WSEAS Transactions on Acoustics and Music
Print ISSN: 1109-9577
Volume 5, 2018
Auditory Temporal Resolution based Psychophysical Evaluation of Healthy Individuals Exposed to Occupational Noise and Solvents
Authors: , ,
Abstract: Temporal resolution often links to psychophysics and the ability of individuals to temporally resolve the sounds serve as an indication of auditory perception. The present work emphasized on the assessment of the temporal resolution and the psychophysics involved for subjects without any auditory pathological history, but with a constant exposure to noise and solvents in their work place. 44 males of age group 20 – 50 years with no known auditory disorders from two different industries, employees of Chemical Industry (CH) exposed to a combination of noise as well as solvents and the employees of Fabrication Industry (FB) with regular exposure to noise alone, in their daily routine at their work place were considered for this experiment and were made to undergo Frequency Response Test (FRT) and Absolute Threshold Test (ATT). While the results showed a clear deterioration in the auditory perception for both FRT and ATT approach, this deterioration was found to be relatively lesser in FB as compared to CH. This was attributed due to the exposure of noise in case of FB while the CH were exposed to both noise and solvents at their work place thereby proving to have a higher impact on the auditory perception in case of a combined exposure to noise as well as to solvents as compared to those with an exposure to noise alone. Hence, based on the statistical analysis of the results obtained for FRT and ATT, it was concluded that the FB have a better auditory temporal resolution than the CH.
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Keywords: Psychophysics, Auditory Temporal Resolution, Frequency Response Test, Absolute Threshold Test, occupational exposure, Noise, Solvents
Pages: 28-38
WSEAS Transactions on Acoustics and Music, P-ISSN: 1109-9577, Volume 5, 2018, Art. #4