Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

  • 제22권2호
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  • Pages.154-165
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  • 2010
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  • 1225-3618(pISSN)
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  • 2052-4374(eISSN)
대한직업환경의학회 (The Korean Society of Occupational & Environmental Medicine)
권호 표지

작업장 배경소음과 청력보호구 착용이 근로자 어음인지력에 미치는 영향

Effects of Workplace Noise and Hearing Protective Devices on Worker's Speech Intelligibility

  • 박형욱 (울산의대 울산대학교병원 산업의학과) ;
  • 심창선 (울산의대 울산대학교병원 산업의학과) ;
  • 권중근 (울산의대 울산대학교병원 이비인후과) ;
  • 김규상 (한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원) ;
  • 권영주 (울산대학교병원 산업환경보건센터) ;
  • 김남정 (울산대학교병원 산업환경보건센터) ;
  • 서민숙 (울산대학교병원 산업환경보건센터) ;
  • 이지호 (울산의대 울산대학교병원 산업의학과)
  • Park, Hyoung-Ouk (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital) ;
  • Sim, Chang-Sun (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital) ;
  • Kwon, Joong-Keun (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital) ;
  • Kim, Kyoo-Sang (Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency) ;
  • Kwon, Young-Joo (Department of Occupational Health Center, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea) ;
  • Kim, Nam-Jeong (Department of Occupational Health Center, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea) ;
  • Seo, Min-Suk (Department of Occupational Health Center, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea) ;
  • Lee, Ji-Ho (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital)
  • 투고 : 2010.04.09
  • 심사 : 2010.06.15
  • 발행 : 2010.06.30
⟨ 이전 논문 다음 논문 ⟩

초록

목적: 근로자 청력 보호를 위해 소음에 노출되는 환경에서 청력보호구를 항상 일관되게 착용하는 것이 중요하나 청력보호구 착용 시 어음인지 저하로 인해 착용 순응도가 저하될 수 있다. 본 연구는 작업장소음에서 청력보호구 착용 시 어음인지력 저하 정도와 배경소음 종류별 어음인지력 저하 정도의 차이를 파악하고 근로자 청력보호와 의사소통의 대책 마련을 위한 기초자료 제시를 위해 시행되었다. 방법: 울산 소재 모 조선업체 근로자와 정상 청력자원자 중 82명을 대조군과 난청군으로 구분하여 헤드폰 환경 및 자유 음장 환경에서 순음청력검사와 검사환경(배경소음의 종류, 신호 대 소음비)을 달리한 상태에서의 어음청력검사를 실시하여 검사 결과를 비교 분석하였다. 결과: 청력보호구 차음도는 대조군, 난청군 모두 고주파수 음역에서 크고 이러한 청력보호구 차음 특성이 고주파수 청력저하가 있는 난청군에서 어음인지력 저하가 더 크게 나타나는 요인 중 하나이다. 난청군에서 청력보호구 착용 전후 어음명료도 차이는 어음 자극을 65 dBA(신호대 소음비 -5 dBA)로 제시하였을 때 배경소음 간 차이가 없었으나, 75 dBA(신호 대 소음비 +5 dBA)로 제시하였을 때는 백색소음에서 가장 어음인지력 저하가 크게 나타났으며, 작업장소음과 조용한 환경 간에는 어음인지력 저하의 차이가 유의하지 않았다. 결론: 소음 작업환경에서 청력보호구를 착용하였을 때 어음인지력은 배경소음 종류에 따라서 차이가 있으며 청력이상이 있는 경우 어음인지력은 더욱 저하되는 것으로 판단된다. 따라서 근로자 청력보호와 원활한 의사소통을 위해서는 현장소음의 특성파악, 청력보호구 착용 시 적절한 신호 대 소음비 파악, 위험신호에 대한 시각적 경고 등을 고려할 필요가 있다.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the degree of intelligible speech in workers wearing hearing protective devices and the differences in background noise type. Methods: A total 82 shipyard company employees and normal hearing volunteers were recruited as subjects from a company in Ulsan: subjects were classified to the hearing-impaired group or to the control group according to hearing status. They were tested pure tone and speech audiometry in varying test environments including signal-to-noise ratio and background noise type in a headphone and in a free field environment. Results: For both groups, the attenuation of hearing protective devices was greater at high frequencies. For the hearing-impaired group, speech discrimination scores differences between the unprotected and the protected ear were not significant between background noise type, when speech was presented at 65 dBA. However speech intelligibility in white noise background was lower than in the other background noise types when speech was presented at 75 dBA. Conclusions: Workers' speech intelligibility increased with an increasing signal-to-noise ratio. Speech intelligibility was also dependent on background noise type. Workers and their colleagues were trained to pronounce words more loudly and more clearly when they wearing hearing protective devices or other communication methods that do not use sound signal should be considered.

키워드

참고문헌

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