PURPOSE: to study hearing in relation to the quality of life in truck drivers. METHODS: an inquiring transversal epidemiological study was realized in 75 truck drivers, who answered to anamnesis and filled the World Health Organization questionnaire on quality of life - WHOQOL-bref, and underwent pure tone and speech audiometry. Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) was classified, according to Fiorini's (1994) criterion. RESULTS: out of 75 evaluated audiograms, 50 subjects (66.7%) showed normal hearing (Group 1) and 25 subjects (33.3%) showed altered audiograms, being 20 (80.0%) classified as suggestive of NIHL (Group 2) and 5 (20,0%) were suggestive of other causes (Group 3). There was an association and/or dependence between groups and age (p=0,007) and between groups and years in the profession (p = 0.049). In Group 1 - Normal, there were statistically significant correlations for the domains: Physical x Psychological (p<0.001), Social x Physical (p<0.001), Environment x Physical (p<0.001), Psychological x Social (p=0,002), Psychological x Environment (p=0,001) and Environment x Social (p<0.001). In the Group 2 - Suggestive of NIHL, the correlations were: Physical x Psychological (p=0.002), Psychological x Social (p<0.001), Psychological x Environment (p=0.005) and Environment x Social p= (0.026). CONCLUSION: the prevalence of hearing disorders, suggesting NIHL, was 28.6% in this professional category, but the quality of life was not related to the audiogram results.
Hearing Loss; Quality of Life; Occupational Health; Noise, Occupational; Audiometry; Audiology
