Noise at the origin of certain sips

1989/03/01 Aizpurua Sarasola, Manu Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

After many years in the French universities, those of Elhuyar have offered me their own magazine, in this stage that have just become a monthly magazine, so that they see me and write about what they have learned in this territory.

The medical field to which I refer is that of public health. In this area, together with medical, organizational, administrative, security and hygiene problems, etc. is worked. In these pages I will go explaining little by little the topics of the following aspects.

In this first article I want to launch a social scourge related to modern life, the deafness caused by noise.

Who does not know people with listening problems around them?

This problem is intensified in industrial cities. Machinery of factories, vehicles and music of some local are the origin of deafness.

At present, to measure the harmfulness of a noise, the following five factors must be taken into account:

• Periodicity: loud noises are more harmful than low noises.
• Intensity: Intensity: Any noise above 90 dB is harmful. The nocivility limit of high noise drops to 70-80 dB.
• Rhythm: in certain frequencies and intensities continuous noise produces less damage than periodic noise.
• Place: Noises emitted in open place are better admitted than those issued in closed place.
• Listening time: the effect of a noise is not the same if it has been heard for several hours or for long years. Therefore, faced with deafness this factor will have a great influence when analyzing the predictable evolution of the disease.

Although the effects produced by noise are many, they can be classified as:

A) Reversible processes in whole or in part:

• Generalized Noise Syndrome The most obvious consequences are some psychological and irritability problems.
• Auditory fatigue This occurs mainly in noisy positions. The deafness generated over time can be definitive.
• The acoustic traumatism is due to the loud noises of Bapat. The most dangerous population consists of personnel from mines or quarries (when explosives are used) or telephonists (since helmets direct noise directly to the ear).

B) Irreversible processes

In this group we should highlight two. Presbytery or old age on the one hand and professional sips derived from the aforementioned hearing tiredness.