Noise-induced Hearing Loss, Noise Level on Road, Knowledge and Behavior for Prevention of Loosing Hearing Ability of Traffic Policemen in Surin Municipality

Abstract

         This cross-sectional study was on the noise-induced hearing loss, average road traffic sound level, knowledge and hearing loss prevention behaviors of the traffic policemen in Surin municipality. The personal information, knowledge and hearing loss prevention behaviors of a total of 31 traffic policemen were collected by a set of questionnaire (KR 20 = 0.86 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.62 respectively). Their hearing abilities were measured by an interacoustic and the average noise level at 16 stations on 7 main roads were measured by a sound level meter. It was found that all of them were male with an average age of 38.42 years, SD 5.19 years, many of them were married, high school graduate, Police Senior Sergeant Major aged less than 45 years (48.4%), with less than 6 year working experiences, smoking and had the average noise exposure for road traffic of 8.7, SD 3.5, hours per day. From the sound level measurement on the roads, it was found that the maximum sound levels measured along 1 working day were 92.6 to 121.5 dB[A], the average sound level were 67.13 to 73.77 dB[A]. The hearing test results with the frequency range from 500 to 6,000 hertz showed that 54.8 percent of them had normal hearing while 45.2 percent had hearing loss. The hearing impairment was present in left ears of 29.0 percent, 6.5 percent in right ears and 9.7 percent in both ears. On knowledge and hearing loss prevention behaviors, it was found that 71.0 percent of them were moderately knowledgeable while 58.1 percent had some unhealthy behaviors, for example, using pens, wooden sticks and other sharp objects to scrape their earwax. Therefore, they should select and use safety hats (with ear plug or muff) and should continue to reinforce their hearing loss protection behavior.

Key words: hearing loss, average road traffic sound level, traffic policemen, Surin