FM & TECHNOLOGY
Humans have about 15,000 auditory hair cells in each ear at birth. You don’t get any more and when they are gone, they are gone - and so is your hearing. Exposure to large sound doses regularly and repeatedly can cause irreparable damage to the hair cells within our ears. This damage can take a long time to show up and may be ‘silently’ affecting us.
A sound dose is a complex calculation taking into account how long you listen for, how loud you listen and the energy content of what you listen to. For example, speech is relatively low energy content, so you can listen for a long period of time at a relatively high-volume level without experiencing a particularly high sound dose. Electronic dance music on the other hand, has a high energy content so will give you a large sound dose in a relatively short period.
The problem in daily life As a result of a number of high-profile campaigns, the majority of headphone users are aware of the risks. But doing something about it hasn’t, until recently, been that easy as the only option available has been a simple volume level warning on their device, which, if obeyed makes the content inaudible in many listening situations.
Trains for example, can be so loud that many users are forced to ignore their device’s warning and turn their volume to a damaging level on a daily basis. Long term, this will damage a user’s hearing for good.
Let me give you an example. If they commute by underground and use a normal pair of headphones the safe listening period could be between 30 and 45 minutes in any 24-hour period. Imagine, they leave work, travel home for 45 minutes, spend two hours gaming then go to a gig, returning to work the following morning. In a
WHAT ACTIONS CAN YOU TAKE? 1 Forbid them from wearing headphones. However, this seems a bit draconian and would be unpopular.
2 Supply good quality headphones for use at work with built in volume limiters or preferably personal dosimetry in line with the NaW Regulations.
3 Provide them with protection for their own headphones.
a) If they are using their smartphone they can download a hearing safeguarding app for headphone users, such as HearAngel. This will give them information on their exposure, much as a FitBit monitors physical activity. The app will let them know when they are overdoing it, enabling them to make informed decisions and protecting them automatically if required to do so.
b) Alternatively, you could provide retro fit volume limiters or preferably personal dosimetry in line with the NaW Regulations from LimitEar.
4 Provide information about choosing the right headphones. If you’re supplying them, you can purchase the right type:
www.tomorrowsfm.com
15-hour period they could easily have had four to six times their safe sound dose exposure for a 24-hour period.
They then spend a day at work where they have to or are allowed to wear headphones, which contributes further to their sound dose exposure. At the end of the working day they press repeat and on it goes.
Why should this be of a concern to you? One of your colleagues (or maybe ex-colleagues) who is suffering from hearing loss engages with a no-win, no-fee lawyer to pursue you and your company for compensation related to hearing damage which they claim was caused whilst they were in employment at your company.
What is your reaction? What was the role of the colleague when they worked for your company? Were they provided with hearing protection in line with the 2005 Noise at Work Regulations (NaW) and were they properly trained?
If your answer to that last question is ‘no’ then your defence will be weak. The chances are that the courts will find in favour of the colleague and will be awarded damages even though, in the example given, your company was only responsible for a relatively small part of their sound dose exposure.
If your answer is yes and the colleague was protected in line with the NaW you have met the ‘duty of care’ standard and the chances are that the court will realise that the hearing damage sustained was probably from recreational sound exposure
Those people in your company who are required to wear headphones at work must be protected in line with the NaW Regulations.
But those who are allowed to wear headphones to listen to their own content are still owed a ‘duty of care’.
a) If they listen, as more than 30% of people do, on public transport, they should consider upgrading from ear buds to good quality over-ear headphones. The over-ear cups will reduce the background noise so that they can listen at a lower level, extending their safe listening period. These are also ideal if they work in a noisy open-plan office.
b) If they travel on very noisy public transport or work in a noisy environment, they might want to consider getting some active noise cancelling headphones. These headphones use clever electronics to reduce the background noise even more allowing them to further reduce their listening level and extend the safe listening period.
Finally, it’s worth considering a hearing test for all new employees to provide a starting point. Support this with regular routine testing. This will identify any hearing damage as early as possible.
Use these steps to protect your staff’s hearing. In doing so you can also protect your business and avoid an unwarranted hearing loss claims.
www.hearangel.com TOMORROW’S FM | 35
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