Hearing Impairment Among Noise-Exposed Workers — United States, 2003–2012

TLDR

Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the U.S., surpassing diabetes and cancer, and occupational noise exposure—affecting about 22 million workers—remains the leading cause of work‑related hearing loss. CDC analyzed 1.4 million audiograms from the NIOSH Occupational Hearing Loss Surveillance Project across nine industry sectors, estimating prevalence at six impairment levels and the associated quality‑of‑life burden in disability‑adjusted life years. The mining sector exhibited the highest prevalence of any and moderate‑to‑severe hearing impairment, followed by construction and manufacturing, underscoring the need for prevention and early intervention to protect worker quality of life.

Abstract

Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the United States, and is more prevalent than diabetes or cancer (1). Occupational hearing loss, primarily caused by high noise exposure, is the most common U.S. work-related illness (2). Approximately 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to hazardous occupational noise (3). CDC compared the prevalence of hearing impairment within nine U.S. industry sectors using 1,413,789 noise-exposed worker audiograms from CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Occupational Hearing Loss Surveillance Project (4). CDC estimated the prevalence at six hearing impairment levels, measured in the better ear, and the impact on quality of life expressed as annual disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), as defined by the 2013 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study (5). The mining sector had the highest prevalence of workers with any hearing impairment, and with moderate or worse impairment, followed by the construction and manufacturing sectors. Hearing loss prevention, and early detection and intervention to avoid additional hearing loss, are critical to preserve worker quality of life.