Why is Audiometry Test Required for Industrial Workers?

Businesses often conduct an audiometry test for workers when occupational noise hazards exceed the recognized standard exposure. Companies conduct such tests annually or once every two years as per local occupational safety jurisdiction requirements.

Any audiologist in Melbourne categorically advises employees to use Personal Hearing Protection (PHP) to reduce hearing loss. Doctors encourage workers to participate in audiometric testing to certify the effectiveness of hearing protection solutions.

How is Audiometric Testing Effective?

Doctors conduct audiometric tests for varying frequencies and both the ears. Audiologists determine workers’ hearing levels with an audiometer. The test involves a simple procedure of receiving a series of different tones – the participant needs to respond, indicating that they heard the tone.

At different sound levels, doctors present the tones and examine multiple times to identify the lowest level at which the participant can hear. The lowest level of the individual, known as the threshold limit, is compared to the actual baseline test. Thus, the sharpness and acuity of employees’ hearing over time get monitored.

Audiometric testing identifies –

• A temporary loss before it becomes permanent – thereby providing time to apply remedial steps.
• Progressive noise, i.e., induced hear loss before it becomes an impairment.

Do Audiometric Tests Proffer Benefits?

Routine audiometric check-ups identify people who are at risk of significant hearing loss. The tests identify changes in their hearing threshold over time and thereafter recommends the implementation of appropriate treatment plans. The treatments that employers undertake typically include – reduction of noise in that particular area, providing a higher class of hearing protection, and ensuring that the employees use the protective shield properly.

Effective audiometric tests are best conducted at least a few hours into the participant worker’s shift. It helps in identifying Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS). It shows if the PHP and noise reduction strategies are working effectively. If not, employers take immediate corrective action. It also assists in identifying if there is a need for diagnosis of potential medical problems, apart from workplace hearing loss, that might affect a person’s ability to hear.

Doctors believe that audiologists should control the test environment to conduct an audiometric test effectively.

Know Why You Need Immediate Help for Presbycusis Audiogram

The term presbycusis refers to age-related, sensorineural hearing impairment in elderly individuals. Sensory presbycusis audiogram is thought to show a sharply sloping high-frequency loss extending beyond the speech frequency range, and clinical evaluation reveals a slow, symmetric, and bilateral progression of hearing loss.

What Causes Presbycusis?

Any audiologist in Melbourne opines that sensorineural hearing loss is caused by disorders of the inner ear or auditory nerve. Presbycusis is usually a sensorineural hearing disorder. It is most commonly caused by gradual changes in the inner ear. The cumulative effects of repeated exposure to daily traffic sounds or construction work, noisy offices, equipment that produces noise, and loud music can cause sensorineural hearing loss. This loss might be mild, moderate, or severe.

What Happens in Presbycusis?

A complex condition, presbycusis arises from multiple factors that, over multiple years result in progressive and symmetrical hearing loss. Characteristically, presbycusis involves bilateral high-frequency hearing loss associated with difficulty in speech discrimination and central auditory processing of information. However, other patterns of presbycusis do exist.

Extensive research has attempted to determine the pathologic changes of presbycusis, but the exact mechanisms remain unknown. Audiometric testing with pure-tone average and speech discrimination forms the cornerstone of diagnostic testing for presbycusis. Properly fitted hearing aids might contribute to the rehabilitation of a patient with presbycusis.

The loss associated with presbycusis is usually greater for high-pitched sounds. For instance, it might be difficult for someone to hear the nearby chirping of a bird or ringing of a telephone. However, the same person might be able to hear the low-pitched sound of a truck rumbling down the street.

There are many causes of presbycusis. Most commonly it arises from changes in the inner ear of a person as they age, but presbycusis can also result from changes in the middle ear or complex changes along the nerve pathways leading to the brain. Because the process of loss is gradual people who have presbycusis might not realize that their hearing is diminishing.

Conclusion

Presbycusis is an important problem in society. It occurs in an elderly population that relies on special senses to compensate for their age-associated disabilities.