High levels of sound pressure: acoustic reflex thresholds and auditory complaints of workers with noise exposure.

Introduction: The clinical evaluation of subjects with occupational noise exposure has been difficult due to the discrepancy between auditory complaints and auditory test results. This study aimed to evaluate the contralateral acoustic reflex thresholds of workers exposed to high levels of noise, and to compare these results to the subjects' auditory complaints.

Methods: This clinical retrospective study evaluated 364 workers between 1998 and 2005; their contralateral acoustic reflexes were compared to auditory complaints, age, and noise exposure time by chi-squared, Fisher's, and Spearman's tests.

Audiogram comparison of workers from five professional categories.

Introduction: Noise is a major cause of health disorders in workers and has unique importance in the auditory analysis of people exposed to it. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the arithmetic mean of the auditory thresholds at frequencies of 3, 4, and 6 kHz of workers from five professional categories exposed to occupational noise.

Methods: We propose a retrospective cross-sectional cohort study to analyze 2.

Peak nasal inspiratory flow evaluation as an objective method of measuring nasal airflow.

Unlabelled: Acoustic rhinometry, rhinomanometry and Inspiratory Peak Nasal Flow (IPNF) are used in order to objectively assess nasal patency. These are expensive not very practical tests, except for IPNF, which is a fast, simple and low cost method.

Objective: To assess IPNF in healthy individuals complaining of nose obstruction caused by allergic rhinitis.

[Prevalence of auditory and vestibular symptoms among workers exposed to occupational noise].

The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of auditory and vestibular symptoms in workers exposed to occupational noise. There were examined medical records of 175 workers with noise-induced hearing loss who attended an occupational health reference center in the city Campinas, Southeastern Brazil, from 1997 to 2003. The variables studied were frequency of symptoms of hypoacusis, tinnitus, and vertigo.

[Diseases of the upper respiratory tract].

A great number of agents found in inhaled air, whether in the environment or in the workplace, can cause symptoms and diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Unfortunately, establishing the cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to one of the various types of agents that can provoke such diseases and the diseases themselves is not routine practice among the health professionals involved. A comprehensive list of these agents and their relationships with the effects and onset of such illnesses is available in the literature.

Exposure to occupational noise: otoacoustic emissions test alterations.

Unlabelled: Exposure to occupational noise may cause injuries to the inner ear, and the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) may identify initial auditory alterations, thus assisting NIHL early diagnosis.

Aim: The goal of this study was to evaluate DPOAE as a method to diagnose early physiopathological alterations caused by occupational noise exposure.

Study Design: Transversal.