Almıla AVŞAR DEMİR, Buşra MAZOOĞLU, Sevda Nur ŞENEL, Feyza İNCEOĞLU, Deniz Uğur CENGİZ
İnönü Üniversitesi Sağlık Hizmetleri Meslek Yüksek Okulu Dergisi - 2026;14(2):454-468
Teachers working across diverse educational settings and interacting continuously with students are exposed to various types of noise in classrooms and recreational areas. This study aimed to examine teachers from different disciplines and years of service and to evaluate the effects of occupational noise exposure on speech perception, spatial perception, hearing quality, and hyperacusis. The study was conducted between December 2024 and March 2025 via Google Forms and included 504 healthy teachers aged 24-65 years from various disciplines. Participants were grouped as elementary school (n = 145), quantitative (n = 152), and verbal (n = 207) teachers. All participants completed a Demographic Data Form, the Khalfa Hyperacusis Questionnaire, and the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ). Among the participants, 80.16% reported noise sensitivity. Significant gender differences were found in the attention and emotional subscales of the Khalfa Hyperacusis Questionnaire, with higher scores in females, and in the spatial perception subscale of the SSQ, with higher scores in males (p < 0.05). Significant differences according to years of service were observed in the social subscale of the Khalfa questionnaire and the speech perception subscale of the SSQ (p < 0.05). Social subscale scores were significantly higher in the 15-20 years and >=20 years groups compared with the 1-5 years group, while speech perception scores were significantly lower in the 15-20 years group. These findings suggest that occupational noise exposure among teachers may increase the risk of hyperacusis and negatively affect speech and spatial perception performance.
