Hearing Assessment of Non-noise Exposed Population Survey on Company Employees in Metropolitan Tokyo

Abstract

Hearing assessment was made on employees working for a major insurance company in Tokyo. The employees were tested with an audiometer as a part of general physical examination in 1991. The test results, abnormal findings and repeated testings have been reviewed to evaluated the validity and efficacy of this hearing test program.
The government law requires that hearing test should be performed on every employee of industry who is not exposed to noise at work. The law effective in 1991 was intended not only for detection of hearing loss in these subjects, but also for undesirable environment for hearing conservation. It was suggested, based on the hearing survey performed, that better methods need to be developed in order to enhance validity and reliability of the test results. However, a conductive hearing loss and various kinds of hearing loss were identified in these employees who were tested in this program. Follow up test and continued survey seemed utmost important to learn the progress of individual with hearing loss and aged factor associated with hearing loss.