Hearing Acuity Loss Of Operators Of Food Grinding Machines In Calabar, Nigeria

Noise has been generally found to cause hearing impairment. This was therefore a comparative study to determine whether chronic exposure to noise generated from food grinding machine can impair hearing acuity. Forty food grinding machine operators in Watt and Marian markets, Calabar, who were exposed to noise for at least 6 months formed the test subjects. Control subjects, however, were age- and sex-matched staff and students of the University of Calabar and University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, who were exposed to low noise level. Results obtained showed that noise level in test sites (105.8 ± 9.24dB) was significantly higher than that in the control sites (55.5 ± 1.78dB;