Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
International Journal of Audiology
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
36250
Funders
University of Newcastle
Abstract
Objective
This study examined the hearing threshold levels (HTL) of workers commencing employment in Australian coal mines in the State of New South Wales (NSW). The aim was to establish if some degree of hearing loss was identifiable in the mandatory pre-employment audiograms of workers.
Design
This was an observational, retrospective, repeated cross-sectional study. Study Sample De-identified audiometric records of 64196 employees entering NSW coal mining in three representative five-year periods between 1991–2015 were utilised
Results
Although HTLs were lower (better) in more recent years, the results showed clinically significant hearing loss ( ≥ 25dBHL) for older workers, 45–60 years. Pure tone average (PTA) hearing losses were greater at the higher frequencies associated with excessive noise exposure (3–6 kHz), than at the speech frequencies (0.5–4 kHz). Hearing loss in the left ears were higher compared to the right ears, with higher prevalence of audiometric notches in males.
DOI
10.1080/14992027.2021.1884908
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Audiology on 22/02/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14992027.2021.1884908.
Liebenberg, A., Brichta, A. M., Nie, V. M., Ahmadi, S., & James, C. L. (2021). Hearing threshold levels of Australian coal mine workers: A retrospective cross-sectional study of 64196 audiograms. International Journal of Audiology, 60(10), 808-819.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.1884908