Audiometric Profile of Fishermen Using Motor Boat in Barombong Village, Makassar Anwar Muhammad1, Savitri Eka1, Dyah Trining1 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Medical Faculty, Hasanuddin University, Indonesia Online published on 23 December, 2019. Abstract Objective To analyze the audiometric profile of Indonesian fishermen in the village of Barombong as well as determine the prevalence and degree of hearing loss and its related factors. Method This was an observational, cross-sectional study of adult full-time fishermen recruited from the village of Barombong in the city of Makassar within the province of South Sulawesi who were part of a voluntary screening for hearing loss. All pure tone audiometry tests were conducted by a single, experienced audiologist using the same pre-calibrated Interacoustics AD226 Diagnostic Audiometer. Noise intensity of the participant's working environment was sampled by a single audiologist using the same pre-calibrated Extech 407732 sound level meter for a duration of 30 minutes. Results The mean age of the study group was 43.93±8.10 years with 95% confidence interval of 26.65 34.04 years, the mean working period was 19.45±3.95 years with 95% confidence interval of 11.48–15.31 years. The mean noise intensity the participants were exposed to was 101.7±2.342dB with 95% confidence interval of 98.9–101.7dB. There was a statistically significant (P<0.05) positive relationship between the age of participants and degree of hearing loss with r-value of 0.6467. Degree of hearing loss was also significantly related (P<0.05) to the working period of participants with r-value of 0.6203. There was also a significant (P<0.05) positive correlation between degree of hearing loss and noise intensity the participants were exposed to with r-value of 0.2482. Conclusion Our study showed that a significant majority of fishermen working in the Barombong village experienced hearing loss. Significant decline in hearing threshold was observed and was significantly related to age, working period and noise intensity the participants were exposed to. Hence, there is a great need to raise awareness regarding the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss among fishermen and the need for preventive measures to be put in place to prevent hearing loss and therefore a declining quality of life for the fishermen. Top Keywords Noise-induced hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, occupational hearing loss. Top |