Hearing conservation for farmers: Source apportionment of occupational andenvironmental factors contributing to hearing loss

Those who work on farms continue to have a strikingly high prevalence of he aring loss, despite efforts to promote hearing conservation in agriculture. To develop improved hearing conservation programs, we performed a source a pportionment analysis for hearing loss in a large, multiphasic health surve y, the New York Farm Family Health and Hazard Survey. We used information f rom audiometric, otoscopic, and tympanometric examinations; detailed genera l health and farm exposure interviews; and a second interview that focused on additional potential determinants of hearing loss. Hearing loss on audio metry was significantly associated with increased age, male gender, educati on through high school or less, lifetime years of hunting with guns, lifeti me years of use of a grain dryer, and a history of spraying crops during th e previous year. Hearing conservation programs for farmers should thus be d irected toward reduction in noise exposure, both from occupational and non- occupational sources. Additional study is needed to evaluate the associatio n seen between crop spraying and hearing loss.