Development of a US/Canadian Job Exposure Matrix for Noise

描述（由申请人提供）：噪音引起的听力损失在美国和加拿大非常普遍，噪音越来越多地与其他非听觉健康影响有关，如心血管疾病，睡眠障碍和压力。然而，我们的知识与许多美国和加拿大的职业噪声暴露是缺乏的。拟议的研究将利用现有资源制定美国/加拿大工作噪声暴露矩阵（JEM），以便在全国范围内估计工作场所的噪声暴露。JEM将为研究人员提供一个重要的工具，可以显着提高噪声暴露评估的准确性和效率。我们将利用从各种监管和研究机构，个人研究人员和行业来源获得的现有噪声测量数据，有效地创建JEM，其中包含编码为标准化行业和职业分类的平均噪声暴露水平的估计，以及过度暴露于噪声的流行率的估计。我们将使用O*NET的数据来补充收集的噪音测量数据，O*NET是一个公开的数据库，其中包括不同职业的工人报告的噪音水平。我们还将使用O*NET数据和专家评估来验证JEM。当JEM完成后，我们会开发一个网上工具，让流行病学家、职业健康专家、职业健康从业员和其他相关的持份者获得噪音暴露估计。这一免费工具的传播将为有针对性地减少接触的活动提供信息，帮助确定研究需求并确定其优先顺序，并帮助管理工人的赔偿索赔。JEM的开发直接解决了NIOSH国家职业研究议程中的三个跨部门项目：听力损失预防，暴露评估以及通信和信息传播。该研究还提出了2020年健康人的几个目标。主要的研究成果将是一个全国性的噪音JEM，补充的基于网络的JEM工具，和几个同行评审的手稿。中期成果可能包括更多关于噪声对健康影响的研究，这是由于正义运动的存在，以及正义运动结果指导的有针对性的干预措施。该项目的最终结果将是长期减少NIHL和职业健康干预导致的噪声对非听觉健康的影响。该研究的重点是将现有知识翻译和传播给相关的最终用户（研究人员和职业健康从业人员），以便在工作场所和研究环境中使用和实施。这一重点非常符合NIOSH的研究实践（r2 p）倡议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Noise-induced hearing loss is highly prevalent in the US and Canada, and noise is increasingly being linked to other non-auditory health effects such as cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbance, and stress. However, our knowledge of noise exposures associated with many US and Canadian occupations is lacking. The proposed study would develop from existing resources a US/Canadian Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) for noise which would allow for estimation of workplace noise exposures on a national scale. This JEM would give researchers a vital tool which could dramatically improve the accuracy and efficiency of noise exposure assessments. We will leverage existing noise measurement data obtained from a wide variety of regulatory and research agencies, individual researchers, and industry sources to efficiently create the JEM, which would contain estimates of mean noise exposure levels coded to standardized industry and occupation classifications, as well as estimates of the prevalence of overexposure to noise. We will supplement collected noise measurements with data from O*NET, a publicly available database that includes worker-reported noise levels for different occupations. We will also use O*NET data and expert assessment to validate the JEM. Once the JEM is finalized, we will develop a web-based tool to allow epidemiologists, occupational hygienists, occupational health practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to access the noise exposure estimates. Dissemination of this free tool would inform campaigns for targeted exposure reduction, help identify and prioritize research needs, and help manage workers compensation claims. Development of the JEM directly addresses three cross-sector programs within NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda: hearing loss prevention, exposure assessment, and communications and information dissemination. The study also addresses several goals of Healthy People 2020. The primary study outputs will be a national noise JEM, complementary web-based JEM tool, and several peer-reviewed manuscripts. Intermediate outcomes may include additional studies of health effects associated with noise made possible by the availability of the JEM, as well as targeted interventions directed by the JEM results. The end outcome of the project would be a long- term reduction in NIHL and non-auditory health effects of noise resulting from occupational health interventions. The study focuses on the translation and dissemination of existing knowledge to relevant end users (researchers and occupational health practitioners) for use and implementation in both workplace and research settings. This focus aligns very well with NIOSH's Research to Practice (r2p) initiative.