The Impact of Earmuff use in relation to Blood Pressure Due to Noise Exposure Among Machine Operators at Workshops

Earmuffs and earplugs are hearing protection devices that play a significant role in shielding industrial workers from noise exposure; these devices must be placed correctly to guarantee that the entire ear canal is closed. The majority of industrial machine operators at metal and aluminium fabrication workshops complained that they don't use ear protection because it interferes with communication with other workers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of noise exposure in workshops on the blood pressure of machine operators wearing earmuffs. A digital blood pressure monitoring device was used to measure the SBP/DBP of 125 earmuff-wearing industrial machine operators, ages 20 to 49, both before and after they used the machine for at least two hours each day for three days. The findings revealed that when exposed to a noise level of 112.4 dBA, operators between the ages of 20 and 29 had an SBP/DBP increase of 8/5 mmHg, a negligible correlation of 0.323 for SPL/SBP and 0.1906 for SPL/DBP. When subjected to a noise level of 112.7 dBA, the operators, who were between the ages of 30 and 39, exhibited an insignificant correlation of 0.119 for SPL/SBP and 0.006 for SPL/DBP, with an elevation of 8/5 mmHg. When exposed to noise level of 113.9 dBA, the operators between the ages of 40 and 49 had an SBP/DBP increase of 10/6 mmHg, a weak correlation of 0.271 for SPL/SBP and 0.129 for SPL/DBP. The study concluded that there was a negligible correlation between the operators' SBP/DBP variation and the noise level they encountered when operating an industrial machine and wearing an earmuff. Additionally, for an operator wearing an earmuff, the BP elevation demonstrated a minimal elevation in SBP/DBP; therefore, the noise exposure had little to no impact on the operator's blood pressure.