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Hearing Loss Incidence
Approximately 30 million workers in the US are exposed to hazardous noise on the job. Audicus tried to compile the available data on the incidence of hearing loss in occupations where the average noise levels are above the 90dB safety limit - and the numbers were astounding. In manufacturing or even agriculture, workers are at least three times as likely to experience hearing loss when they are 50 years old– in other industries it’s up to six times!
Prevent Hearing Loss: Mind those Sirens, Bomb blasts and Squealing Pigs
In mining and construction, 2 out of 3 workers will experience hearing loss by the time they are 50. Most of it is due to the use of heavy equipment (think jackhammers and heavy drills), the drilling of rock and the confined work environment. What is particularly alarming is that the ability to hear well is essential to maintaining standards of safety – which, if jeopardized, can put workers in such extreme environments in a life threatening situation. Personnel in the armed forces also face threatening noise levels, especially those in active duty: a recent study by the Deafness Research Foundation showed that more than 65% of returning combat troops from Afghanistan suffer from noise-induced hearing loss or sustained acoustic trauma. Farmers are three times as likely to exhibit hearing loss as the average American. Exposure to damaging sounds starts at a relatively young age, such with the squealing of pigs, tractors, combines, grain dryers, chain saws and other equipment and tools. For firefighters, hearing loss is the second most common work related ailment, mostly due to exposure from sirens, machinery and other tools. One of the largest employers in the US, the manufacturing sector is also one of the noisiest. Therefore it is responsible for the highest number of occupational hearing loss cases. A study in Michigan showed that more than half of all cases of permanent hearing loss came from manufacturing.