Abstract
Faisalabad city is famous for its agro-based industries which vary from textile to farm machinery manufacturing units. There are hundreds of small and big textile industries located in the populous areas of the city. The noise level of these industries not only affects the health of the workers but also the neighboring residents of the area. To estimate the attenuation in noise level of textile industries, the weaving unit of Chenab Fabrics, Limited, Faisalabad was selected. A digital sound level meter was used to record the noise level during 12 hours working shifts. The noise level of the weaving unit was found to vary from 88 to 102 dB (A) which was very high as compared to International Standards Organization (ISO) limit of 87 dB (A) set for eight hours working shift. To determine the impact of mechanical noise on hearing loss of the workers, tuning folk and audiometric tests were conducted. It was found that 10 workers who have been working in the Chenab Fabrics for the last 14 to 40 years have suffered from different stages of Binaural Sensor neural hearing impairment. In the light of these results, it has been suggested that the factory owners should provide ear protectors to their workers and decrease their exposure time from 12 to 8 hours. Key Words: Noise pollution, weaving unit, hearing impairment, audiometry
