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WORDS STEVE SSMETHURST METHURST
Feel P
eter Wilson is angry. The technical director of the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre is a veteran in noise reduction and helped to write the IOSH ‘Noise at work – risk assessment and management’ course, yet he finds himself frustrated by the global approach to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). ‘I’ve been doing this for 40 years and have become increasingly disillusioned with the whole industry,’ he says. ‘Too many people treat risk assessment as a boxticking exercise. People are still going deaf needlessly and it is 100% preventable.’
The impact of failing to monitor noise for employees is a major public health issue. What needs to change? g
the noise Dr David Greenberg, chief executive of noise management technology company Eave, is equally passionate about the subject of hearing loss. Before founding Eave, he practised as an NHS audiological clinician and gained a PhD in auditory neuroscience. He spells out the consequences of hearing loss: ‘Accidents in the workplace rise with increased hearing loss. If you have normal hearing, you have a 2.4% chance of having a workplace accident in a three-month window. If you have a lot of trouble with your hearing, the chance doubles to 4.8%.
‘Employment rates for men are badly affected, too. Across almost the entire age range, if you have hearing loss you are less likely to be employed. Those with hearing loss are more likely to retire early, feel shame, embarrassment and have a lack of self-worth.’ David adds that, in a 2020 Lancett report on dementia, the number-one controllable risk factor in dementia was hearing loss. ‘When we’re exposed to noise, the inner ear, the cochlea, is affected. It has hair cells that have a direct link to the brain. Once these cells are damaged, they don’t recover. If we eliminated hearing loss, we’d reduce
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