Hearing health characterization and exposure to noise in the population aged 18 to 64 in Bogotá D.C., years 2014-2018

Abstract

Introduction. Hearing health is a public health concern that affects quality of life, public health issue that affects quality of life, being noise exposure a risk that generates auditory and extra-auditory symptoms.
Objective. To identify the hearing health status and the association with environmental noise exposure factors, personal and otological factors in adults in Bogotá.
Materials and methods. Cross-sectional study using a database with 10,311 records between the years 2014 to 2018, from a structured survey of noise perception and hearing screening. Descriptive, bivariate and binary logistic regression analysis was performed.
Results. 35.4% of the participants presented hearing impairment. In the perception component, 13.0% reported not hearing well; 28.8% reported extra-auditory symptoms, 53.3% otological antecedents and 69.0% discomfort due to extramural noise. In the logistic regression, the environmental variable with the highest association for hearing impairment was living in noisy areas with OR 1.50 (95%CI 1.34-1.69). In personal variables, being male was associated with OR 1.85 (95%CI 1.64-2.09), and age indicated that for each year of life the risk of hearing impairment increased 6%. In otological variables, it corresponded to a history of otological symptoms with OR 1.86 (95%CI 1.66-2.08).
Conclusions. For the participant population, hearing impairment is multi-causal, the factors that increase the prevalence are increase in age, being male, smoking, ototoxic medications, living in areas with greater exposure to noise and extra-auditory symptoms.