Noise Induced Hearing Loss Pak Armed Forces Med J 2021; 71 (Suppl-3): S607 OCCUPATIONAL NOISE INDUCED HEARING LOSS: IT’S FREQUENCY & RISK FACTORS Muhammad Javid Iqbal Pattafi, Nazia Mumtaz*, Ghulam Saqulain** Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur Pakistan, *Riphah International University, Lahore Pakistan, **Capital Hospital, CDA Islamabad Pakistan ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the frequency and risk factors of occupational noise induced hearing loss. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Dispensary Unit of Jaith Bhuta Sugar Mill near Rahim Yar Khan, Southern Punjab. from Aug 2017 to Jan 2018. Methodology: This study was conducted using nonprobability consecutive sampling. n=300 workers of both genders aged 18-40 years were assessed. Basic demographic parameters, otoscopic examination and Pure Tone Audiometry were used for data collection. The Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Results: Study included 215 (71.7%) males and 85 (28.3%) females with male to female ratio of 2.53: 1 and mean age of 28.34 ± 4.61 years. The frequency rate of hearing impairment (HI) was 90 (30%) out of 300 respondents in this study. Out of 70 (100%) of respondents were affected with duration of job of 6-10 years. There was significant association between gender, age, education, duration of noise exposure with occupational noise induced hearing loss with p-value <0.001. Conclusion: There was high frequency of occupational noise induced hearing loss (ONIHL) with significant risk factors being level and duration of exposure to noise (ETN), age, gender, education and hearing protective devices (HPD)’s. Keywords: Exposure to noise, Frequency, Hearing protective devices, Hearing loss, Occupational noise. How to Cite This Article: Pattafi MJI, Mumtaz N, Saqulain G. Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss: It’s Frequency & Risk Factors. Pak Armed Forces Med J 2021; 71 (Suppl-3): S607-611. Doi: https://doi.org/10.51253/pafmj.v1i1.3850 INTRODUCTION Occupational noise is common cause of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) as well as non-auditory effects like frustration, sleep disturbances, hyperten- sion, cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impair- ment. 1 Though industry is a common place of noise pollution, however even cities in developing countries have unacceptable levels of noise demanding mitiga- tion measures. 2 The auditory effects of high noise level (HNL) are occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) which has been documented as the primary and most direct health effect from exposure to noise (ETN). According to WHO, exposure to Occupational noise is second commonest risk factors at workplace. 3 Histori- cally, certain occupations were recognized to produced hearing impairment (HI) and terms such as ‘boiler - makers deafness’ and ‘weavers deafness’ were used, 4 however today a number of occupations are implicated to be at risk. These include working in foundries, cons- truction, printing, factories, fire departments, police, troops as well as couriers, musicians, farmers, drivers and so many other. With delayed identification of hearing loss in developing countries like Pakistan, 5 knowing the local prevalence or frequency, of ONIHL also becomes very important and necessary to plan preventive and miti- gation measures. Prevalence of ONIHL ranges from 7-21%, 6 with higher prevalence reported in some studies. 7 ONIHL occurs due to continuous or intermittent exposure to noise (ETN). It is labelled with Dobie’s criteria which include bilateral neurosensory loss with high frequency loss rarely more than 75 dB and low- frequency loss rarely more than 40 dB, which stops with cessation of noise exposure. Also as HL progres- ses, rate of loss reduces. The loss is more at 300-6000 Hz, notch at 4000-Hz usually persists at advanced stage. Onihl usually results from damage to the inner hair cells in the cochlea resulting mechanical destruc- tion and metabolic decompensation. 8 A number of risk factors have been implicated in causation of ONIHL including noise level, exposure time, area & frequency; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Correspondence: Dr Ghulam Saqulain, HOD & Professor, Department of Otolaryngology & CDA Cochlear Implant Centre, Capital Hospital, CDA, G 6/2 Islamabad-Pakistan mzahid689@gmail.com Original Article Open Access