Occupational Hearing Loss Prevention

Millions of people live with hearing loss and its attendant difficulties. The sad statistic is that as many as half of those people are living with a loss that was either preventable or is worse than was necessary. Nearly all hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noise is preventable including occupational hearing loss. Potential damage can be predicted by the loudness of the noise and the length of exposure.

The louder the noise, the shorter should be the exposure to it. That will limit the damage and give the inner ear a chance to heal between exposures. Of course, there are noise levels too loud for any safe exposure. For those who live in loud areas like airport neighborhoods, avoiding noise exposure is difficult. For those who work in a loud environment, avoiding occupational hearing loss is a real problem.

Workplace Trauma
The constant noise in a loud work place causes acoustic trauma. In reality, occupational hearing loss is due to damage caused by intense vibration. All sound waves are translated to vibrations which are amplified within the ear by the ear drum. Exposure to those intense vibrations for long periods of time will result in physical damage to the inner ear. To prevent occupational hearing loss, the ears must be protected.

Sounds are measured in decibels (db). Dangerous noise ranges begin at about 90 db, the sound level of motorcycles and snowmobiles. If you are speaking to someone about an arm’s length away and you need to shout to be heard, the noise in the environment is dangerously loud. The same is true if your ears have a ringing sound or there is pain after leaving the environment.

Protective ear plugs are available in many sizes and shapes to accommodate a variety of situations. Some are designed to dampen all noise equally. These plugs allow a worker to hear all the sounds he would ordinarily but not as loudly. This means that if he could hear people speaking over the background sounds, he still will hear them. If he could hear warning sounds like alarms or trucks backing up, he will have no problem hearing them with ear plugs.

While workers are often injured because they failed to hear a warning, it is much more usual for the reason to be from too much noise or occupational hearing loss than from wearing ear protection. If the sound dampening ear plugs are not appropriate to a work situation, different types of plugs can block certain ranges of sound more than others. If the first pair of ear plugs don’t work or are uncomfortable, keep trying until you find a pair that work for you and your situation.

Next article: Hearing Loss Test – When Is It Needed