Evaluation of Auditory Fatigue in Medical Regulation Assistants

Effects of Auditory Fatigue in Medical Regulation Assistants Working With Headset: Objective Measures

Auditory monitoring of employees is currently based on pure-tone audiometry. However, this clinical examination does not prevent from deafness but established it a posteriori. From a preventive standpoint, it is important to detect hearing professional pain before the development of irreversible(s) clinical(s) symptom(s). The investigators' hypothesis is that auditory fatigue results from damages of primary and secondary central auditory pathways involving cognitive processes.

The assessment of auditory fatigue includes the evaluation of speech intelligibility, short-term memory, working memory and perceived mental task load. The main objective of this study is to identify, among regulating medical assistants working with headset, a central auditory fatigue.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants without hearing loss and without ontological antecedents in the past 5 years
• Participants gave their written informed consent
• Participants are affiliated to the french social welfare
• Preliminary clinical examination

Exclusion Criteria:

• Ontological antecedents in the past 5 years
• Pathology of the external or middle ear
• Abnormality in audiometric examination
• Participants already enrolled in an other research protocol
• Participants covered by articles L.1121-5 à L.1121-8 et L.1122-1-2 of the French Public Health Code