hearing loss 3

[engeeneer]

hello

pubmed is full of articles claiming that factory workers working in noisy environments lose irreversibly their hearing

hearing protection doesn't seem to help much

I am extremely concerned about this and I would like to know from people in the industry, how noisy the engineering work environment can be

are there factories/plants that are less noisy?
for example chemical/pharmaceutical/cosmetics factories are almost noiseless?
what about food factories?
are you concerned about hearing loss? what do you do about it?

thanks

 

[tygerdawg]

No citation, but results of an engineering discussion with a very good Safety Guy I know. I was pursuing an entrepreneurial opportunity, the focus of which was to automate a very noisy process & remove the operators from the area. The manufacturer had received an OSHA citation for a noisy environment and hearing loss of their workers. I thought the justification of my proposal would be economic, but no, it was noise abatement. The manufacturer had to limit the amount of exposure to each worker.

My Safety Guy friend explained it to me:
(1) exposure is accumulative, it is time-limited and a function of decibel level exposure. So many hours of so many decibels per time period. Then the worker had to go push a broom in a quieter area until next week.
(2) Safety Guy spoke of recent research indicating foam ear plugs provide "pretty good" protection. Headgear/earmuffs did not provide protection as good as ear plugs. The best option was (a) combo of ear plugs & ear muffs and (b) rigorous observance of time-based exposure limits.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[TomDOT]

Reading WebMD for medical advice is like reading USA Today for in-depth news analysis. Go to PubMed and read actual studies.

 

[KENAT]

"Noise attenuation ratings of hearing protection under field conditions were consistently lower than the ratings provided by the manufacturers."

My understanding is that the ratings are based more on the materials the hearing protection devices are made of tested in lab conditions rather than in a more applied setting. So one thing I've been told is that many of the ear plugs with the best ratings don't work as well in real life because they don't seal into the ear as well as some lower rated wax plugs etc.

"The effectiveness of hearing protection devices depends on training and their proper use. There is very low quality evidence that the better use of hearing protection devices as part of HLPPs reduces the risk of hearing loss, whereas for other programme components of HLPPs we did not find such an effect."

So while the evidence may be low quality, they are the only thing they found any evidence of working if I read it correctly.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[Latexman]

Thanks, I think the specific study below confirms WebMD's general point. It goes on to suggest that age related hearing loss is about 9X the burden of occupational noise exposure in the U.S. One should still protect their hearing as best they can, but there will probably come a time (an age depending on your heredity) where age related hearing loss is going to control and overshadow noise related hearing loss. This is why I think that at a certain age it's difficult to separate hearing loss due to exposure to noise and just plain growing old. I'm sure this must have affected the outcome of some of those studies.

The burdens of age-related and occupational noise-induced hearing loss in the United States.
Dobie RA.
SourceDepartment of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, Davis, CA 95817, USA. radobie@ucdavis.edu

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Aging and noise are generally considered the most common causes of adult hearing loss in developed countries. This study estimates the contributions of aging and occupational noise in the United States.

DESIGN: A model of hearing loss burden in American adults was constructed using data from the Census Bureau, from an international standard that predicts age-related and noise-induced hearing loss (ISO-1999), from the American Medical Association method of determining hearing impairment, and from sources estimating the distribution of occupational noise exposure in different age and sex groups.

RESULTS: [highlight #FCE94F]Occupational noise exposure probably accounts for less than 10% of the burden of adult hearing loss in the United States; most of the rest is age-related.[/highlight] Most of the occupational noise burden is attributable to unprotected exposures above 95 dBA, and becomes apparent in middle age, when occupational noise exposure has ceased but age-related threshold shifts are added to prior noise-induced shifts, resulting in clinically significant impairment.

CONCLUSIONS: In our current state of knowledge, noise-induced hearing loss is still the most important preventable cause of hearing loss in the United States. The burden of occupational noise-induced hearing loss could probably be reduced by stricter enforcement of existing regulations. Longer lifespans in developed countries and migration of manufacturing jobs to developing countries will continue to reduce the relative contribution of occupational hearing loss in countries like the United States. [highlight #FCE94F]Preventive interventions for age-related hearing loss, even if only partially effective, could potentially reduce the burden of adult hearing loss more than elimination of occupational noise.[/highlight]


Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[engeeneer]

"Occupational noise exposure probably accounts for less than 10% of the burden of adult hearing loss in the United States; most of the rest is age-related."

this is logical, since very few are exposed to serious occupational noise
it doesn't actually say that you are going to lose your hearing possibly from ageing and not noise

 

[IRstuff]

That article is not accessible, unfortunately, but this one is:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1740364/pdf/v059p00634.pdf

The prevalence ratios cited here are mostly less than 10%, even for those that reported working in a noisy environment. Obviously, not a fully rigorous experiment, but indicative, at any rate.

For those that don't wear any protection at all, the statistics are worse:

http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/global/6noise.pdf

TTFN
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[SomptingGuy]

I always found my bike was faster when I wore ear plugs.

- Steve

 

[Latexman]

All my career, my Dad told me, "protect your ears or you'll need hearing aids like me". I did protect my ears, very diligently, but it appears I'll still need hearing aids like him. The big hammer is heredity and age when it comes to hearing. That's my view on it. I still wear hearing protection in the plant though.

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[Maui]

I wonder how much those iPods contribute to hearing loss compared to a noisy work environment? Sometimes kids have the volume cranked up so much that I can easily hear what they're listening to (and wished that I couldn't). They're probably destined for hearing aids too before too many years go by.

It's a good idea to be concerned about hearing loss in a job. But I wouldn't normally consider it a deal breaker in considering an industrial position. The effects can usually be mitigated in most circumstances by wearing the appropriate protection. And noise is usually the least of your worries. There are a LOT of other potential hazards that can be much more serious.

In my current position when I came in we had a hard chrome plating line that was used every day of the week, primarily for rework purposes. It used hexavalent chrome. Nasty, carcinogenic stuff. I shut the entire line down six months after I started here, and I'm very glad that I did. Now we outsource that work to other companies who specialize in those types of platings. They can have it.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[engeeneer]

how many dB does YOUR factory/plant/work place rate?
also, please describe the activities of the plant and the protection you use

 

[SomptingGuy]

Personal stereo headphones have moved on from passive (speakers near your ears) to full close coupling. So you can have them louder with no leakage. About 1/2 my office is plugged in all day every day. Can't be good in the long term for tose little hairs.

- Steve

 

[GregLocock]

Sorry most of those studies are not testing the effectiveness of hearing protection devices, they are assessing the effect of hearing protection policies in the workplace. The one that points out that the muffs don't work as well as they do in the lab misses the point, it is the top 10dB that really matters, not whetehr you get 40 or more dB at one frequency. While only 10% of hearing loss in the general population is work related, what proportion of the general population works in noisy (>85 dBA*8 hours) industries?

While hearing loss may be inevitable in many cases, it doesn't have to happen in middle age. That is entirely under your control.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[TenPenny]

Latexman (Chemical)
7 Oct 13 19:59
Maybe it was the rock concerts. Aerosmith, The Who, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Black Crows, Lynard Skynard, and others.

I believe Pete Townshend (the Who) is deaf in one ear, wonder why?

 

[miningman]

Well in the development ends of a hard rock underground mine, with a three boom pneumatic jumbo rattling away at the face, I believe something like 130 dBA has been measured, which I can well believe because on the odd occassion during my career when I ventured into such an area without hearing protection, it is physically painfull on the esars and the ringing in the ears lasts for hours. Yes we have a lot of deaf miners after 20-30 years of such exposure.... especially since if they are not on the jumbo, they are probabably on the scooptram at around 110-115dBA, but as an engineer I MIGHT spend 0.001% of my time in that environment. A direct production supervisor MIGHT spend 0.01% of his time in there.

If you propose to take up engineering / supervision as a career, from a personal perspective, who really cares how noisy the shop floor is.?? Ill guarantee no shop floor comes any where close to 130dBA

 

[engeeneer]

a factory maintenance engineer how much of his time spends it in the factory environment/noise?

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Growing up, I was of the "if it's too loud, you're too old" mindset, chainsaws, snowmobiles, open headers, firearms. Had to take a hearing test to join the Navy (and passed), but they were sticklers about wearing hearing protection. I started wearing it off duty with chainsaws, lawn mowers. etc. Upon retirement from the Navy, I scored higher on my exit physical hearing test. I'm 60 now and working in a noisy environemnt and just scored very well on my hearing test. I'll wear it, thank you very much.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I've never head anyone called a factory maintenance engineer.
In most outfits of my experience, a 'Plant Engineer' takes care of the buildings and the infrastructure, and a 'Manufacturing Engineer' takes care of the production machinery and the process, among other things.
Either of them would be perceived as irresponsible and insular if they spent less than half their day outside of their office space.
Also, if the factory is noisy enough to be hazardous, reducing or mitigating that noise, or the exposure to it, becomes part of their shared responsibility.

Have you considered mortuary work?


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Mike - I've heard people are dying to get into that field. (Sorry)

 

[IRstuff]

"a factory maintenance engineer how much of his time spends it in the factory environment/noise?"

In a well-run/managed factory, it'll be a really rare thing. Otherwise, you might be there every day or other day.

TTFN
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[engeeneer]

"In a well-run/managed factory, it'll be a really rare thing."

assuming I will work in a well-run factory and again assuming most factories are well-run, why the maintenance/manufacturing engineer rarely spends time in the noisy environment of the factory? is this logical?