Occupational noise exposure: A review of its effects, epidemiology, and impact with recommendations for reducing its burden

Abstract

Exposure to hazardous noise is one of the most common occupational risks, both in the U.S. and worldwide. Repeated overexposure to noise at or above 85 dBA can cause permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, and difficulty understanding speech in noise. It is also associated with cardiovascular disease, depression, balance problems, and lower income. About 22 million U.S. workers are currently exposed to hazardous occupational noise. Approximately 33% of working-age adults with a history of occupational noise exposure have audiometric evidence of noise-induced hearing damage, and 16% of noise-exposed workers have material hearing impairment. While the Mining, Construction, and Manufacturing sectors typically have the highest prevalence of noise exposure and hearing loss, there are noise-exposed workers in every sector and every sector has workers with hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable. Increased understanding of the biological processes underlying noise damage may lead to protective pharmacologic or genetic therapies. For now, an integrated public health approach that (1) emphasizes noise control over reliance on hearing protection, (2) illustrates the full impact of hearing loss on quality of life, and (3) challenges the cultural acceptance of loud noise can substantially reduce the impact of noise on worker health.

Loud Music and Leisure Noise Is a Common Cause of Chronic Hearing Loss, Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

“…As mentioned in Section 2, lifetime noise exposure at the NIOSH REL (85 dB(A); 3 dB exchange; 40 h/week) and OSHA PEL (90 dB(A); 5 dB exchange; 40 h/week) is estimated to cause "material hearing impairment" (1-4 kHz PTA ≥ 25 dB HL) in 8% and 25% of workers, respectively [17,34]. Many more people whose conventional audiograms remain better than 25 dB HL develop other symptoms of NIHL, including difficulties understanding speech, especially in background noise, and chronic tinnitus and hyperacusis [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]197].…”

“…The invention of the audiometer and sound level meter [9] enabled research that eventually led most countries, including the United States in the 1970s, to implement legal limits for exposure to workplace noise [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. While these measures (summarized in Section 2) have helped, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and its associated disorders remain the most common injuries in many industrial and military settings, contributing heavily to the huge global burden of hearing loss [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Regrettably, noise limits have rarely been enforced outside of traditional extraction and manufacturing industries [35].…”

Treatment With Calcineurin Inhibitor FK506 Attenuates Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

“…Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) acquired from military duty, industrial occupations, and recreation and leisure activities is the most common occupational disease in the US and probably worldwide (Neitzel and Fligor, 2019;Themann and Masterson, 2019). Loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea, with outer hair cells (OHCs) being more vulnerable than inner hair cells (IHCs), has been well documented in humans and various animal models as a cause of permanent threshold shifts (PTS or permanent hearing loss) (Sha and Schacht, 2017;Wang and Puel, 2018).…”

New trends in the prevention of occupational noise-induced hearing loss

“…Among workers exposed to noise, approx. 33% exhibit audiometric evidence of noise-induced hearing damage, while 16% have material hearing impairment [2]. Different sources of noise are present in the military environment, varying from impulse (weapon systems) to continuous types (jet, vehicles, boot engines, etc.)…”