• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제24권11호
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• pp.854-860
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• 2014

Workers engaged in car inspection works have been exposed to many occupational hazards including noise, particulate matter, and volatile organic substances. Noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) is one of the leading health hazards among Korean workers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the noise levels in several car inspection shops by introducing the evaluation methods of KMOEL/OSHA and ACGIH. Six sites in central area of Korea were selected to monitor the noise levels of workers by personal and area sampling methods for two consecutive days in spring, summer, fall and winter seasons. Dosimeters have been used for this noise monitoring program. Obtained noise levels by the evaluation method according to KMOEL/OSHA are the range of 50.2~88.2 dB(A), these are lower than KOEL/OSHA standards level of 90 dB(A). But highest noise by ACGIH's evaluation methodology is recorded 92.3 dB(A) and is greater than NIHL standard level of 85 dB(A). So that many workers may be exposed to the dangerous noise environment. The higher the car inspection loads daily, the higher the noise levels in the sites. Seasonal fluctuation of noise levels at the process might give monitoring results with high variations. Area noise levels showed higher than those of personal sampling, which illustrate some high noise spots in the car inspection areas.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.539-553
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• 1996

이 연구는 1994년도 5월부터 9월까지 동산병원 건강 관리과에서 소음특수건강진단을 받은 근로자 중 일부를 대상으로 하여 1차 선별 순음청력검사에 난청선별 설문지(HHIE-S)의 적용가능성을 점검해 보기 위하여 시행되었다. 대상자는 이 기간중의 특수검진 수진자들로서 총 6,700명 중 계통적 표본추출법에 의하여 매 5번째의 근로자가 추출되었다. 최종분석 대상은 자료가 미비한 14명을 제외한 1,019명으로 남자 488명, 여자 531명이었다. 소음성 난청의 1차 선별검사로 순음청력검사와 HHIE-S를 포함한 설문지검사를 실시하였다. 청력검사의 1차 선별기준은 양쪽 어느 귀의 청력손실이 4000Hz 에서 40dB이상인 자로 하였고 2차 정밀검사에서 난청의 기준은 3분법으로 계산하여 30dB 이상이면서 4000Hz에서 50dB 이상의 청력손실이 있는 자로 하였다. 설문지의 신뢰도는 0.84였다. 청력장애와 관련된 변수들의 단일변량분석에서 유의한 차이를 보인 항목은 남자에서 HHIE-S 총척도와 사회적/상황적 소척도에서 근무기간, 군복무력, 1000Hz 및 4000Hz에서의 청력역치였으며 여자에서 총척도와 소척도 모두에서 연령, 근무기간, 1000Hz 및 4000Hz에서의 청력역치였다. 다단계 다중회귀분적에서 남자에서 1000Hz및 4000Hz에서의 청력역치가 선택되었으며 여자에서는 총척도와 사회적/상황적 소척도에서 1000Hz 및 4000Hz에서의 청력 역치, 근무기간, 연령이 선택되었다. 2차 순음청력검사를 황금기준으로 하여 1차 선별청력검사와 HHIE-S점수를 기준으로 한 ROC곡선을 그린 결과, 최적의 타당도는 병행검사에서 HHIE-S점수 8을 기준으로 하였을 때였으며 민감도와 특이도가 각각 85%와 67%이었으며 위음성이 15%로 최소였다. 이러한 결과는 HHIE-S가 우리나라에서 신뢰도 및 타당도가 비교적 적절하며 소음성 난청 1차 선별검사에 순음청력검사와 함께 병행해서 사용하면 민감도를 높이고 위음성을 떨어뜨림으로써 순음청력검사의 병행검사로 적용가능성이 있음을 시사해 준다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.137-146
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• 2003

과거 군 복무 기간 동안 청력에 영향을 미치는 사격 및 포격 등 소음에 노출된 군 경력이 현재 소음 노출 근로자에게 어떤 청각학적 영향을 미치며, 소음성 난청의 발생과 관련이 있는지를 평가하고자 하였다. 중소규모 선박수리 및 건조업체 15개 사업체 440명을 대상으로 근로자의 일반 사항, 임상증상, 현재의 청력과 관련한 과거 이과적 병력, 군 복무시 충격소음의 상시적 노출 등의 군 경력, 이명 등의 자각증상에 관한 설문조사와 순음청력검사 및 중이검사를 시행하였다. 현 직종에서의 소음 노출군 중 과거 군에서 소음 노출군이 각 주파수별 청력역치와 평균 청력역치가 가장 컸으며, 특히 2-8kHz의 주파수 역치에서 차이가 크게 나타났다. 청력손실자의 비율 및 중증도의 정도가 현 직종에서의 소음 노출군 중 과거 군에서 소음 노출군이 가장 높은 비율을 보였으며, 특히 감각신경성 난청으로서 소음성 난청자가 통계적으로 유의하게 더 많았다. 이명은 현재 소음 노출 직종에 있는 군에서 높았으며, 그중 군 소음 노출군이 46.2%로 유의하게 더 높았다. 소음성 난청 여부를 종속변수로 한 로지스틱 회귀분석 결과, 연령, 현 직종 근무기간, 군 소음 노출력, 현 직종에서의 소음 노출 여부가 유의한 독립변수로 작용하였다. 우측 귀의 경우, 소음성 난청에 대한 군 소음 노출력의 비차비는 4.5이었고, 현 직종의 소음 노출의 비차비는 7.9이었다. 군 소음 노출 및 현 작업 소음 노출 여부에 따른 각 군별 좌우측 귀의 4 kHz 청력역치와 평균 청력역치는 I군에서 좌우측 귀 모두 나이 및 근무기간이 증가할수록 가장 크게 영향을 미치며 유의하게 증가하였으며 II군, III군, IV군 순으로 청력 역치가 증가하였다. 군에서 노출되는 충격소음은 청력손실과 이명 등 청각학적 영향을 미치며 사업장에서 소음 노출에 따른 소음성 난청의 발생에도 부가적인 영향을 미친다. 따라서 군에서의 소음 노출에 따른 청각학적 영향을 예방하기 위해서뿐만 아니라 소음 노출 근로자에 대한 청력 관리 측면에서도 이의 조기 진단, 치료, 보상 및 재활을 위해서는 군에서의 소음 노출 문제까지 함께 다루어야 함을 시사한다.

• 한국음향학회지
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.24-34
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• 2016

최근 청소년들의 개인음향기기(Personal Listening Device, PLD) 사용이 증가하고 있다. PLD의 오남용은 소음성 난청의 원인이 될 수 있다. 이 연구의 목적은 첫째, 청소년의 PLD 이용습관, 청력손실 원인에 대한 지식과 청력 보호에 대한 자세 등을 조사하고, 둘째, 청소년들의 PLD 이용습관, 청력손실의 원인, 청력보호에 대한 자세 등을 평가하기위한 설문지 개발에 있다. 총 41개의 문항으로 구성된 설문지가 개발되었으며, 14-15세의 404명 중학생들이 이 연구에 참여를 하였다. 연구 결과 대부분의 학생들은 건전하게 PLD를 사용하고 있었다. 전체의 30 % 학생이 매일 하루에 3시간 이상을 사용하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 대부분의 학생들은 청력손실의 원인에 대해서는 잘 알지 못하고 있었으나 청력보호에는 관심이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과를 볼 때 청소년들의 청력보호를 위한 프로그램의 개발이 필요할 것으로 나타났다.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.277-281
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• 2005

Air-line mask is an important personal protective equipment for workers working under hazardous surroundings in which a fixed ventilation system is difficult to be installed. If the air-line mask make loud noise, works wearing the mask may be faced with health problems such as noise induced hearing loss(NIHL). The purpose of this study is to introduce a low noisy technology for workers using air-line mask. A traditional type air-line has been improved to an advanced air-line mask with lesser noise. In the mask, air suppling conduits consists of multi tubes are placed inside of the front of the safety helmet. The noise level reduced from 80dB(A) to less than 80dB(A) when measured by KS A 0701 method at Center for Safety Inspection, Testing and Certification for KOSHA. It is suitable for related regulation[Article 35 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act(Test of Personal Protective Equipment)]. While workers working in noise level of over 90dB(A), they may expose to 82dB(A) or less when they wear the advanced masks. This type masks can be an alternative for works suffering from loud noise generated by traditional air-line masks.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.376-383
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• 2006

Noise induced hearing loss (NIHS), the well-known occupational disease, is caused by continuous excessive noise. The prevention of NIHS is very important, because it is unrecoverable. There are some kinds of hearing protection device (HPD), and those are effective in preventing NIHS. But workers in noisy environment often resist to wearing them. Because they are ready - made products, so workers feel uncomfortable to wear. Also, they didn't maintain the conversation frequency range, so workers are hard to communicate in wearing them. To prevent hearing loss effectively, it is important that workers keep wearing HPD. Therefore, a HPD is needed to be comfortable to wear and be effective not only in hearing protection but also in preserving communication ability. So we proposed a custom - made hearing protection device in which a small acoustic filter is inserted. We designed several kinds of small acoustic filters and carried out some acoustic experiments for measuring characteristics of filters. We confirmed that acoustic transmission characteristic can be adjusted from experimental results using designed small acoustic filters. And we researched for the actual efficiency of a new developed custom - made hearing protection device using a small size acoustic filter. Also, we found out that workers are more satisfied with the new development than a former protection device from a workers' response.

• 한국멀티미디어학회논문지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.200-208
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• 2007

가장 흔한 직업병 중의 하나인 소음성 난청은 알려진 치료법이 없기 때문에 예방하는 것이 매우 중요하다. 청각보호를 위한 다양한 종류의 청각보호구가 시판되고 있으며 청각보호에도 효과가 있는 것으로 알려져 있지만, 착용 시 발생하는 의사소통의 어려움으로 인하여 많은 사용자들이 착용을 꺼리게 된다. 이러한 의사소통의 문제점을 해결하기 위해 음관의 형태를 변화시켜 소형 음향필터를 사용할 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 소형 음향필터들을 설계하였고 이의 특성을 유한요소해석을 통하여 분석하였다. 유한요소해석의 결과로써 길이와 직경에 따라 설계된 소형 음향필터의 특성을 확인하였다. 그리고 유한요소해석을 이용한 필터 모델의 일반적인 추세와 설계된 필터들의 음향적 실험과 일치함을 확인하였다.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.308-316
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• 2023

Objectives: The aim of this study is to measure and assess the occupational noise exposure levels among construction workers at apartment building construction sites in South Korea. Methods: Noise exposure assessments were conducted for 139 construction workers across 10 different trades at 53 apartment building construction sites in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do. Assessments were carried out using a noise dosimeter set with a 90 dB criterion, an 80 dB threshold, and a 5 dB exchange rate over a period of more than 6 hours(L_MOEL) Results: The mean L_MOEL (equivalent continuous noise level over 8 hours) for the 139 dosimeter samples was 87.8 ± 4.3 dBA. The mean noise exposure level for each construction trade, referred to as the trade mean, was also calculated. Significant differences in noise exposure levels were observed between construction trades (ANOVA, p < 0.001). The highest L_MOEL values were recorded for concrete chippers (93.2 ± 2.6 dBA), followed by ironworkers (88.4 ± 0.7 dBA), concrete finishers (88.3 ± 2.7 dBA), masonry workers (87.7 ± 1.9 dBA), pile driver operators (85.6 ± 1.7 dBA), concrete carpenters (84.9 ± 2.4 dBA), interior carpenters (83.5 ± 2.1 dBA), and other groups (81.4 ± 2.2 dBA). Conclusions: The findings suggest that nearly all construction workers in this study are at risk of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). Moreover, the study establishes that construction trades can serve as a useful metric for assessing noise exposure levels at apartment construction sites.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.190-197
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• 2001

Noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) was the highest rate (43.5%~58.5% from 1996 to 1998) of positive findings through specific medical program in Korea. There were much more NIHL at workers of automobile manufacturing factories than other manufacturing factories. The specific aim of the present study was to determine the noise exposure of automobile press lines, according to their job titles, press line types(auto, semiauto), dosimeter parameters setting. There were a total 11 press lines sampled at a automobile manufacturing company. Among those press lines, 10 press lines were autolines with acoustic enclosure, one semiauto press line was no aucostic enclosure Noise exposure data were sampled for an work shift using noise dosimeter, which recorded both time-weighted average(TWA) and 1-min average. The mean OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) was $80.7dB(A){\pm}4.7dB(A)$ for leader, $82.8dB(A{\pm}4.5dB(A)$ for pallette man, $76.7dB(A){\pm}4.3dB(A)$ for press operators, $76.6dB(A){\pm}5.6dB(A)$ for crane operators, $77.1dB(A){\pm}2.8dB(A)$ for forklift drivers, whereas the mean NIOSH TWA was $88.9dB(A){\pm}1.7dB(A)$ for leader, $89.6dB(A){\pm}2.1dB(A)$ for pallette man, $86.7dB(A){\pm}1.8dB(A)$ for press operators, $88.5dB(A){\pm}2.0dB(A)$ for crane operators, $87.7dB(A){\pm}1.0dB(A)$ for forklift drivers. While L10 for NIOSH TWA samples was 84.8 dB(A) ~ 87.3 dB(A), L10 for OSHA TWA samples was 69.5 dB(A) ~ 77.4 dB(A). L10 means that the TWA for 90% of the samples exceeded L10. Among OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) samples for pallette man, 7.7 % exceeded 90 dB(A), the OSHA permissible exposure level, but OSHA TWA samples for the other job titles didn't. Among NIOSH TWA samples, the samples over 85 dB(A), the NIOSH recommended exposure limit, was 100% (leaders), 83.3 %(operators), 97.4%(palletteman), 100%(forklift drivers), 91.7 %(crane operator). The results of One-way random effects analysis of variance models shows that the difference between job titles was significant by OSHA TWA(p<0.05), but not significant by NIOSH TWA(p>0.05). NIOSH TWA samples were significantly higher than OSHA TWA samples(P<0.05). Regression analysis was used to obtain relationships between OSHA TWA samples and NIOSH TWA samples. In this case the coefficient of determination = 0.90, which shows the high degree association between two methods. Regression equation, NIOSH TWA = 0.552 * OSHA TWA + 42.13 dB(A), shows that if OSHA TWA is known, NIOSH TWA can be predicted by the equation. The mean TWA difference between threshold 80 dBA and 90 dBA was significant(p<0.01). While the TWA noise exposures were 7.7% above the Korea(OSHA) PEL, they were more than 83.3% over NIOSH REL. Automobile workers were exposed to noise level that could be potentially damaging to their hearing. It found that there is approximately 25% excess risk of hearing loss even if a worker is protected to the PEL in according to NIOSH study.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.356-368
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• 1997

In effort to determine whether aircraft noise can have health effects such as hearing loss, hypertension and psychological stress, a total of 111 male professors and administrative officers working a college near a military airport in Korea(exposed group) and a total of 168 males and 112 females matched by age groups(control groups) were analyzed. Personal noise exposure and indoor and outdoor sound level of jet aircraft noise were measured at the exposed are3. And pure tone, air conduction test and measurement of blood pressure were given to the exposed(males) and matched control groups (males and females). BEPSI(Brief Encounter Psychological Instrument) and psychological response to aircraft noise were examined for the exposed group. The noise dosimetry results revealed time-weighted averages(TWAs) that ranged from 61 to 68 dBA. However the levels encountered during taking off jet airplanes reached 126 dBA for two half minutes time period. Th, audiometric, test showed that mean values of HTL(hearing threshold level) in exposed group at every frequency(500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hz were much lower than them of male and female control groups. And in old age groups, interaction of age and noise was observed at 8,000 Hz in both ears(p<0.05). Conclusively, aircraft noise does not appear to induce hearing loss directly in high frequency, but may decreased hearing threshold level by interaction of aging process and noise exposure. However, difference of mean values of exposed and control groups on blood pressure was not significantly. In psychological test, annoyance was the most severe psychological response to noise in exposed group, but mean value of BEPSI was not correlated with job duration in exposed group.