Extended Noise Exposure Induce Health Impairment in Machinist at Bandung

Abstract

Noise at certain levels at long intervals, will be harmful to health, resulting in auditory and non-auditory impairment. This study is aimed to determine the extended noise exposure induce health impairment in machinist. This analytic study was involved 52 machinist there were chosen as samples using non-probability sampling technique with consecutive sampling method, intensity measurement was done using sound level meter on the locomotive. Interviews were done on the subjects about work length and subjective health complaints. The data were analyzed using Chi square to determine the relationship between the two variables. The noise intensity in the locomotives ranged from 70.9–107.1 dB. The proportion of subjects with work length of <10 years and ≥10 years were 42.9% and 57.1% consecutively. The proportion of hearing loss 2(3, 3%) of machinists whose work less than 10 year, 4 (7, 7%) of machinists whose work between 10 to 19 years, and 5(9.6%) of machinist whose works over 10 year, p-value 0.041 (p <0.05). The proportion of subjects with subjective health complaints are communication difficulties (24.5%), temporary tinnitus (36.7%), permanent tinnitus (0%), temporary hearing loss (20.4%), permanent hearing loss (0%), emotional disturbances (6.1%), and hypertension (0%). Statistical analysis between work length and hearing loss showed significant association, but between work length and health complaints showed an unsignificant association (p-value >0.05)