The Incidence of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) In a South African Diamond Mine.
Date
2006-10-31T13:22:47Z
Authors
Bomela, Dumisani Sizwe
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Abstract
Background: Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is increasingly being regarded as one of
the most important Occupational diseases, especially in the mining industry. As most mining
houses have put systems in place to try and control this problem it remains to be seen if
existing controls are effective in achieving the intended objective of preventing hearing loss.
This study was conducted in one of the big South African Diamond mines, which has a well
resourced Hearing Conservation Program.
Objectives: This study was conducted with the purpose of establishing if there has been
additional incidence of NIHL in noise exposed workers during the observation period of five
years. The other objective of this study was to determine the effect of age.
Study design and method: The population in this study was made up of permanent
employees of the mine. They were divided into low risk and high risk groups according to the
noise/acoustic zoning of their work areas by the mine’s Occupation Hygiene Section, with the
low exposure group acting as the control group. A retrospective record review was done using
the Occupational Health records in the mine’s Occupational Health Centre. The period of
observation spanned 1 January 1999 – 31 December 2004 (inclusive). Trends of the collated
data were used to compare the two exposure groups with regard to the various outcomes that
are commonly associated with hazardous noise exposure.
Results: The outcomes that were analyzed in this study were: Incidence Rates for NIHL,
Notching and Down-sloping. All these were observed to have occurred more among the
exposed group during the period of observation. The incidence rates, in particular, were found
to 92.8 per thousand person years in the high exposure group and 52.3 per thousand person
years in the low exposure group. The statistical test that was used was the z-test and the results
were z=5.844 with a p<0.05. Having decided on a significance level of 5% for the statistical
test, this result was found to be statistically significant. This can be regarded as some proof that
the exposed group had a worse outcome than their non-exposed counterparts. Another
observation that was made was that the incidence of NIHL was proportionately higher among
the older study subjects.
Conclusion: Since the exposed group of workers was found to show statistically significant
incidence of NIHL compared to the low exposure group it shows that the current Hearing
Conservation Program (HCP) that is employed by the mine is not effective in preventing
NIHL. However there were some limitations in the study design that preclude generalization of
these results. Therefore a recommendation was made for a prospective cohort study to address
these limitations.
Description
Student Number : 0213468X -
MPh dissertation -
School of Public Health -
Faculty of Health Sciences
Keywords
Noise Induced Hearing Loss, NIHL, Occupational diseases, South African Diamond mines, age, Hearing Conservation Program