Mass Transit Ridership and Self-Reported Hearing Health in an Urban Population

Information on prevalence and risk factors associated with self-reported hearing health among mass transit riders is extremely limited, even though evidence suggests mass transit may be a source of excessive exposure to noise. Data on mass transit ridership were collected from 756 study participants...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of urban health 2013-04, Vol.90 (2), p.262-275
Main Authors: Gershon, Robyn R. M., Sherman, Martin F., Magda, Lori A., Riley, Halley E., McAlexander, Tara P., Neitzel, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Demography
Epidemiology
Female
Ferries
Health Informatics
Hearing loss
Hearing Loss - epidemiology
Hearing Loss - etiology
Hearing Loss - prevention & control
Hearing protection
Humans
Light rail transportation
Logistic Models
Male
Mass transit
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
New York City - epidemiology
Noise levels
Noise reduction
Noise, Transportation - adverse effects
Noise, Transportation - prevention & control
Public Health
Public transportation
Questionnaires
Readability
Regression Analysis
Risk factors
Risk reduction
Self Report
Subways
Tinnitus - epidemiology
Tinnitus - etiology
Tinnitus - prevention & control
Transportation
Transportation planning
Urban Population
Urban populations
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Information on prevalence and risk factors associated with self-reported hearing health among mass transit riders is extremely limited, even though evidence suggests mass transit may be a source of excessive exposure to noise. Data on mass transit ridership were collected from 756 study participants using a self-administered questionnaire. Hearing health was measured using two symptom items (tinnitus and temporary audiometric threshold shift), two subjective measures (self-rated hearing and hearing ability), and two medical-related questions (hearing testing and physician-diagnosed hearing loss). In logistic regression analyses that controlled for possible confounders, including demographic variables, occupational noise exposure, nonoccupational noise exposure (including MP3 player use) and use of hearing protection, frequent and lengthy mass transit (all forms) ridership (1,100 min or more per week vs. 350 min or less per week) was the strongest predictor of temporary threshold shift symptoms. Noise abatement strategies, such as engineering controls, and the promotion of hearing protection use should be encouraged to reduce the risk of adverse impacts on the hearing health of mass transit users.
ISSN:1099-3460
1468-2869
DOI:10.1007/s11524-012-9734-2