title: Audiogram comparison of workers from five professional categories.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Noise is a major cause of health disorders in workers and has unique importance in the auditory analysis of people exposed to it. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the arithmetic mean of the auditory thresholds at frequencies of 3, 4, and 6 kHz of workers from five professional categories exposed to occupational noise.
  
  
  METHODS
  We propose a retrospective cross-sectional cohort study to analyze 2.140 audiograms from seven companies having five sectors of activity: one footwear company, one beverage company, two ceramics companies, two metallurgical companies, and two transport companies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When we compared two categories, we noticed a significant difference only for cargo carriers in comparison to the remaining categories. In all activity sectors, the left ear presented the worst values, except for the footwear professionals (P > 0.05). We observed an association between the noise exposure time and the reduction of audiometric values for both ears. Significant differences existed for cargo carriers in relation to other groups. This evidence may be attributed to different forms of exposure. A slow and progressive deterioration appeared as the exposure time increased.
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Scalli Mathias
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Caixeta
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Guilherme Machado
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Laíza Araújo Mohana
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ronny Tah Yen
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo Hamilton
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Everardo Andrade
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: da Costa
authors.affiliation: Occupational-Otolaryngological Medical Service, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Rua Vital Brasil 251, School of Medical Sciences (FCM), University of Campinas (Unicamp), 13083-888 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Reinaldo Jordão
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gusmão
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001299:Audiometry / Q000379:methods; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D009623:Noise, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D012189:Retrospective Studies