via a smartphone application: HearlT. We have addressed five different professions primarily but more extensive deployment of this application can reveal more accurate state of occupational NIHL which can be used to raise awareness among workers about the harmful effects of noise on hearing and other body systems by implementing compulsory education or training programs.