RESUMO
The work was aimed (1) to compare actual and expected values of hearing loss in forge hammering workers, using risk evaluation patterns based on impulse noise measurements, and (2) to simulate harmful hearing changes caused by impulse noise. Study of exposure to noise and hearing loss covered forge hammering workers in 2 major blacksmith workshops of automobile enterprise, where equivalent levels of acoustic pressure (104 and 106 dB) were equal, but peak levels and impalse degrees reliably differed. Hearing thresholds for 2 selected groups of workers (97 and 235 subjects) were evaluated. When compared, actual and expected values of hearing loss calculated according to ISO standard appeared different with excess of 1 dB and 3 dB for the workers in shops 1 and 2 respectively. Excessive hearing loss corresponds to noise exposure increased by 3.5 years. Hearing loss in the workers subjected to less impulsive noise were readily forecasted by ISO standard 1999-1990. Hearing loss in the workers subjected to more impulsive noise were in reliable correlation with combination of peak level and impulses number.