Effect of Environmental Noise Exposure on the Aural Health of Adolescent Males of Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Environmental noise is considered as most unwanted outdoor noise emitted from different neighborhood sources, excluding the noise of industrial regions. In metropolitan areas, as a part of technological and infrastructural development, noise emission from transportation and other sources is increasing and imposing significant influence on our living environment which may affect the citizen, including children, being recurrently exposed to it. In this context, the present work was conducted to evaluate the effect of noise exposure, if any, on aural health status of Bengalee adolescent males residing and attending school in metropolitan area. 44 individuals (age 16-18 years) residing in and around Kolkata was selected as Exposed Group (EG) and 52 males of similar age, residing in the relatively tranquil and quiet rural area constituted the Control Group (CG). The audiometric evaluation was conducted on each study participants in the comparatively quiet room and the degree of hearing impairment was calculated. The noise survey was conducted in concerned school premises. The results indicate that EG males had significant (P < 0.05) bilateral hearing impairment at speech frequency compared to CG individuals. From the present work it may be mentioned that adolescent males residing in the metropolitan area are suffering from hearing impairment.