Are Noisy Industries Protecting Workers From Hearing Loss?

Main Category: Hearing / Deafness
Article Date: 13 Apr 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Session 3aNS at the Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Canadian Acoustical Association explores hearing-protection practices in noisy industries. In a new study, William Daniell of the University of Washington (bdaniell@u.washington.edu) in Seattle and his colleagues evaluated noise exposures and hearing conservation practices at 76 companies in eight industries.

Nearly all companies in these industries had noise levels that required hearing conservation programs. However, the researchers discovered that more than one-third of the companies did not conduct annual training, and hearing protection was commonly underused.

"The industries with greatest margin for improvement," the authors write, "are not the noisiest industries, but those where exposure is moderate or intermittent" (3aNS1).

Analyzing hearing-test results for employees of 14 British Columbia lumber mills between 1978 and 2003, Hugh Davies of the University of British Columbia (hugh.davies@ubc.ca) found a reduction in the percentage of workers with hearing problems over time as the industry adopted hearing conservation programs (3aNS2).

Adriana Lacerda and colleagues at the University of Montreal (Adriana.Lacerda@umontreal.ca) have obtained evidence that workers chronically exposed to low levels of carbon monoxide in a noisy environment may also experience hearing problems at high frequencies. (3aNS8)


Do students change their accents shortly after they enroll in college? How can ultrasound trigger healing in bone fractures that are otherwise very stubborn to mend? Could airplane noise lower a student's test scores?

These and other questions will be addressed at the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Canadian Acoustical Association (CAA), to be held May 16-20, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel (655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2R7, Canada, 604-639-4820). Over 1050 papers will be presented, making it one of the largest acoustics meetings to date. ASA (http://asa.aip.org) is the largest scientific organization in the United States devoted to acoustics. CAA (http://www.caa-aca.ca) is a professional, interdisciplinary organization devoted to acoustics in Canada.

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

We encourage you to visit ASA's "World Wide Press Room" (located at http://www.acoustics.org/press) before and during the meeting. By the week of May 2, the site will contain lay-language versions of selected meeting papers. These papers will enable you to cover the meeting, even if you can't leave your desk.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Reporters covering the meeting can receive a complimentary press badge to attend all sessions. Please fill out the reply form if you are interested in attending the meeting. Ben Stein (bstein@aip.org, 301-209-3091) and Martha Heil (mheil@aip.org; 626-354-5613) of the American Institute of Physics will be available both remotely and on-site to facilitate your requests, from contacting speakers at the meeting to obtaining background material on meeting topics.

VIEWING MEETING ABSTRACTS

Full abstracts of the papers mentioned in this news release can be viewed at the Meeting Abstracts Database (http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.html) by typing in the last name of the author or the appropriate paper code. Entire sessions can be viewed by simply typing in the session code followed by a star (e.g., 1aBB*). In addition, typing a general subject (such as "guitar") or a particular university or city (such as "Toronto") may provide other results of interest.

Contact: Ben Stein
bstein@aip.org
301-209-3091
American Institute of Physics
http://www.aip.org

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