Abstract:
The informal (Juakali) sector in Kenya lacks occupational health and safety services and hence workers are unsuspectingly exposed to health hazards. Worldwide, occupational noise is a significant cause of adult onset-hearing loss and 16% of disabling hearing loss in adults(Theuri, 2012) More than 500 million individuals are at risk of developing noise induced hearing loss (NIOSH, 2014). The aim of the study was to identify the health effects of noise to the Juakali artisans in King'orani area Mombasa County by identifying key sources of noise, assessing hearing threshold levels, examining auditory health effects of noise and the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss. This was done by administration of structured questionnaires, observation checklist, noise level mapping, and pure tone audiometry to stratified randomly selected subjects. Data was coded, cleaned, and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0.Pearsons correlation coefficient and chi square test for independence were used to analyze data at 0.05 significance level. Prevalence of NIHL was 59.7% while 4% had profound impairments. The level of impairment increased with the duration and level of exposure to noise above 90 dB X2=6.51 P<0.05). Exposure level and duration was greatly associated with auditory effects such as Tinnitus, headache, poor concentration, and sleep disorders. In conclusion, NIHL, headaches, tinnitus, poor concentration, and sleep disturbances are related to prolonged exposure to high level of noise above 90dB with a positive correlation coefficient of 0.248. OSHA 2007 should be enforced to effectively regulate the informal sector, create awareness on effects of noise exposure, establishment of hearing monitoring centers, special subsidies and provision of PPEs will be able to arrest the otherwise forgotten irreversible disability causing Hazard the Juakali artisans are exposed to.
