H‘ear’ing problems on the rise, BPO workers throng ENT clinics

A 23-year-old call centre employee, Tina Ghaisas (name changed), had no idea why her ears would suddenly start ringing or she suffered a sudden episode of splitting headache.

For months, she put up with the pain in her inner ear till she decided that she had enough and visited an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist.

She was diagnosed with mild hearing loss, a deafness that doctors told her had probably been induced due to taking continuous phone calls.

ENT surgeons across the city say that there is definitely a rise in the number of call centre and IT employees seeking help, especially those who are assigned jobs related to answering or making phone calls.

Dr Gauri Belsare, president of ENT Surgeons’ Association, Pune, who practises at Ruby Hall Clinic and Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital, said, “Earlier, noise-induced deafness or hearing problems associated with job were restricted to industrial workers. Nowadays, it is seen that IT and BPO industry employees are facing similar problems, and surprisingly at a younger age. The most common complaints are tinnitus or ringing sound in the ear, discomfort and irritability, echoing sound in the ear and sometimes even vertigo or loss of body balance,” she said.

Dr Rajeev Yande, ENT surgeon at Jehangir Hospital, said that many such employees have approached him to get medical certificates either to change the department or leave jobs.

“Barring a few precautionary measures like wearing ear muffs, there is nothing much people can do. Hence, the primary advice is to keep away from the source of problem. That’s why many youngsters have approached us to take certificates requesting their companies to either relieve them of the job or to transfer them to a department where they don’t have to take calls,” added Yande.

Doctors complained that sometimes the quality of audio equipment could also be faulty leading to early precipitation of hearing problems.

ENT surgeon Dr Vandana Joshi opined that the instrument for handling calls is equally important. “Using a landline is better than a cellphone and even better than using a earphone which leads to high-intensity sound emitted in compact area.

“Some phones are faulty and give a loud screeching sound, some get heated quickly and warm outer ear leading to discomfort. Hence, smaller measures like in-built loudspeakers in phones than using earphones, lowering phone volume and avoiding hands-free devices can go a long way. And if the discomfort is too much, a person must stay away from the source of discomfort,” advised Joshi.