Athira Rajan¹, Srikanth Nayak^2,3, Lidiya Mathew⁴, Rahana Shiju⁴ and Sathish Kumar⁵*

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Nitte Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mangalore, India
²Assistant professor, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Yenepoya University, Mangalore, India
³Lecturer, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Nitte Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mangalore, India
⁴Student Intern, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Nitte Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mangalore, India
⁵Lecturer, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Madras ENT Research Foundation, Chennai, India

*Corresponding Author: Sathish Kumar, Lecturer, Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Madras ENT Research Foundation, Chennai, India.

Received: July 26, 2021; Published: August 16, 2021

Abstract

Background: Railway Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) is an employee in Indian railways who examines 'passenger's tickets during the journey in trains. TTEs are more susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss as they work for around 8 hours per day on the train and have continuous exposure to loud noise during their working hours. So, the present study aimed to assess the hearing sensitivity of the Indian Travelling Ticket Examiner.

Materials and Methods: The study included thirteen railway TTEs for hearing assessment. The hearing sensitivity was assessed by obtaining a detailed case history, otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry and tympanometry.

Results: The mean pure tone average was 22.5 ± 6.03 dBHL and 19.42 ± 7.06 dBHL in the right and left ear, respectively. All the subjects had minimal to mild sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. The degree of hearing loss increased at high frequencies (4 and 8 kHz).

Conclusion: The affected hearing thresholds in TTEs depicts a significant correlation between their service experience and hearing loss. The positive correction between TTEs work experience and hearing loss may lead to a handicapping situation in their professional and personal life. Hence the enrollment of railway TTEs in an appropriate and effective Hearing Conservation Program is a necessity.

Keywords: ilway Travelling Ticket Examiner; Noise Exposure; Noise-Induced Hearing Loss; Puretone Audiometry; Hearing Conservation

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Citation

Citation: Sathish Kumar., et al. “Noise Induced Hearing Loss in Indian Railway Travelling Ticket Examiners". Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 3.9 (2021): 34-38.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Sathish Kumar., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.