Is acculturation related to use of hearing protection?

Noise-exposed employees with limited English skills may pose a special chal lenge for hearing conservation programs. This pilot field study assessed kn owledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding use of hearing protective device s in a largely Hispanic group of 88 workers exposed to industrial noise. Ef fectiveness of hearing protection was determined through field measurements of personal attenuation ratings. Individual scores on an acculturation sca le (first language learned, language at home, degree of literacy in English , preferred language) demonstrated a correlation between a low degree of ac culturation and low personal attenuation rating (R-2= 0.49, p=0.0001). Low acculturation was also correlated with high-perceived barriers to use of he aring protection (p=0.006). Although neither self reports of self-efficacy nor perceived benefits of hearing protection correlated with personal atten uation rating, perceived barriers to hearing protector use was a significan t predictor of hearing protector fit (p=0.05). These results indicate that less acculturated workers may be underutilizing hearing protection in the w orkplace partly due to perceived barriers to use of hearing protective devi ces. To be effective, hearing conservation training programs in work sites with an immigrant work force need to address language and cultural barriers to the use of hearing protection.