NIOSH Noise: A 50-Year Timeline of Research and Intervention

Details

• Personal Author:
  Themann, Christa L. ; Tisdale-Pardi, Julie ; Kardous, Chucri A. ; Masterson, Elizabeth A. ; Morata, Thais C. ; Murphy, William J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Noise is among the oldest occupational hazards. An 18th century report noted hearing loss among coppersmiths whose "ears are injured by that perpetual din" from hammering on metal.1 In view of this, noise was among the first hazards NIOSH addressed when the Institute was established in 1971. A dedicated Noise Section was established in Cincinnati to conduct field studies of noise exposure, design engineering controls, test hearing protection devices, evaluate the effectiveness of hearing loss prevention programs, develop standards, and advise government and non-government entities on occupational noise-related policy. ; Occupational hearing loss persists today across many industries and occupations. About 22 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise each year. Roughly 10 million workers are exposed to solvents and an unknown number are exposed to other chemicals that that are known to contribute to hearing loss. Twenty-four percent of the hearing difficulty among U.S. workers is due to workplace exposures. ; As NIOSH celebrates its 50th anniversary, the NIOSH Hearing Loss Prevention Research Program looks back over 50 years of research and recommendations for preventing work-related hearing loss. Some early recommendations are still in place today. Others have been updated as new information and better technologies have become available. What remains constant throughout is our mission "to provide national and world leadership to reduce the prevalence of occupational hearing loss."
• Subjects:
  • Anniversaries and Special Events
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. / history
  • Ear Protective Devices
  • Education, Continuing
  • Hearing Loss
  • Hearing Loss / prevention & control
  • Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced
  • Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / prevention & control
  • History, 20th Century
  More +
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Blogs
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:na
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/119462/cdc_119462_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.75 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5b5687180ee35ff0af82ac5f47ce432123bd969940503f2689980c04673ae2eab7757508c4602c4a67db782ae223e61d900496b822f273cefa61d08c7d33cdec