Workforce Diversity and Occupational Hearing Health

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is very clear and easy to read even for not expert in statistics. However figure 3 is a bit hard to be read. To decimals in my opinion and variable names are not so clear. Unfourtunately I don't know SEM and I am not really able to understand equations provided. 

Maybe some further clarification about negative and positive correlation between hearing loss and latent variables can be appreciated. 

Author Response

Thank you for the comments.

The SEM diagram was updated to reflect the variable labels rather than the variable names. The explanation of the diagram is provided under Section 3.5.

Reviewer 2 Report

The section "4.1 Smartphone Apps for Hearing Conservation Programs"  suggest that minor modification as contents description. And the proposed App of hearing test should be calibration and check frequency regularly.

Author Response

Thank you for the comments.

I added a statement from your guidance.

Reviewer 3 Report

The submitted paper deserves attentions as it is an analysis of a U.S. database on hearing loss. However, at present, It does not particularly shines and need to be improved. Suggestions are reported to the author.

 

Avoid sub-paragraphs in the intro. Just a simple, plain text.

All the data history is useless for a scientific paper. However, this is most of all true for introduction, where that part is really useless. If the author wishes to keep it because he believes it is useful for the reader, my suggestion is to add it to a new chapter 2, named background or history…

On the contrary, I believe the introduction should better explore the importance of noise prevention with other studies on hearing loss, but also expanding to other health effect issues. My suggestion is a period like the intro (first lines) taken from the recent: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12724/htm, which should be obviously enriched. Among the additions, something like the following could be beneficial: Noise mitigations are needed to prevent citizens to be exposed to level of noise that will lead to health effects such as sleep disorders with awakenings (Muzet A. Environmental noise, sleep and health. Sleep Med Rev 2007; 11: 135–42), learning impairment (Minichilli, Fabrizio, et al. "Annoyance judgment and measurements of environmental noise: A focus on Italian secondary schools." International journal of environmental research and public health 15.2 (2018): 208; Erickson, Lucy C., and Rochelle S. Newman. "Influences of background noise on infants and children." Current Directions in Psychological Science 26.5 (2017): 451-457.), hypertension ischemic heart disease (Dratva, J., et al. (2012). “Transportation noise and blood pressure in a population‐based sample of adults.” Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(1): 50–55), diastolic blood pressure (Petri, D., Licitra, G., Vigotti, M. A. & Fredianelli, L. (2021). Effects of Exposure to Road, Railway, Airport and Recreational Noise on Blood Pressure and Hypertension. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9145), reduction of working performance (Vukić, L., et al. (2021). Seafarers’ Perception and Attitudes towards Noise Emission on Board Ships. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12), 6671. Rossi, L., Prato, A., Lesina, L., & Schiavi, A. (2018). Effects of low-frequency noise on human cognitive performances in laboratory. Building Acoustics, 25(1), 17-33.), annoyance (Miedema HME, Oudshoorn CGM. Annoyance from transportation noise: relationships with exposure metrics DNL and DENL and their confidence intervals. Environ Health Perspect 2001; 109: 409–16; Fredianelli, L., et al.. (2022). New Indicators for the Assessment and Prevention of Noise Nuisance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19), 12724;).”

Please double check the text toward a rigorous scientific formal writing (avoid contract forms).

 

Equation 1 is a Figure, and not an equation. Please write it correctly. Similarly, Figure 3 is a table, and should be reported following the journal guidelines.

A chapter with just a sub-chapter is weird. Please remove the divisions in chapter 4 and 4.1

 

All the last parts should be completed someway (from author contributions to conflict to interest).

Author Response

Thank you for these excellent comments and guidance. I have responded to the best of my ability while managing other reviewers' comments as well.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is now more clear, review is appreciated. Considering new numbering of table and figures, actual figure 4 should be figure 3.

 

Author Response

thank you for your commentary

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors fulfilled my requests and the paper is ready for being accepted.

Author Response

thank you for your commentary