The Impact of Noise on Hearing in Intensive Care Unit Nurses

Objective: The noise levels in the intensive care units exceed the levels suggested by the World Health Organization, because of the noises caused by devices and human noises. The aim of this study is to retrospectively examine the changes in audiometry results of nurses working in intensive care unit. Materials and Methods: The audiometry results of nurses who worked for an uninterrupted period of 1 year in intensive care unit in the last 3 years were examined retrospectively based on the results recorded at the time of employment and in the last year of working. Age, gender, years of work, assessments of hearing level and high frequency hearing losses were recorded. The normal level of hearing was accepted as 0-25dB. Results: Totally 10 male (25.6%), 29 female (74.4%) were included in the study. The mean age was 26.97 ± 4.69 years and the mean time of employment was 1.82 ± 0.91 years. The mean values of pure tone levels, which were the measurements performed at 500–1000–2000 Hz, were found to be subclinically increased in time. Two subjects (5.1 %) were confirmed to have high frequency hearing loss. Conclusion: We believe that safety of the staff might be improved by reducing the level of noise in the intensive care units and identifying the people at risk with yearly audiometry follow-ups.

___

[1] Terzi B, Azizoğlu F, Polat Ş, et al. The effects of noise levels on nurses in intensive care units. Nurs Crit Care 2019; 24(5): 299-05.

[2] Berglund B, Lindvall T, Schwela DH. Guidelines for Community Health. World Health Organization: Geneva, 1999. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/66217

[3] Ar AY, Turan G, Alay EE, et al. Yoğun bakımda gürültü farkındalığı için neler yapabiliriz? Tur J Intens Care 2018; 16(1): 10–6.

[4] Chawla S, Barach P, Dwaihy M, et al. A targeted noise reduction observational study for reducing noise in a neonatal intensive unit. J Perinatol 2017; 37(9): 1060.

[5] Tainter CR, Levine AR, Quraishi SA, et al. Noise levels in Surgical ICUs are consistently above recommended standards. Crit Care Med 2016; 44(1): 147–52.

[6] Konkani A, Oakley B. Noise in hospital intensive care units—a critical review of a critical topic. J Crit Care 2012; 27(5): 522.e1–9.

[7] Darbyshire JL. Excessive noise in intensive care units. BMJ 2016; 353: i1956.

[8] Cunningham LL, Tucci DL. Hearing Loss in Adults. N Engl J Med 2017; 377(25): 2465–73.

[9] Kim MB, Zhang Y, Chang Y, et al. Diabetes mellitus and the incidence of hearing loss: a cohort study. Int J Epidemiol 2017; 46(2): 717–26.

[10] Suchan M, Kaliarik L, Krempaska S, et al. Immunemediated cochleovestibular disease. Bratisl Lek Listy 2016; 117(2): 87-90.

[11] Halpern NA, Pastores SM, Price JB, et al. Hearing loss in critical care: an unappreciated phenomenon. Crit Care Med 1999; 27(1): 211–9.

[12] Horsten S, Reinke L, Absalom AR, et al. Systematic review of the effects of intensive-care-unit noise on sleep of healthy subjects and the critically ill. BJA 2018; 120(3): 443–52.

[13] Stucken, EZ, Hong RS. Noise-induced hearing loss: an occupational medicine perspective. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2014; 22(5): 388–93.

[14] [Basner M, Babisch W, Davis A, et al. Auditory and nonauditory effects of noise on health. Lancet 2014; 383: 1325–32.

[15] [Hong O, Kerr M, Poling G, et al. Understanding and preventing noise induced hearing loss. Dis Mon 2013; 59: 110–18.

[16] Li WG, Jiang HB, Gan T, et al. Effect of noise on the auditory system and the intelligence development of premature infants treated in the neonatal intensive care unit. Chinese J Contemp Paediatr 2009; 11(12): 976–9.

[17] Kirchner DB, Evenson E, Dobie RA, et al. Occupational noise-induced hearing loss: ACOEM Task Force on Occupational Hearing Loss. J Occup Environ Med 2012; 54(1): 106–8.

[18] Akansel N, Kaymakçi S. Effects of intensive care unit noise on patients: A study on coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients. J Clin Nurs 2008; 17: 1581–90.

[19] Park M, Kohlrausch A, de Bruijn W, et al. Analysis of the soundscape in an intensive care unit based on the annotation of an audio recording. J Acoust Soc Am 2014; 135(4): 1875–86.

[20] Hoth S, Baljić I. Current audiological diagnostics. GMS Curr Top Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2017;16.