Hearing Conservation Education Needs Along the Southern Arizona Border

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study is to better understand the need for hearing conservation education in rural and underserved populations, such as those along the Southern Arizona border. The project consists of reviewing data from a previous National Institutes of Health funded study, the clinical trial of the Oyendo Bien intervention, and reviewing previous literature to determine the depth and breadth of information available on hearing conservation education for adults. Oyendo Bien was a community program s in which members of the Santa Cruz County in Arizona learned about different topics regarding hearing from community health workers in collaboration with audiologists. Data was then gathered pertaining to the hearing history of the participants and to evaluate the effectiveness of hearing health education in this population. Methods: The audiology doctoral project is a sub-study of Oyendo Bien and consists of analyzing different responses from questionnaires collected from the Oyendo Bien study. Results: Data from the questionnaires revealed that participants were exposed to noise recreationally and vocationally. It also demonstrated that participants used nonconventional items to protect their hearing as well as conventional hearing protection. Conclusions: These results, together with a lack of prior published research on hearing conservation education programs and resources for health education, demonstrated a need for greater hearing conservation education.