Headset Noise Experienced by Medical Transcriptionists

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kardous CA ; Tubbs, Randy L.
• Description:
  NIOSH received requests from union officials to conduct health hazard evaluations at hospitals in California involving medical transcriptionists who use a telephone dictation system and who were concerned about excessive noise from the telephone headset. NIOSH and OSHA investigators visited the hospitals and measured the noise levels through the transcriptionists' headsets with an acoustic mannequin and the ambient noise levels in their offices. Employees were interviewed by a NIOSH investigator to document their concerns about the dictation system and any symptoms they felt were the result of their work. A similar dictation system was evaluated by NIOSH using the KEMAR acoustic mannequin and actual medical dictations chosen by the transcriptionists and identified as problematic. The NIOSH investigators determined that a potential for excessive noise exposure exists with the dictation equipment if the volume control is left in the maximum position. If the volume control is placed at the middle position or lower, the noise exposures through the headsets are at a safe level for an 8-hour work shift. Recommendations were offered to the employees and management at the hospitals to maintain the noise levels from the headsets at a safe level and to improve the clarity of medical dictations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Noise Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Shift Work Schedule
• Keywords:
  Medical-personnel Noise-exposure Noise-levels Noise-measurement Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Shift-work Shift-workers Telephone-operators Worker-health Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  1083-7388
• Publisher:
  National Hearing Conservation Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings ; Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  25
• Volume:
  23
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030394
• Citation:
  Spectrum 2006 Feb; 23(Suppl 1):25
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Spectrum: the National Hearing Conservation Association newsletter
• Supplement:
  1
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5de5ccdddff9573780ee73ac5b4b2bd8f7e8d47ee609c8aa919f9f255d378e2c7dd67914cac9ed4050046d2f6add33189f5e077b99156aeae837ae383366b482
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191039/cdc_191039_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.46 MB ]