Learn More About Hearing Loss Prevention
Sound Advice—Protect Your Ears in Noisy Work Environments
by Stacie Zoe Berg
 Your
job shouldn't cause you to lose your hearing. Yet for many people,
such as construction workers, farmers, mechanics and factory workers,
years of exposure to excessive noises on the job has lead to permanent
hearing loss.
“Work-related hearing loss is one of the most common occupational
diseases in the United States,” says Dr. Linda Rosenstock,
director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH).
According to NIOSH, 30 million Americans are exposed to hazardous
noise at work. This has resulted in a permanent hearing loss for
about 10 million workers. If you are one of these people, you don't
have to suffer hearing loss. Your supervisors can make changes to
the equipment to eliminate or reduce noise. In many cases you can
adjust your work schedule and job to avoid being around noisy equipment.
Finally, when engineering or administrative controls can't eliminate
your exposure to hazardous noise, you can wear hearing protection
devices, such as ear plugs or ear muffs.
Now hear this...
Loud noises can cause hearing loss by damaging the delicate hair
cells in the inner ear. Most of the time this damage happens gradually
when prolonged exposure to loud sounds exhausts these hair cells,
says Dr. Mark Stephenson, NIOSH audiologist. As noise levels increase,
the tiny cilia at the top of the hair cells can be injured or broken
off. Entire groups of these hair cells can even be torn away. Hair
cells don't repair themselves. So when enough hair cells are damaged,
a hearing loss results.
Sound is measured in decibels. A normal conversation takes place
at about 60 decibels. A woodshop noise level is about 100 decibels,
and a chainsaw noise measures about 110 decibels, according to the
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
(NIDCD). Prolonged exposure to noise above 85 decibels can cause
hearing loss.
A short, intense sound—an explosion, for example— may
cause immediate hearing loss. But usually hearing loss occurs gradually
after prolonged exposure to loud noise. It may occur so gradually
you may not even realize you are losing your hearing. Over time,
sounds may simply become muffled or distorted.
Tinnitus, a ringing or roaring sound, sometimes described as the
sound of crickets in one or both ears, can accompany both immediate
and gradual hearing loss.
Tinnitus occurs when the damage to hair cells hasn't gotten to
the point where they produce nothing, says Don Morgan, vice president
of clinical research and medical affairs for Decibel Instruments,
a Fremont, Calif.-based hearing aid research and manufacturing company.
Rather, the hairs produce ongoing sounds because they are partially
damaged. That is, they are constantly stimulated because they are
irritated. The brain perceives this constant irritation as sound.
Hearing loss can be progressive if you continue exposing yourself
to the same noise, Morgan says. Today you may have a minor or moderate
hearing loss, but after further exposure, the loss may become more
severe. However, once you stop the exposure, the hearing loss won't
get worse.
Muffle the roar
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires
employers to develop and implement a noise monitoring program when
"information indicates that any employee's exposure may equal
or exceed an 8-hour average exposure of 85 decibels." When
this occurs, OSHA requires employers to notify employees, to establish
and maintain a hearing test program, and to train workers how to
prevent occupational hearing loss. When engineering controls have
not yet eliminated hazardous noise, OSHA also requires employers
to provide hearing protectors and ensure workers wear them.
Not every type of hearing protection is useful for every type of
noise. Disposable foam earplugs may be fine for some noise exposure
while earmuff-type protection may be suitable for another.
But hearing protection doesn't work if you don't use it. According
to a University of Michigan study, construction workers said they
wear ear plugs or ear muffs between 36 to 61 percent of the time
when they are necessary. Not surprisingly, more than half believed
they developed a hearing loss.
To see if you may be in an environment that could cause
hearing loss, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the noise at my workplace so loud that I have to raise my voice
significantly for someone an arm's length away to hear me?
- When I leave work and am in a quieter environment, do my ears feel
plugged? Or do I hear a mild ringing or whooshing noise that goes
away after an hour or two?
If you answer yes to either of these questions, take some sound
advice: Get your hearing tested and protect your ears.
|
Learn More about Hearing Loss Prevention