[Audiometric value of workers exposed to different levels of occupational noise]

We have obtained the information collected in routine clinical examinations of 806 healthy workers. We have studied the threshold hearing levels (audiometries) of our sample. Workers have been classified under three groups of noise exposure--low, medium and high--according with their job and with the activity of the company where they work. We have take into account the influence of factors such as age, use of ototoxic substances (certain antibiotics, tabac, alcohol) or presence of otoscopic irregularities which can affect the hearing levels. In general, hearing losses increase with noise exposure in all the explored frequencies; in the other hand, in the three groups of noise exposure the highest loss is for the 4000 Hz frequency. Losses in left hear are systematically higher than in right hear.