Today, no one would consider challenging the idea that noise exposure causes deafness. In fact, hearing losses caused by industrial noise represent one of the main occupational diseases in Québec and in many industrialized countries. It is slightly more surprising to learn that exposure to certain industrial chemicals may lead to hearing loss. These substances are said to be ototoxic. The ear, like other body organs, is irrigated by the blood. Toxic substances circulating in the body are therefore likely to affect this organ as much as other organs. In the first phase of this project, the scientific literature was carefully scrutinized. This examination revealed that more than one hundred chemicals have been considered as potential ototoxic agents by various authors. A systematic analysis grid of the existing data was used to scrutinize this information and a reliability rating was assigned to the various studies. By proceeding in this way, it was concluded that ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, trichloroethylene and lead are ototoxic. Furthermore, carbon disulfide, n-hexane and xylene were considered as possibly ototoxic at concentrations that can be found in the workplace.
