Hearing loss and the quality of life among dentists

The field of Dentistry presents some occupational hazards, among them, hearing problems in high frequency noise resulting from the clinical environment. In this case, individuals have normal hearing at low frequencies and only suffer hearing loss at high frequencies. Generally, after years, the individual reports difficulty in hearing and the ability to distinguish speech sounds through competitive impaired noise, especially in the clinical environment, thus interfering with oral communication and their procedural capabilities. The individual hearing aid (HA) represents a technological resource for the rehabilitation of hearing impairment. Considering the particular configuration of the hearing loss in these cases, the opened adaptation with a receiver channel (RITE) brings great benefits. Objective: Experimental study to confirm the improvement in the quality of life and speech perception after the adaptation of RITE devices. Method : The study included 20 subjects with a mean age of 66.5 years with an audiological diagnosis of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of mild and moderate levels. The adaptations were evaluated by speech perception (Hearing In Noise Test - HINT) and assessment of quality of life (World Health Organization Questionnaire Quality of life - WHOQOL). Results: HINT analysis before and after the fitting of hearing aids was performed using the paired t-test (p> 0.05) and for the WHOQOL, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used (p> 0.05). A significant improvement in the HINT (p = 0.03) and quality of life after the fitting of hearing aids (p = 0.461) was observed. Conclusion : dentists with a high frequency hearing loss fitted with a RITE showed an improvement in speech perception in noise and a better quality of life with the fitting of hearing aids.