Out of 555 workers at a steel mill, the hearing disturbance for speaking and high tone level were investigated in 49: 36 of them having tympanic cicatrix and 13 having tympanic membrane perforation on one ear and the other was normal.
1) In 44.4% of the cicatrix cases of tympanic membrane of more than 15 years of employment, less disturbance for high tone level was observed compared with normal case.
2) In 28.6% of the perforating cases of tympanic membrane of more than 15 years of employment, less disturbance for high tone level was observed compared with normal case.
3) In the group of less than 14 years of employment, cases of the tympanic membrane cicatrix and perforation did not show much difference from normal cases in their hearing.