Occupational noise and its impact on hearing disorders in oil drill workers

Abstract

Introduction: Occupational noise in the oil industry can have adverse effects on workers' hearing health, ranging from temporary hearing loss to permanent conditions, affecting hearing ability, work performance, communication, and operations. The main objective of this study was to establish the relationship between exposure to occupational noise and hearing disorders in the personnel of 9 oil drills in the Amazon region of Ecuador. Methods: Observational, cross-sectional, analytical, prospective and relational research was carried out with a population of 153 workers. The primary method was to measure occupational noise levels and assess hearing disturbances using audiometric tests. For the inferential analysis, the Kendall Correlation test was used. Results: The results revealed that 35% of the workers were exposed to medium noise levels and 17% to very high noise. Regarding hearing health, 17% of the workers had normoacusis, 17% acoustic trauma and 20% hearing loss. Kendall's correlation analysis obtained a coefficient of 0.15 with a significance value of 0.028, indicating a weak positive correlation between the variables evaluated. Conclusions: It was concluded that there is a low positive correlation between the study variables, that is, the greater the occupational exposure to noise, the greater the presence of hearing disorders in the personnel working in the reconditioning drills.