Representative hearing levels by race and sex in North Carolina industry

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Abstract
An extensive sample of North Carolina industrial audiometric test data was compiled. The sample includes data from several different types of industrial environments, with the size of the industries represented ranging from less than 50 to over 8000 employees. The total population considered is in excess of 14,000 employees. The data are examined using analytical techniques developed over the past 6 yr while investigating the effectiveness of industrial hearing conservation programs. One finding is significant differences in the initial hearing threshold levels by race and sex. A 2nd observation is differences by race and sex in the change in hearing levels with time. Thus, the hearing levels of industrial employees differ significantly by race and sex. The differences are of such magnitude that meaningful evaluations of industrial audiometric data bases are not possible unless the race and sex compositions of the population are considered.