Noise Awareness Day Heard Round the World
Noise robs boomers of their hearing at a record rate, but it seems no one's heard the news.
Welcome to National Noise Awareness Day.
More than 20 million people in the United States have some type of hearing impairment. At least half of those cases are probably due to noise exposure. Often the biggest contributor to noise is your job, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.
"Noise-induced hearing loss is a permanent disability. Hearing aids don't restore hearing. And, what people don't understand is this disability is 100 percent preventable", says Sally Lusk, University of Michigan professor of nursing. Lusk hopes people will listen up on April 25, International Noise Awareness Day.
For many workers the tools of their trade are damaging their hearing. The number of noise-induced hearing loss cases is most reported in construction, manufacturing, agricultural, airline and lawn service industries. These employees are exposed to loud and lasting noise on a regular basis.
Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common occupational diseases and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury. The U-M and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders discovered the following hearing loss facts.
- 44% of carpenters and 48% of plumbers reported a perceived hearing loss.
- 90% of coal miners will have hearing impairment by age 52 (compared with 9% of the general population).
- 70 percent of male, metal/nonmetal miners will experience hearing impairment by age 60.
The most startling statistic, however, is that all of these noise-induced hearing loss cases could have been avoided with proper protection. Workers have a variety of earplugs and muffs to choose from but despite the availability, U-M studies find they only wear the protective gear 18 percent to 71 percent of the time they are needed.
Lusk has developed a series of training programs to increase the awareness of noise-induced hearing loss and get more workers to wear protective gear.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Social Noise Results in Sounds of Silence
ASHA Helps Hard-of-Hearing Hear
Brain Helps Deaf "Hear" Lip-reading
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