Industrial deafness

Industrial deafness is, as the name suggests, deafness which is caused by exposure to loud industrial noise. It is loss which affects hearing in the higher frequencies predominately, and causes problems for people communicating in social settings where there is background noise. It also affects people’s ability to hear day-to-day higher pitch sounds.

Noise related hearing loss (industrial deafness) is a sensorineural hearing loss which affects the hair cells of the cochlear. Unfortunately, no medical procedure can rectify this problem and therefore the damage is permanent and irreversible.

People exposed to over 85 dB of sound on a regular basis can be exposing themselves to noise which can cause permanent damage.

People who are exposed to loud noise over a lengthy period of time tend to lose the ability to hear sounds of higher pitch. A person with industrial deafness will have difficulty hearing some or all of the higher pitch sounds. These symptoms are worsened when the sufferer is in an area with high levels of background noise. They cannot hear the television clearly and speaking on the telephone becomes extremely difficult.

Industries which usually expose workers to high levels of noise and therefore have higher occurrence of industrial deafness include:

• form work and construction,
• electrical and plumbing
• mining and engineering
• factories and processing industry
• agriculture and farm operators
• council workers
• railways and transport workers
• heavy machinery operators
• manufacturing
• airline industry
• Metal industry
• Printing
• Maintenance workers
• Waterside workers
• Industrial painting
• Packaging
• Infrastructure

Some typical examples of equipment that are considered noisy enough to cause hearing loss:

• Press machines
• Saws
• Mills
• Lathes
• Pumps
• Engines
• Grinders
• Welding machines
• Jackhammers
• Industrial vacuum cleaners and polishers
• Industrial air conditioner units or exhaust fans
• Locksmith machines
• Forklifts
• Trucks