PROLONGED WORK IN KINDERGARTEN AND THE RISK OF HEARING PROBLEMS
Keywords:
hearing impairment, noise, speech intelligibility, background noise speech, kindergarten teacher, kindergartenAbstract
Excessive noise exposure is one of the main causes of hearing loss. There are numerous researches that
prove high noise levels in kindergartens. Therefore, teachers and their assistants are at risk of developing hearing
problems like tinnitus, hearing loss, difficulties to understand speech in noise which negatively affect their quality of
life. The prolonged working period of the staff in the kindergarten increases the risk of developing hearing
problems. The problem of noise in the workplace could be overcome by implementing various prevention measures
such as periodic assessment of hearing and hearing skills. The study aims to investigate whether noise and years of
experience in kindergarten negatively affect the hearing of teachers and their assistants. To achieve the objectives of
the study, a questionnaire was developed with questions about auditory skills in everyday life. All participants had
an otoscope examination, audiological assessment with pure tone audiometer and an original author’s speech-innoise
test with a set of 80 words (40 one-syllable words and 40 two-syllable words). The study involved 20
kindergarten teachers aged from 30 to 60, with an average age of 44. The participants were divided into two groups
depending on the length of work experience in the kindergarten. The analysis of the obtained data revealed that
teachers with less experience in kindergartens (up to 10 years) have normal hearing, and 60% of teachers with
prolonged work experience that is more than 11 years have hearing loss. The results collected from the assessment
were described and analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. A statistically significant
difference was found in the results between the two groups of the audiological examination of high frequencies
(3000 Hz, 4000 Hz and 8000 Hz). Most of the teachers and assistants who are working over eleven years at the
kindergarten demonstrated difficulties in perception of high frequency sound signals from the audiological
assessment. The younger employees with less working experience in the kindergarten showed better results at
understanding words in noise. Long-term exposure to noise in kindergarten leads to progressive hearing loss, which
ultimately affects the understanding of speech and more specifically when it has to be perceived in the presence of
background noise. This has a negative impact on the quality of life of the individual. It is necessary to take actions
for prevention and early assessment of hearing disorders in risk groups for occupational noise-induced hearing loss
like teachers and their assistants in kindergartens, working toward to reduce noise in the kindergarten building.
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