Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and noise exposure of baristas

Abstract

Objective: To examine the daily noise exposure of baristas working in cafés, and to measure their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding hearing conservation and perceptions of noise in their work environment. Design: Fifteen baristas from six cafés in Portland completed the Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors questionnaire, a sound disturbance survey, and a structured interview to document perceptions of noise in the work environment. To measure daily noise exposure, a subset of eight participants wore a personal dosimeter for three different work shifts. Study sample: A total of 11 females and four males, aged between 19 and 36 years old (mean: 26.3, SD: 4.6) recruited from independently owned cafés in the Portland metro area. Results: Dosimetry measurements revealed Leq measurements between 71 and 83 dBA, with noise doses ranging from 4% to 74%, indicating that baristas are not exposed to sound levels above the regulatory criterion. Questionnaire results indicated that baristas have low awareness about the hazards of noise, are not opposed to hearing conservation, and rarely use hearing protection when engaged in noisy activities. Conclusions: Baristas here lacked the pertinent education and motivation to commit to invaluable hearing conservation practices.

Key Words:

• Hearing conservation
• noise-induced hearing loss
• health belief model
• cafés
• questionnaires

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Serena M. Dann, Susan E. Griest, and Erika Manzo for their invaluable assistance on this project. The authors also thank the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research for allowing their equipment to be utilized throughout this study.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by a NIH National Institute on Deafness and other Communicative Disorders T-35 Predoctoral Short-term Training Grant (Grant number DC008764). Portions of this work were presented at the American Auditory Society Annual Conference, Phoenix, USA (March 6, 2015), the Missouri Academy of Audiology Annual Conference, Saint Louis, USA (September 12, 2014), and the International Hearing Aid Research Conference, Lake Tahoe, USA (August 14, 2014).