Hearing conservation programs are typically designed to protect workers with normal hearing, but they must also consider those workers that have already been impacted by hearing loss or impairment. Many workers in high-noise environments have already experienced varying degrees of hearing loss and may have special needs. What can be done to keep them protected, but still allow them to continue with their daily activities? These workers face numerous challenges, even in quiet environments, including difficulty communicating with colleagues and problems differentiating important sounds or alarms from other background noises. Some workers may even face differing levels of tinnitus or ringing in the ears.

For quite a year now, we have been living with the tension of this pandemic. It would be amazing if we knew when things would get back to normal, but no one has the answer to that. Between COVID-19 business interruptions, financial downturn, and rising prices, businesses are feeling the tension.

COVID-19 has produced a prolonged attack on public life, especially indoor life. Many of the largest super-spreader events took place inside: at a church, in an auditorium, or at a conference. The risk of infection indoors is almost 19 times higher than in open-air environments, according to a study from researchers in Japan.

Rebecca Bernhard, a partner at international law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP, in an April 1 webinar said, “The food industry is almost always put as a critical or essential industry, and usually exempt from even the most restrictive stay-at-home orders”.

Noise in the modern workplace is a well-known hazard with firm laws and guidelines in the United States, Australia, and many other countries throughout the world to ensure employees have some degree of protection.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dB(A) can cause hearing loss. The louder the sound, the shorter the amount of time it takes for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) to occur. Based on the study Hearing Loss Among Construction Workers: Updated Analyses, 58% of older construction workers now suffer from significant hearing loss, which was often a result of not taking the appropriate precautions while working in high-noise worksites. A study by Work Care found that employers pay $242 million a year in worker compensation for hearing loss, and these costs were higher in construction than in any other industry.

Permanent Hearing Damage

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 125,000 workers each year end up with permanent hearing damage because of workplace noise.

In today’s hectic world of work, it can be difficult to catch a minute of peace. People with labor-intensive jobs that are based outdoors are particularly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of loud noises and often feel the need to escape the sound of heavy machinery. However, manual laborers are not the only workers feeling the effects of excessive noise. With open office plans now the norm in most workplaces, the sounds of chatter and movement that take place every day can have a number of detrimental effects on productivity and employee wellbeing. Managing to achieve a quieter workplace can have positive effects on employees as it can lessen the threat of:

The promise of noise-canceling headphones can seem like a magic bullet when it comes to protecting the hearing of employees that work around loud noises. That is, however, until you start to think about the health and safety risks that come with looking after a workforce unable to hear you or each other.

Industrial noise suppression headsets are different from standard noise reduction muffs as well as active noise-canceling headphones, the latter of which are often used on public transportation or within offices when you want to cancel out background noise and listen to music.