Culture and Health During a Pandemic
Abstract
<h2>Cover Page</h2> <p>Journal Critique: Injury, Disasters and Hazards</p> <p>Student Name</p> <p>Institutional Affiliation</p> <p>Instructor's Name</p> <p>Course</p> <p>Date</p> <h2>Critical Evaluation of Occupational Hearing Loss Research in Cotton Ginning Industries</h2> <p>The article for consideration in this module discussion is "Hearing impairment among workers exposed to excessive levels of noise in ginning industries. Noise Health. 13(54):348-55" by Dube et al. (2011). This study aimed to measure the noise levels in the cotton ginning process and to find out how typical hearing damage is among the workers. The study's findings were intended to increase worker and employer knowledge of the health risks associated with their work environments and to aid in the development of protective measures for workers from the dangerous noise levels present in many sectors.</p> <h2>Public Health Importance of Occupational Noise Exposure and Hearing Impairment</h2> <p>One of the main contributors to noise pollution is industrial noise, which poses a health problem to people. Industrial noise is to blame for 16% of the incapacitating hearing loss in adults worldwide. Local firms, including sawmills, textile, printing, mining, and others, are partly to blame for the loud noises and worker exposure to dangerous noise levels (Dube et al., 2011). Numerous small-scale agro-based companies exist in India, which poses a noise pollution problem. The noise levels present at the workplace throughout work hours are high for employees in these businesses. Due to the extreme noise levels at work, cotton ginning employees are at risk for hearing loss.</p> <p>Cotton ginning is a significant subset of India's small-scale industries, contributing significantly to the country's economic development. Due to a lack of information and literacy, many industrial workers in underdeveloped nations are still unaware of the negative impacts of exposure to loud noises (Falta, 2021). Industrial workplaces in these nations typically have loud noise levels. Workers exposed to such loud noise have noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). The research area's cotton processing workers are also not adequately informed of the health dangers associated with exposure to higher noise levels.</p> <p>Additionally, around 466 million individuals globally are thought to have debilitating hearing loss, making hearing loss the fourth most common cause of disability worldwide (Zaw et al., 2020). Nearly one in four occurrences of worker hearing problems in the United States, which affects approximately 11% of the working population, is brought on by workplace exposures (CDC, 2021). Occupational NIHL is a risk that textile workers are particularly vulnerable to. Extended exposure to loud noise results in a temporary threshold shift (TTS), which reduces auditory sensibility for days to weeks. TTS is an acute but transient diminution of hearing sensitivity. A permanent threshold shift (PTS), on the other hand, spurred by more severe auditory injuries, results in a partial or whole loss of sensorineural hearing (Jongkamonwiwat et al., 2020).</p> <p>The public health significance of the study is to educate people on the danger of hearing loss due to exposure to industrial noises in the workplace. The impact of the study is global since it incorporates India and other developing countries. Also, the study will fill the gap in determining the level of noise in cotton ginning and the prevalence of hearing impairment among workers.</p> <h2>Evaluation of Research Design and Data Collection Procedures</h2> <p>The study methodology used a questionnaire for data collection and the self-administered audiometric screening test (SAAST) survey to assess the patients' hearing perceptions. In addition, the study used ANOVA for data analysis to generate the mean, median, and standard deviation. The methodology and data analysis method correctly collected the necessary data and found the desired results. However, the sample size used in the study was very small compared to the area and the people the study was to cover. In addition, the interview method would have been better for data collection since workers would provide more details orally about their noise exposure than they would write.</p> <h2>Interpretation of Findings on Hearing Impairment Among Workers</h2> <p>According to the audiometry findings, there were three levels of hearing problems among cotton ginning employees: mild, moderate, and moderately severe. The study's statistics demonstrated a strong correlation between hearing loss and time spent around noise at work. The proportion of audiometric hearing problems in cotton ginning employees was 96% for the binaural low-frequency average, 94% for the binaural high-frequency average, and 97% for the binaural mid-frequency average, classified as a threshold average of more than 25 dB hearing level (Dube et al., 2011).</p> <p>The results showed that workers in the cotton ginning industries are at a higher risk of hearing impairments because of noise exposure. I agree with the author's interpretation of the results.</p> <h2>Implications for Workplace Safety and Public Health Policy</h2> <p>The study results are actionable by different agencies, including the national government and the cotton ginning industry management. The government should formulate and establish laws and regulations to control industries' noise. On the other hand, the management of cotton ginning industries should implement those measures to regulate noise exposure to their workers, thereby protecting them against hearing impairment problems.</p> <h2>References</h2> <p>Centers for Disease Control (CDC): The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). (2021, November 11). Worker hearing loss - occupational hearing loss surveillance. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ohl/worker.html</p> <p>Dube, K. J., Ingale, L. T., & Ingale, S. T. (2011). Hearing impairment among workers exposed to excessive levels of noise in ginning industries. Noise and Health, 13(54), 348.</p> <p>Falta, D. A. (2021). Maxwell's Understanding Environmental Health: How We Live in the World: How We Live in the World. Jones & Bartlett Learning.</p> <p>Jongkamonwiwat, N., Ramirez, M. A., Edassery, S., Wong, A. C., Yu, J., Abbott, T., ... & Savas, J. N. (2020). Noise exposures causing hearing loss generate proteotoxic stress and activate the proteostasis network. Cell Reports, 33(8), 108431.</p> <p>Zaw, A. K., Myat, A. M., Thandar, M., Htun, Y. M., Aung, T. H., Tun, K. M., & Han, Z. M. (2020). Assessment of noise exposure and hearing loss among workers in textile mill (Thamine), Myanmar: a cross-sectional study. Safety and Health at Work, 11(2), 199-206.</p>