Association between noise annoyance and hearing loss caused by chronic exposure to noise among the workers of an automotive industry

Background: As a physical pollutant in the workplace, noise has physiological and psychological consequences for people. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between annoyance and hearing loss in the people exposed to chronic noise in the automotive industry. Methods: 250 workers exposed to sound pressure in the work environment were randomly selected. The DANPLEX-AS54 audiometry device was also used to measure the workers’ hearing levels. Furthermore, an annoyance inventory containing questions numbered 1 to 11 to indicate the level of annoyance was used as well. Results: using Pearson correlation coefficient to evaluate hearing levels and annoyance, we found out a significant positive relationship between annoyance and hearing level at frequencies of 2000, 4000 and 8000 in the left ear, and frequency of 6000 in the right ear (P <0.001). Also, there was a significant relationship between annoyance and NIHL (noise-induced hearing loss) in the left ear, and general conditions (both ears) (P <0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study, showed that there was a significant positive relationship between noise annoyance and hearing loss among the workers, and the likelihood of noise annoyance increased with the incidence of hearing loss. *Correspondence to: Fakhradin Ahmadi kanrash, MSc Student, Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Student Research Committee, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, E-mail: F_ahmadi1367@yahoo.com