Abstract
What is already known about this topic?Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been the second most common occupational disease in China. Noise energy is the main risk factor for occupational NIHL. Evidence shows the temporal structure of noise (as indicated by kurtosis metric) contribute to the development of NIHL. However, the role of the kurtosis metric in evaluating the risk of occupational NIHL associated with complex noise has been rarely reported.What is added by this report?Noise temporal structure (as indicated by kurtosis) is an important risk factor for occupational NIHL in addition to noise energy. Kurtosis can be used to quantify complex noise exposure. A combination of noise kurtosis and noise energy can effectively evaluate the risk of occupational hearing loss associated with complex noise.What are the implications for public health practice?Considering the effect of noise temporal structure on occupational NIHL, the existing international noise exposure standards (e.g. measurement method and noise exposure limit) for complex noise should be modified based on noise temporal structure. More effort is needed to reduce noise exposure, improve health screening, and monitor occupational NIHL.
Highlights
China CDC WeeklySummary What is already known about this topic? Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been the second most common occupational disease in China
Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most prevalent occupational diseases worldwide, and it ranks the second occupational disease in China [1]
These findings indicated that the existing international noise exposure standards (e.g. ISO 1999:2013) might not be adequate for complex noise, in which the noise energy served as the only metric to assess NIHL based on the equal energy hypothesis (EEH) [4]
Summary
Summary What is already known about this topic? Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been the second most common occupational disease in China. The previous animal experiments and epidemiological studies showed that in addition to noise energy, the temporal structure of noise was a necessary metric to assess the hearing loss caused by complex noise [3]. These findings indicated that the existing international noise exposure standards (e.g. ISO 1999:2013) might not be adequate for complex noise, in which the noise energy (e.g. the A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level, LAeq) served as the only metric to assess NIHL based on the equal energy hypothesis (EEH) [4]. The inclusion criteria for these subjects were as follows: 1) a minimum of 1-year noise exposure with fixed work tasks; 2) no history of drug-related hearing
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