The aim of this study was to investigate occupational noise exposure and hearing defects among sawmill workers in the south of Thailand. Seven hundred sawmill workers participated, of which 335 (47.9%) were male. The mean age of the sawmill workers was 33.5 years (SD 10.2), and more than 60% were <35 years old; 75.1% of the workers had less than 5 years of work experience. Only about one in four workers (25%) had been trained in use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and half of the participants never or rarely wore PPE while working. The prevalence rate of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was 22.8% (N = 42). Male workers had significantly higher risk than female workers (odds ratio [OR] = 2.21). Workers aged older than 25 years had significantly higher risks for NIHL (OR = 3.51-12.42) than workers younger than 25 years. Sawing workers had higher risk for NIHL than office workers (OR = 3.07).
Keywords: noise-induced hearing loss; occupational health; occupational noise; sawmills.