<![CDATA[Traditional fishermen operating outboard (katinting) engines are exposed to high noise levels for many hours daily without hearing protection, yet as informal-sector workers they fall outside occupational health and safety oversight. This community service programme aimed to reduce noise exposure and strengthen hearing protection capacity among the Sipaturu fishermen’s group in Takkalala, Palopo City. Implemented from May to August 2026 using a participatory action approach across five stages — socialisation, training, technology implementation, mentoring and evaluation, and sustainability — the intervention combined engineering controls (a stainless hybrid muffler, a coconut-coir-cored acoustic engine enclosure, and vibration dampers), administrative controls (a standard operating procedure and maintenance checklists), and the provision of and training in hearing protection devices. Evaluation comprised a pre–post knowledge test among 100 fishermen, pure-tone audiometry in 30 fishermen, and baseline–endline noise measurement. Knowledge scores rose from 12.46 ± 4.78 to 19.10 ± 1.24 out of 20 (62.3% to 95.5%; paired t-test t = 14.96; df = 99; p < 0.001; Cohen’s dz = 1.50), with all participants reaching the good category after education. Audiometry revealed that 83.3% of subjects had hearing thresholds above 25 dB HL in at least one ear (70.0% bilaterally), with a mean worse-ear threshold of 41.3 ± 13.6 dB HL, a 4 kHz notch in 36.7% and a high-frequency sloping pattern in 56.7% of subjects. Ten noise-control packages were installed, reducing operator-position noise by at least 5 dB. The programme demonstrates that locally sourced engineering controls combined with a hearing conservation programme are feasible in fishing communities, provided that hearing protection compliance is designed around the operational need to hear.]]>
