Awareness of Hearing Loss, Vocal Hygiene and Vocal Abuse among Autorickshaw Drivers in Mumbai

Abstract

Introduction: Auto-rickshaw drivers spend significant amount of time in an environment that is noisy and polluted with toxic gases which seems to affect the systems involved in speech production and hearing. Moreover, harmful life­style, stressful occupational conditions and improper vocal hygiene during working hours act as contributing factors. Aim: To determine the awareness of hearing loss, vocal hygiene and vocal abuse with associated risk factors like exposure to continuous noise, air pollution and smoking respectively among auto-rickshaw drivers in Mumbai. Study Design: Survey Materials and Methods: This questionnaire-based study included 56 randomly selected auto-rickshaw drivers from different areas of Mumbai whose age ranged between 22 to 72 years with a mean age of 42.34 years. Results: 20% participants reported a decrease in hearing sensitivity since they had started driving an auto-rickshaw. About 29.09%of participants agreed that background noise has an impact on voice quality. Conclusion: Majority of auto-rickshaw drivers are unaware about noise induced hearing loss, permanent threshold shift and vocal misuse.