Audiological Profile of Workers Enrolled in a Reference Center for Occupational Health

Introduction: The labor activity sometimes aggravates the hearing health. In Brazil, Reference Centers for Occupational Health, were articulated in order to develop prevention, promotion and restoration of health workers.

Objectives: Identify the audiological profile of the population treated at the Speech Therapy Clinic of a Reference Center.

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted by using data from medical records, from the Reference Center on Health Worker demand, between the period of April 2012 to April 2014. A total of 191 records containing information regarding the characteristics hearing, occupational and morbidity were analyzed.

Results: 54% of the workers attended were men, 47 years old on average, being working in various occupations for 14.6 years. Regarding occupational hazards, 36.6% of workers are exposed only the physical risk, 17.2% only chemical risk, and 9.4% reported combination of risks. Only 8.4% of workers evaluated mentioned effectively use the hearing protection device; 55.4% report buzz; in the right ear, 21% already have hearing loss and 28.2% had normal hearing at a loss in some frequencies, in the left ear presented respectively 20.4% and 33%.

Conclusion: The majority of workers evaluated are men, do not use hearing protection devices and if symptoms analyzed hearing along with audiological reports, hearing complaints are common to half of this population.