*Occupational Earcheck*: Applicability of an internet screening test for occupational hearing health surveillance appropriate for domestic testing

Protection of hearing at the workplace is of great importance. Hearing problems
are still the most reported occupational diseases among construction employees
in the Netherlands, indicating that hearing protection is not properly being
used. An objective internet screening test, adjusted to the working situation,
may contribute significantly to the early detection of hearing damage and to
the awareness about the risk of noise exposure for hearing ability. Such a test
can be performed anonymously, quickly, and easily at home with minimal
instructions. The implementation of such a test may be a proactive approach to
preventing occupational noise-induced hearing loss.

The purpose of this study is the validity and applicability of an objective
internet screening test appropriate for the detection of occupational
noise-induced hearing loss, that can be performed in a remote setting (at home
or at work).

This study will consist of two parts.
The first part will be a validation study in a controlled setting.
Retrospective analyses of past test results resulted in test improvements of
existing internet tests, concerning test procedure, speech material, and noise
filtering. An improved version of the speech-in-noise test (Occupational
Earcheck) and the Digits-in-noise test (National Hearing test) will be
validated in a controlled setting, namely in the laboratory of the department
of clinical and experimental audiology of the AMC. Participants will be
performing both test two times (test and retest) for five different noise
conditions. Being the clinical standard for measuring auditory functioning,
pure-tone audiometry will also be performed. Participants will be asked to fill
in a short questionnaire in order to get insight into their noise exposure.
Based on the findings of part 1 of the study will be decided which test under
which noise conditions is the most sensitive for the detection of noise-induced
hearing loss. This test will be studied further in part two of the study.
The second part of this study will be focusing on the applicability of the
internet screening test in an uncontrolled setting. Young construction workers
will be performing the test at work in order to get an insight in the validity
of the test. Participants will also be asked to fill in a short questionnaire
to get insight in to their noise exposure. Test results will be compared to the
results of the pure-tone audiogram, obtained at the work place. A sub selection
of the participants will be asked for follow-up one year after the first
measurements.

Since this study is observational, the burden for the participant is minimal.
The majority of the study population will perform two speech-in-noise tests at
work via the internet. Each taking 5 minutes. Thirty participants will perform
several tests, similar or equal to those done in clinical practice, during a
one time visit of 2.5 hours. To reduce the load to a minimum, several short
breaks will be taken. There are no risks associated with the investigational
test.