Occupational hearing loss has been reported to occur in a wide range of workplaces, including
printing, painting, manufacture of drug, foods and metal mining [5–8]. However, its prevalence
among workers from municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLs) remains unclear. MSWL
is a workplace to dispose of waste that cannot be economically reused, recycled or incinerated
for energy recovery, and continues to be a necessary part of integrated solid waste management
systems. In China, the total amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) collected and transported
was 148 million tons in 2006, of which 91.4% was landfilled [9]. MSWL sites operate through
the use of large machineries which dig the landfill, bring waste to the site, compact the waste
and eventually begin the reclaiming process by covering the waste with clay and earth. Our previous
study has demonstrated that there were several occupational hazards for workers in
MSWLs, including noise, dust, toxic gases, heat, heavy metals, and total volatile organic compounds
(TVOCs) [10].