Occupational hearing loss in teachers: a probable diagnosis.

Unlabelled: Teachers frequently report auditory symptoms and excessive noise in classrooms, but noise level measurements are not done routinely. Study model - a prospective clinical trial.

Aim: To study auditory symptoms and audiometric exams of teachers and classroom noise levels.

Material And Method: Data from two groups, GI (40 teachers) and GII (40 voluntaries) were studied as follows: age, gender, working conditions, audiometric exams, and classroom noise levels.

Results: In GI there were more females (86%), working in basic teaching (75%), in classes with 21-40 students (70%), with workloads between 26 and 40 hours per week (47%), and variable professional teaching time. Most teachers in GI reported excessive classroom noise (93.5%) and auditory symptoms (65%). In GI, 25% of teachers presented audiometric alterations (versus 10% of controls), with an acoustic notch predominating (11.25%; p<0.05). Noise levels close to 87dBA were recorded in classes at all teaching levels.

Conclusions: occupational hearing loss may occur in teachers. Further studies are needed to confirm this proposition.