Association between occupational noise-induced hearing loss and cognitive function: a multimodal cross-sectional...

Area of Science:

• Occupational health
• Neuroscience
• Audiology

Background:

• Noise exposure in the workplace is a significant occupational hazard.
• Cognitive function can be affected by various health factors and environmental exposures.
• Understanding the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline is crucial for worker well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between hearing loss and cognitive function in noise-exposed workers.
• To evaluate audiological and neurophysiological indicators for predicting cognitive function.
• To analyze the influence of covariates like smoking, alcohol, hypertension, and diabetes.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study of 170 noise-exposed workers.
• Utilized pure-tone audiometry, otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem response, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
• Employed correlation, regression, and mediation analyses, adjusting for health risk factors.

Main Results:

• Significant negative correlations were found between hearing thresholds/ABR latency and MoCA scores.
• Age, noise exposure duration, and high-frequency hearing loss independently predicted lower MoCA scores.
• Hearing loss mediated 47.6% of the negative effect of exposure duration on cognitive function; hypertension also showed an association.

Conclusions:

• Hearing loss is significantly associated with cognitive decline in noise-exposed workers, independent of other risk factors.
• Findings suggest a link between occupational hearing loss and cognitive function, though causality cannot be inferred from this cross-sectional design.
• Multimodal assessment is recommended for early identification and intervention strategies for cognitive decline in occupational settings.