ABSTRACT
Purpose
Analyze the socioeconomic characteristics and the hearing health profile of rural workers in the semiarid Northeast.
Methods
This is a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study conducted with 88 individuals of both sexes who performed activities in rural areas for at least one year. The first stage of the study corresponded to the application of questionnaires regarding the socioeconomic and health profile, the second stage consisted of the audiological assessment of rural workers.
Results
A significant difference was observed between individuals with normal results and hearing loss in audiometry according to gender, age group, working hours and hearing impairment. In addition, a positive correlation was observed between the values of the audiometry and the age of the patients, in all frequencies analyzed, but mainly in the higher frequencies.
Conclusion
The present study established the audiometric and socioeconomic profile of rural workers and demonstrated that the characteristics inherent to working in the field can negatively affect hearing health. It is important to know the reality of this population from the perspective of guaranteeing not only the situational diagnosis, but also measures to promote, protect and prevent hearing health among agricultural workers.
Keywords:
Farmers; Audiology; Audiometry; Health promotion; Rural health
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Subtitle: dB HL = decibel hearing level; K = kilohertz (1000 Hertz)
The “x” axis represents the age of the patients in years and the “y” axis represents the scale in decibels hearing level (dB HL). The low frequency band (Band 1) was calculated as the arithmetic mean of the hearing threshold at 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz and the high frequency band (Band 2) was calculated as the arithmetic mean of the hearing threshold at 3, 4 and 6 kHz. The red dashed line indicates the cutoff point for hearing loss (25 dB HL). For statistical analysis, Spearman’s correlation test was used