NOISE EXPOSURE AND HEARING LOSS AMONG THE TRAFFIC POLICEMEN WORKING AT BUSY STREETS OF JALGAON URBAN CENTRE

Abstract Traffic police have a high risk of hearing loss due to road traffic noise exposure. Here estimates are made of typical sound levels prevailing at the work place environment of traffic policemen and measures obtained of the hearing status of policemen The study focused on the traffic policemen working for 10–12 h daily in a noisy environment. Data on self-reported health status was collected by questionnaire and an audiometry used to determine hearing threshold at high and low frequencies. Eighty-four percent of the sample reported hearing loss and defined at least some difficulty in hearing by one or both ears. The prevalence of audiometric hearing impairment defined as a threshold average greater than 25 dB(A) hearing level was 80% for binaural low frequency average (250, 500 and 1000 Hz), 70% for binaural mid-frequency average (1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz) and 46% for binaural high frequency average (3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 Hz) in the traffic policemen.