Occupational exposures and symptoms of hearing loss among traffic police wardens, Karachi Pakistan.

Objective: To assess the frequency and association of symptoms of hearing loss among traffic police wardens. Study Design: Observational (Cross-sectional) study. Setting: Karachi, Pakistan. Period: January to June 2019. Material & Methods: Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to employ 181 traffic police wardens. A self-administered questionnaire translated into Urdu language was used. Written informed consent was taken from the participants. IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 was used for the data entry and analysis. Frequencies were determined of socio-demographic data. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to assess the factors associated with tinnitus. Results: Most of the traffic police wardens were young (mean age: 29.96 years), non-smokers (95%) and having a matriculate degree (49.7%). Around 97.8% documented working in noisy places; 98.3% of the wardens did not use any hearing protection devices during work, while 98.9% stated that they never had a hearing test. Multivariable logistic regression showed strong inverse associations of tinnitus with higher education levels, longer duration of work, working in a noisy area, and experiencing sudden noise exposures in their lifetime. Conclusion: Traffic police wardens are exposed to loud noise during work, exhibiting the deleterious health impacts of occupational exposure. This workforce needs to be educated regarding the adverse health impacts of occupational noise pollution, the importance and use of personal protective equipment. Further research is warranted using more quantitative assessment