Naveed Khan, Arif Raza Khan, Amjad Khan, Sartaj Khan.
Frequency of hearing loss in noisy occupational settings.
J Med Sci Jan ;20(4):192-5.

Objectives: To determine the frequency of noise induced hearing loss in occupational settings. Material and Methods: This was a hospital based descriptive study. The study was conducted at the Department of Ear Nose Throat and Head and Neck Unit Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar from 10-06-2010 to 09-06-2011. Patients who were diagnosed having sensoineural hearing loss due to occupational exposure to noise were included in the study. Data was collected using a written, structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Results: A total of 217 patients who had occupational exposure to noise were seen at the Outpatient Department of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. All of these patients were men. The calculated frequency of occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) was 20.3 %. Mean age at the time of presentation was 48.82 years and standard deviation was calculated as 6.746. Occupation was significantly associated with hearing loss (p=0.014). Conclusion: Noise is the hazardous industrial pollutant causing severe hearing loss in workers of every country in the world.A national program should be established considering the amount of damage the NIHL causes to the quality of life of workers.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com