ReviewNoise & health
Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Africa: Gaps, Barriers, and Strategies for Effective Prevention.
Review in Noise & health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
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Abstract
Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) remains one of the most common and preventable occupational diseases globally, yet it exerts a disproportionate burden in low- and middle-income countries. In Africa, where hazardous noise exposure is widespread and occupational health systems are under-resourced, ONIHL continues to affect workers across both formal and informal sectors. This narrative review, conducted with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-style transparency, synthesizes Africa-specific evidence from 49 sources, including epidemiological studies, policy documents, and qualitative research, to map prevalence and exposure patterns, identify systemic and contextual barriers, and highlight feasible prevention strategies. Literature published between 2000 and 2025 was sourced from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and grey-literature databases. Reported prevalence rates remain consistently high, with 22-30% among South African miners, 47-48% among Tanzanian miners and steel workers, and over 20% among Ghanaian sawmill and stone-crushing workers. Although several African countries have occupational noise regulations, their impact is undermined by weak enforcement, poor compliance monitoring, and the near-total exclusion of informal workers. Barriers to prevention span multiple levels, including inadequate provision and use of hearing protection devices, critical shortages of audiologists, low awareness and stigma, and competing health priorities such as human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis. Promising approaches include comprehensive hearing conservation programs, engineering controls such as "buy quiet," and emerging fourth industrial revolution innovations (tele-audiology, mobile health, artificial intelligence). However, their effectiveness depends on addressing underlying infrastructure, workforce, and governance challenges. Preventing ONIHL in Africa requires a holistic, multi-sectoral approach that integrates occupational health with broader public health, labor, and development agendas, while extending protection to the majority employed in the informal economy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.