The Combined Effect of Noise and Solvent Exposure on Hearing Loss in the Tire Factory Workers

Noise and organic solvents are common in many industries and both of them affect hearing. In this study, we estimated the concurrent effect of them on hearing by evaluating the existence of notch in audiograms of workers. The number of 540 persons were enrolled in this study after eliminating workers who had the exclusion criteria. We divided them into 4 groups based on their exposure status; no exposure, exposure to noise, exposure to solvent, exposure to both of them. The presence of notch in left, right, or both ears were assessed through Coles model. The rates of notch presence in both ears in the groups of noise and organic solvents exposure, noise exposure only, solvents exposure only were 11.72, 4.49, 1.86 times higher than the control group and sole solvent exposure didn't affect hearing significantly. The same pattern was seen for notch presence in left or right ear and the solvent-noise exposure group had the highest rate of notch presence. This study aims to show the synergic effect of noise and organic solvents exposure on hearing loss. Hence, we recommend implementing a hearing protection program and a higher frequency of audiological assessments in the industries involved with concurrent exposure to noise and organic solvents.