Beliefs and attitudes among Swedish workers regarding the risk of hearing loss

TLDR

These issues must be addressed to make HPD use more effective. The study investigated Swedish workers' beliefs and attitudes about hearing loss risk and HPD use, aiming to assess attitudes toward HPDs and improve workers' protective behaviors. A NIOSH‑developed questionnaire was administered to assess attitudes. Ninety‑five percent of respondents knew loud noise could damage hearing, 90% viewed hearing loss as serious, 85% believed HPDs protect hearing, yet many did not always use HPDs; 55% could not hear warning signals with HPDs and 45% found them uncomfortable.

Abstract

The beliefs and attitudes regarding the risk of hearing loss and their impact on hearing protector use were investigated among Swedish workers. A questionnaire, developed by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), was used. The study objective was to assess workers' attitudes towards using hearing protection devices (HPDs) and to enhance the ability of workers to protect themselves from occupational hearing loss. Ninety-five per cent of the respondents were aware that loud noise could damage their hearing, 90% considered that a hearing loss would be a serious problem, and 85% believed that HPDs could protect their hearing. However, lower percentages of workers always used the HPDs when they were noise-exposed. Fifty-five per cent of the workers indicated that they could not hear warning signals when using HPDs, and 45% of the workers indicated that they considered HPDs to be uncomfortable. These issues must be addressed to make HPD use more effective.