Is there an ototraumatic interaction between noise and solvents?

A review of the literature and four case reports are presented. The patients had all been exposed to noise as well as to organic solvents and they demonstrate a much more pronounced sensorineural hearing loss than would be expected from their noise exposure only. In one of the cases a psycho-organic syndrome due to solvent exposure was verified. Audiograms from 32 painters in a shipyard who had been exposed to noise and solvents did not, however, show any clustering of inexplicably pronounced sensorineural hearing losses. With reference to the above cases it is suggested that there might be a possibility of an ototraumatic interaction between solvents and noise. In view of the neurotoxic effects of organic solvents, such an interaction is conceivable.