 The goal of an employee hearing conservation program is to protect every employee from hearing loss that can result from prolonged exposure to hazardous levels of environmental noise. The Department of Labor developed the new federal regulation for employee hearing conservation in 1983. The regulation is monitored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, and protects the rights of workers. The hearing conservation regulations require that all employers monitor all work areas to determine potentially harmful noise levels, provide engineering controls to help reduce noise to safe levels when possible, provide hearing tests for all noise-exposed employees in order to monitor any change in their hearing that might have resulted from exposure to high noise levels, provide hearing protection to reduce the effects of hazardous workplace noise. Hearing protection, when chosen carefully, reduces noise to a safe listening level. But even if employers follow these regulations, it is not enough to protect every employee from hearing loss. You, the worker, have to be aware of your role in protecting your hearing. To help protect the hearing of the nation's workforce, the Department of Labor requires all employees who are exposed to potentially harmful noise to be educated about the risks of high noise levels and about the federally mandated requirements of the Department of Labor's final rule on hearing conservation. The training requirement allows all workers to be aware of the hazardous effects of loud noise and the respective roles of both management and workers in preventing hearing loss. Employee protection groups and unions, like the Association of Federal Government Employees, have fought for employee safety measures. But more importantly, your participation in the hearing conservation program should not only be following federal rules and regulations. You should take part in the hearing conservation program to protect yourself from possible hearing loss, a loss that may be irreversible. This program provides employees with the information necessary to know how to control their own potentially harmful noise environment during work and leisure activities. Let's see how much you know about occupational and leisure noise exposure. True or false, employees are responsible for providing their own hearing protection devices. The answer is false. A selection of hearing protection devices, including ear plugs and ear muffs, must be provided to all employees at risk of hearing loss at the employer's expense. Contact your safety officer to obtain hearing protection devices. True or false, noise-induced hearing loss will affect my ability to understand speech. The answer is true. At first, noise-induced hearing loss only affects the ear's ability to hear high-pitched sounds, and usually, the affected individual is not aware that the ear is being damaged. With prolonged exposure, however, and when combined with the normal hearing loss expected with the aging process, noise-induced hearing loss can severely affect an individual's ability to understand normal levels of conversational speech. True or false, there are physical symptoms that can occur when I am exposed to hazardous noise levels and have not protected my hearing with ear plugs or ear muffs. The answer is true. Unprotected exposure to noise that exceeds the allowable daily noise dose can cause symptoms such as a fullness sensation in the ear, tinnitus or ringing in the ear, and a temporary reduction in your ability to hear. Have you ever started your car in the morning to go to work and found the radio's volume is extremely loud? The amount you must turn down your radio to achieve a comfortable listening level may be the amount your ears adapted to the previous day's noise exposure. With rest overnight, the ear returned to normal. Repeated exposures of this type will cause permanent hearing loss. Choose the one best answer. Federal regulation requires that a hearing conservation program must be provided to employees whose exposure is equal to the average noise level of A. A business office. B. Busy city street traffic. C. A lawnmower. D. A woodworking shop. The correct answer is B. Busy city street traffic. All employees are required by federal regulation to be included in a hearing conservation program if their 8-hour average noise level meets or exceeds 85 decibels. The greater the noise level, the greater the risk of hearing loss. Actually, according to the federal register, volume 46, number 11, page 4095, in order to prevent any measurable hearing loss over a 40-year period, the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA identified a maximum 8-hour average daily noise exposure level of 75 decibels. If you do not know your daily average exposure level, you should find out. Check with your Medical Center's Employee Safety Officer or the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service. True or false? When using hearing protection, my ability to communicate with other workers is greatly reduced or impaired. The answer is false. Hearing protection devices, meaning ear plugs or ear muffs, reduce environmental noise levels and the speech loudness levels equally. So the speech loudness level should still be louder than the workplace or environmental noise level. The loudness level between the two does not change, so your ability to understand speech when using hearing protection should not be affected. However, you have reduced environmental noise to a safe level with the use of hearing protection. True or false? Exposure to loud noise can cause negative health effects other than hearing loss. The answer is true. Non-auditory or physical effects from noise exposure include 1. Sleep disorders including A. Insomnia B. Restlessness 2. Stress reactions leading to A. Fatigue B. Increased blood pressure or hypertension C. Increased heart rate D. Anxiety E. An increased startle reflex 3. Metabolic changes caused by a natural startle alert arousal response to noise that leads to abnormal glandular secretions. These questions are ones commonly asked and their answers will help increase your knowledge of the risks involved in high levels of environmental noise and workplace noise exposure. As you have seen, noise-induced hearing loss can be caused by prolonged exposure to hazardous noise levels. The result can be permanent hearing loss and possibly other physical effects like sleep disorders, stress and metabolic changes. You can prevent this by wearing hearing protection provided by your employer. And using hearing protection will not stop you from understanding someone talking to you. The Hearing Conservation Program is for your protection. Your employer tries to reduce noise to safe levels through engineering controls. But some employees who work in certain areas are exposed to high noise levels. Hearing protection, when chosen carefully and correctly, reduces noise to a safe listening level. If you are interested in more information about noise, the effects of high noise levels on hearing, or the Hearing Conservation Program, please contact your Medical Center's Audiology and Speech Pathology Service.