The objective was to analyze the effects of pesticide exposurein the central hearing system (CHS) of tobacco producers. A transversal study involved 67 subjects with normal hearing (<25dBNA), who were divided into 3 groups: a research group (G1=22 tobacco producers),a control group (G2=24 subjects; used for the ABR comparison), and a third group (G3=21 subjects; with an educational level comparable to that of G1). The results showed that G1 had an average 17.1-year exposure to tobacco cultivation, and the average use of individual protection equipment was 2.2 years. The most used safety equipmentwereas follows: boots (86.0%), gloves (86.0%), and caps (82.0%). The most cited chemicals were pesticides (95.4%) and anti welling herbicide (81.8%). The most frequent symptoms and health signs were dizziness (59.1%), headaches(59.1%), buzz (27.3%), and a lack of balance (22.7%), with a statistically significant difference among the groups (p<0.05). The auditory central evaluation results showed that statistically significant differences were observed between G1 and G2 in the ABR test evaluation results, but statistically significant differences were found between G1 and G3with respect to TDD and RGDT (p<0.05). These findings suggest that pesticide exposure can affect hearing, as well as themore superior structureswithin the central auditory nervous system.
