Validation of a questionnaire to identify noise-induced hearing loss among drivers

Objective: To assess the validity of a questionnaire (consisting of 10 items/questions) to identify hearing loss (HL) among three-wheeler tempo and noncommercial car drivers. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in an urban area of Lucknow city. Three-wheeler tempo drivers and noncommercial car drivers were assessed for HL by audiometry. A total of 300 subjects, who fulfilled the study criteria, were selected for the interview and health assessment. The pure tone audiometry was conducted after >12 hours of the last noise exposure to avoid temporary threshold shift. Results: The percentage of respondents aged between 31 and 40 years was 36%. The highest affirmative response item was “Do you have trouble hearing in noisy background?” constituting 68% and the lowest affirmative response item was “Do you have trouble understanding the speech of women and children?” constituting 33.7%. Kappa values showed that there was significantly ( Conclusion: A self-reported questionnaire-based approach may be used for the assessment of HL especially when audiometry is not feasible.