Retrospective analysis on the protection of custom-made hearing earplugs worn by oceangoing seafarers
10.3760/cma.j.issn.1009-6906.2014.05.009
- VernacularTitle:佩戴定制耳塞对远洋船员听力保护效果的追踪分析
- Author:
Hongyi FENG
1
;
Hengfu CAO
;
Xuelin LIU
;
Yanmei LANG
Author Information
1. 江阴市疾病预防控制中心, 江苏省江阴,214434
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Seafarers of ocean-going ship;
Custom-made earplug;
Hearing loss;
Retrospective study
- From:
Chinese journal of nautical medicine and hyperbaric medicine
2014;21(5):324-328
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective To investigate long-term protective effects of custom-made hearing earplugs on the hearing of oceangoing seafarers,so as to provide scientific evidence for the development of related countermeasures against noise-induced hearing damage.Methods One hundred and twenty noise-exposed ship crew members,who were randomly selected from the engineering department of the surveillance ship and wore custom-made hearing protection earplugs (HPE) were chosen as the custom-made hearing protection earplug group.Other 40 ship crew members with similar age,years of sea service and gender,who wore earlyplugs readily available from market,were chosen as the market ear-plug group.A follow-up study was made for successively 4 years from 2007 to 2011,and then,changes in hearing thresholds and adverse reactions were compared between the crews of the 2 groups.Results Noise in the engineering department of the surveillance ship was mainly medium and high frequency noise and intensity was between 73.3 dB (A) and 102.7 dB (A),with LEX,8h ≥ 85 dB (A).A 4-year consecutive investigation on the seafarers wearing the custom-made earplugs indicated that there was no significant changes in the hearing threshold at various frequencies (P ＞0.05).Four years later,incidence of deafness among the seafarers increased from 7.5％ to 9.6％,but without statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05).Custom-made earplugs were more comfortable to wear,with little discomfort,and statistical significance could be noted,when compared with the control group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Noise environment onboard the surveillance ship had adverse effects on the hearing of seafarers during prolonged operation at sea.Custom-made earplugs were individual hearing protection devices that were designed and built according to individual outer ear canal structures,for that reason,they could offer positive hearing protection for the ship crew.
