CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

I find it interesting that 20 years after safety and health people (like myself) realized it, the news reports today that young people are showing hearing loss similar to folks in their 50's.  A big duh-uh.
I always said that loud concerts and other entertainment venues, loud car radios, MP-3 players, earphones and the modern equivalent headphones lead to a hearing loss.

This was proven by my noise testing of young new employees subjected to pre-employment baseline hearing tests before they were put in a noisy environment. I found what are called permanent threshold shifts indicating hearing loss in the high frequencies in 20 something people and even younger. Of course the hearing losses in older people were always attributed to industry-work-related noise exposure.  In fact, in the automotive industry it is practice to pay out for hearing loss no questions asked.

Yet I was considered a hard a---  when I prohibited wearing earphones hooked to their noise producers (players) in lieu of hearing protection.  Let me think.  Noisy environment and I still need to hear the machines or the alarms or other people speaking. So I will crank UP my device even louder. Of course there is no way of measuring what decibel level the wearer is inflicting on their sensitive ears, but when I can hear the music over the other noises on a person, I believe we are certainly overexposed.  For comparison purposes, a normal office environment runs about 60-65 decibels. Hearing loss can occur in as little as 85 decibels - sound levels easily achieved and exceeded by running any powered equipment, motorcycles, etc. 

When I performed training on noise and hearing loss I would use a couple of examples. Go for the humor and they might remember what you were trying to convey. A popular example, especially for the mature crowd was my pointing out the loss usually occurs first in the high frequency or higher pitched sounds. Hence their telling their wives that they can't hear them was legit as women usually register a little higher on the pitch scale. That only goes so far obviously. 

The second example that was rather universal was when I asked "have you ever spent a few hours enjoying your libation of choice in a noisy bar or restaurant.  You cruise home enjoying your radio and probably singing along when you are alone.  Then the next morning, you hop in your vehicle, turn on the ignition and the noise that now comes out of your sound system knocks you right out of the car!"  I see heads nodding.  Wow, that sounded just fine last night. Voila - temporary hearing shift and you do it often enough, permanent shift.  Then of course you can enjoy your music at whatever volume you please.

What was especially galling was when I saw advertisement for a product that touted itself as looking just like legitimate hearing protection when it was actually earphones hooked to your music. Wow, fool your employer and catch your tunes. What a spectacular idea. And the best part is when you retire you can go back on your employer to pay for your sexy new hearing aids.  Win-Win.