Surprising number of health care workers have hearing loss
Up to 31 percent of the workers in the Health Care and Social Assistance (HAS) sector have experienced hearing loss, according to a new study from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The overall prevalence of hearing loss among noise-exposed exposed workers was found to be 19%, while some subsectors within the HSA had up to 31% prevalence of hearing loss. The study was published recently in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the United States. Although a smaller percentage of workers in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector are exposed to hazardous noise – unlike industries like mining or construction –NIOSH researchers found that some subsectors in the HSA had higher than expected prevalences of hearing loss for an industry that has had assumed “low-exposure” to noise.