Preventing occupational hearing loss - time for a paradigm shift

Details

• Personal Author:
  Murphy, William J.
• Description:
  Hearing loss is an unseen illness that affects nearly 14 million workers in the United States (Tak and Calvert, 2008). According to an analysis of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an estimated 22 million workers are exposed to hazardous levels of noise, which put them at risk for occupational hearing loss (Tak et al., 2009). Tak and Calvert (2008) reported a prevalence of hearing loss in excess of 20% for workers in the railroad, mining, and primary metal manufacturing industries. Among noise-exposed workers, Masterson et al. (2015) reported prevalence rates of 25% for the Mining and Construction sectors and 20% for the Manufacturing sector. Think for a moment what this means. One in four noise-exposed workers in mining and construction and one in five noise-exposed workers in manufacturing jobs are suffering material hearing impairment, in large part due to earning a living in these sectors. In 2015, more than forty years after the promulgation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the question lingers: "Why are workers still losing their hearing?" NIOSH's research in hearing loss prevention has traditionally focused on the hearing mechanism and how to identify and prevent hearing loss at the ear. Personal protective equipment is the least effective means of controlling a hazard in the industrial hygiene hierarchy of control. The most effective method to protect hearing is elimination of the hazard. If the hazard cannot be eliminated, is there a process that can be substituted and still accomplish the job? If the elimination and substitution are not possible, then what engineering noise control solutions can be used to reduce the exposure? Sometimes the noise cannot be eliminated, and administrative controls must be used to limit the amount of time a worker is exposed. Personal protective equipment falls at the bottom of the hierarchy of control because it is the most difficult to effectively implement. And yet hearing protection has been one of the first solutions provided for noise-exposed workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Ear Engineering Hearing Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Sense Organs

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• Keywords:
  Administrative Controls Ear Protectors Engineering Controls Environmental Control Exposure-limits Hearing Conservation Hearing Loss Prevention Hearing Protection Hierarchy Of Controls Humans Injury Prevention Noise-exposure Noise-levels Noise-protection Noise Control Noise Sources Occupational Hearing Loss Occupations Personal Protective Equipment Worker Health Workers

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• ISSN:
  1557-0215
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  28-35
• Volume:
  12
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048775
• Citation:
  Acoustics Today 2016 Spring; 12(1):28-35
• Contact Point Address:
  William J. Murphy, Division of Applied Research and Technology, Hearing Loss Prevention Team, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1090 Tusculum Ave., MS C-27, Cincinnati, OH 45226-1998, USA
• Email:
  wjm4@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Acoustics Today
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a1f1a80f8a0d91da8229d2e71333c4912877a334177c9d9beb40cefcb7c00b2a23507657f221c00d99466d8fc91e82ea533d3465486d4e3e1ba235d300e20924
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203433/cdc_203433_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 7.82 MB ]