Hearing-impairment among workers in a surface gold mining company in Ghana.
A study to determine the impact of hazardous noise on workers was conducted in a surface gold mining company in Ghana. The procedure adopted included noise survey, case history, otoscopy and conventional pure-tone audiometry. Five main areas were surveyed for hazardous noise namely, Pit, Processing, Ana Laboratory, Bore-hole and Mess area. The results showed that all the above areas except the Mess area produced noise levels above 85 dBA. Again, a total of 252 workers were seen at the company, and out of this number 59(23%) had the classical noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) at 4 KHz. In addition, NIHL increased as a function of age and duration of exposure. It is also noted that out of 81 workers with a preemployment history of noise exposure, 41(51%) had NIHL. NIHL also varied with regard to job location. 14(6%) of the workers had hearing loss greater than 25 dB at the speech frequencies. Thus, factors not under the control of the company may affect the hearing of an employee.
Amedofu
Geoffrey K
GK
Department of Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat, School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana. amedofugk@yahoo.com
D000328:Adult; D001299:Audiometry; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006046:Gold; D006306:Health Surveys; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008906:Mining; D009623:Noise, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors
D006046:Gold