TABLE 5.
Prevalence of Audiometric Hearing Loss Among Working Canadians, Aged 16 to 79 Years: Occupational Noise Exposure Duration, Noise Sources, and Hearing Protection Usage
| FFPTA (n = 3,431) | HFPTA (n = 3,431) | LFPTA (n = 3,431) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 95% CI | 95% CI | 95% CI | |||||||||||||||||||
| Characteristics | n | N | % | SE % | From | To | n | N | % | SE % | From | To | n | N | % | SE % | From | To | |||
| Currently working in a noisy environment | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | 71 | 602 | 17.7 | 3.2 | 11.7 | 25.9 | e,E | 133 | 1,040 | 30.5 | 3.6 | 23.2 | 39.0 | 52 | 523 | 15.4 | 2.8 | 10.1 | 22.6 | e,E | |
| No† | 594 | 4,030 | 18.4 | 1.0 | 16.2 | 20.8 | 1,081 | 7,480 | 34.2 | 1.0 | 31.9 | 36.5 | 483 | 3,221 | 14.7 | 1.1 | 12.5 | 17.3 | |||
| Ever worked in a noisy environment | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | 313 | 2,305 | 21.6 | 2.0 | 17.5 | 26.3 | * | 532 | 3,766 | 35.2 | 1.9 | 31.2 | 39.5 | 249 | 1,939 | 18.1 | 1.4 | 15.2 | 21.5 | ‡ | |
| No† | 352 | 2,327 | 15.9 | 1.2 | 13.6 | 18.7 | 682 | 4,753 | 32.6 | 1.7 | 28.9 | 36.4 | 286 | 1,805 | 12.4 | 0.9 | 10.5 | 14.5 | |||
| Time worked in noisy environment | |||||||||||||||||||||
| <12 months | 12.6 | 3.9 | 6.3 | 23.8 | ‡ f,E | 66 | 375 | 14.7 | 3.4 | 8.6 | 23.9 | ‡ e,E | 14.1 | 4.0 | 7.4 | 25.2 | ‡ f,E | ||||
| 1 year to <5 years | 43 | 264 | 8.3 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 14.4 | ‡ e,E | 91 | 781 | 24.5 | 3.3 | 17.9 | 32.6 | ‡ e | 36 | 275 | 8.6 | 2.0 | 5.2 | 14.0 | ‡ e,E |
| 5 years to <10 years | 37 | 251 | 14.4 | 3.3 | 8.6 | 23.2 | ‡ e,E | 80 | 577 | 33.1 | 4.5 | 24.1 | 43.5 | ‡ e | 30 | 190 | 10.9 | 2.7 | 6.2 | 18.6 | ‡ e,E |
| 10 years or more† | 194 | 1,466 | 45.8 | 4.4 | 36.4 | 55.5 | 294 | 2,031 | 63.5 | 3.8 | 54.7 | 71.4 | 144 | 1,112 | 34.8 | 2.6 | 29.2 | 40.7 | |||
| Used hearing protection at work | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Always/often† | 95 | 827 | 20.6 | 3.8 | 13.6 | 30.1 | e,E | 166 | 1,303 | 32.5 | 5.2 | 22.2 | 44.9 | e | 79 | 742 | 18.5 | 3.3 | 12.3 | 27.0 | e,E |
| Sometimes/rarely/never | 218 | 1,478 | 22.1 | 1.8 | 18.4 | 26.4 | 365 | 2,458 | 36.8 | 1.9 | 32.7 | 41.0 | 170 | 1,197 | 17.9 | 1.7 | 14.5 | 21.9 | |||
| Hearing protection required/used | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes/yes | 62 | 514 | 17.5 | 3.4 | 11.2 | 26.3 | e,E | 111 | 872 | 29.7 | 5.5 | 19.2 | 42.8 | e,E | 52 | 456 | 15.5 | 3.0 | 10.0 | 23.4 | e,E |
| Yes/no† | f,F | 57 | 375 | 48.4 | 7.9 | 31.9 | 65.2 | e | 29.6 | 9.5 | 13.4 | 53.3 | f,E | ||||||||
| No/yes | 29.3 | 7.3 | 16.0 | 47.3 | f,E | 50 | 402 | 39.7 | 9.2 | 22.1 | 60.5 | e,E | 26.9 | 7.7 | 13.5 | 46.5 | f,E | ||||
| No/no | 178 | 1,210 | 21.2 | 2.1 | 17.0 | 26.2 | 296 | 2,043 | 35.8 | 1.9 | 31.8 | 40.1 | 138 | 935 | 16.4 | 2.2 | 12.1 | 21.8 | |||
| Job category | |||||||||||||||||||||
| White collar | 177 | 1,396 | 10.7 | 1.1 | 8.6 | 13.3 | * | 381 | 2,993 | 23.0 | 2.1 | 18.7 | 28.0 | * | 158 | 1,360 | 10.5 | 1.1 | 8.3 | 13.2 | |
| Blue collar† | 83 | 612 | 19.2 | 3.3 | 13.0 | 27.5 | e,E | 164 | 1,176 | 37.0 | 4.5 | 27.7 | 47.3 | e | 61 | 493 | 15.5 | 2.7 | 10.4 | 22.5 | e,E |
| Source of loud work noise | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Machinery/transport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | 261 | 1,952 | 22.5 | 2.5 | 17.5 | 28.4 | 442 | 3,213 | 37.0 | 2.4 | 32.0 | 42.3 | 202 | 1,625 | 18.7 | 1.9 | 14.8 | 23.3 | |||
| No† | 52 | 353 | 17.6 | 4.2 | 10.1 | 28.8 | e,E | 90 | 553 | 27.5 | 4.6 | 18.6 | 38.7 | e,E | 47 | 314 | 15.6 | 4.3 | 8.2 | 27.7 | e,E |
| Music/people | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | f,F | 67 | 432 | 21.9 | 4.5 | 13.6 | 33.4 | * e,E | f,F | ||||||||||||
| No† | 277 | 2,049 | 23.5 | 2.5 | 18.4 | 29.5 | 465 | 3,334 | 38.2 | 2.5 | 32.9 | 43.9 | 219 | 1,713 | 19.6 | 2.1 | 15.4 | 24.6 | |||
| Other (munitions and/or other unspecified) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | 51 | 269 | 23.6 | 4.3 | 15.6 | 34.2 | e,E | 77 | 415 | 36.4 | 5.5 | 25.3 | 49.2 | e | 40 | 199 | 17.5 | 4.6 | 9.6 | 29.8 | e,E |
| No† | 262 | 2,036 | 21.3 | 2.2 | 16.9 | 26.6 | 455 | 3,351 | 35.1 | 2.0 | 30.9 | 39.5 | 209 | 1,740 | 18.2 | 1.5 | 15.1 | 21.8 | |||
Any hearing loss: FFPTA and/or HFPTA and/or LFPTA.
e, E use with caution (coefficient of variation 16.6–33.3%), population size and %, respectively.
f, F too unreliable to be published (coefficient of variation greater than 33.3%), population size and %, respectively.
DPOAE, distortion product otoacoustic emissions; FFPTA, four-frequency pure tone average over frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz); HFPTA, high-frequency pure tone average over frequencies (3, 4, 6, and 8 kHz); LFPTA, low-frequency pure tone average over frequencies (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz).
*, ‡ significantly different from estimate for reference category (P < 0.05) and (P < 0.01), respectively.
†Reference category.