Exposed and non-exposed to accupational noise: a study of resonant habits, audiometric dip and transient evocated otoacoustic emissions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to make a comparison between the audition of subjects exposed and nonexpposed to occupational noise, identifying the exposition to non-occupational noise, audiometric dip and results of transient evocated otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE). Two groups of 80 subjects each were matched by gender and age, with normal results to acoustic imitance tests. Group 2 was formed by nonexposed and group 1 by exposed to occupational noise for at least one year. 81,3% of the subjects from group 1 and 77,5% of group 2 refered exposition to non-occupational noise. The occurrence of audiometric dip in at least one ear was of 93,7% and 81,3%, respectively for groups 1 and 2. The prevalence of negative results on TEOAE was greater on group 1 (68,75%) than on group 2 (55,75%). Statistics analysis revealed a relation between being exposed to occupational noise and presenting alterations on the TEOAE.