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Med. Pr. 2001;52(4)

The role of vibration in pathology of hearing

Rola wibracji w patologii narządu słuchu

M. Bochnia

Abstract

Vibration is now considered as one of the most common environmental traumatic factors. The energy absorbed may exert a pathological effect on all bodily tissues and organs,although the consequences of exposure to vibration do not present a uniform clinical picture. Because all machines and vibrating tools also produce noise,the combined effect of both factors is usually examined. In the professional literature, an opinion predominates that vibration exerts only a week, additional traumatic influence onthe hearing organ. This opinion is contrary to reports on vibration-related hearing impairments observed in workers of various branches of industry. In the past, the studies of harmful effects of vibration with the participation of volunteers were seldom and short-term. Experiments on laboratory animals were carried out on species with different sensibility of the hearing organ, and exposure to vibration was most frequently accompanied by noise. Nevertheless, they usually confirmed the presence of vibration-related changes in the inner ear, mostly in the hair cells. Moreover, there have been several reports on post-vibratory pathological changes not only in the inner, but also in other parts of the ear. All these findings indicate that the role of vibration in the pathology of the hearing organ is still underestimated and not fully elucidated. Med Pr 2001; 52; 4; 285ś290.

Key words

environment, vibration, hearing, inner ear, middle