Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Prolonged exposure to noise, for months or years, can cause permanent hearing loss. Your ability to hear slips away, a bit at a time. Hearing impairment interferes with communication. It’s harder to follow a conversation, and that can affect the way you interact with, and get along with, other people – your co-workers, friends and family.

2. Noise can cause other problems too.

Not all hearing damage is permanent. Excessive noise exposure can also result in:

• Tinnitus – ringing or humming in the ears, which may be short-lived or permanent. Tinnitus can be distracting and debilitating.
• Temporary hearing loss – short-term exposure to elevated sound levels may impair hearing for several hours. Hearing will recover in quieter areas, but safety and ability to communicate will be affected during the period of loss.
• Acoustic trauma – a single episode of extremely high noise exposure can cause a sudden loss of hearing.
• Speech interference – sound levels above 65 to 70 dBA can interfere with conversations, both in-person or on the telephone.
• Annoyance and stress – prolonged noise exposure can interfere with the ability to concentrate and can increase stress levels. Sound levels don’t have to be damaging to have this effect.

3. Hearing loss is preventable.

There are lots of ways to reduce the impact of noise and prevent hearing loss or other effects. Loud equipment can be enclosed or treated with noise reduction technologies. Exposure time in noisy environments can be reduced by modifying job tasks. When these approaches aren’t feasible, hearing protectors can be effective at reducing noise exposure – as long as they are chosen carefully and used properly.

4. Hearing and noise can be measured.

Audiometric tests measure an individual’s hearing. Frequent testing by a trained specialist, especially if you work in noise, is the best way to detect the onset of hearing loss. In Alberta, "noise exposed workers" must be tested regularly.

The intensity (loudness) of noise, and other noise characteristics, can also be measured. Spot readings of sound levels can identify machinery or processes that could damage the hearing of exposed persons. Another technique known as noise dosimetry is the recommended approach for measuring an individual’s noise exposure over a partial or full work shift. Noise dosimetry provides useful information about a worker’s noise exposure, including whether or not their exposure exceeds regulated levels.

5. There are new noise regulations in Alberta workplaces.

Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Code, which came into effect in 2004, introduced lower exposure limits for noise and new ways of measuring noise exposure. Employers must provide exposure controls when workers’ noise exposure exceeds the exposure limit - and noise exposed workers must use protective equipment and practices provided by the employer. If any workers are noise exposed, employers are required to develop and implement a written "noise management program" with specific content. Details of these and other requirements are in Part 16 of the Occupational Health and Safety Code. Similar requirements are mandatory in other provinces, too.

There are a lot of good reasons to make sure that noise exposure – your own and that of your employees, co-workers, friends and family members - is properly managed. Aging (which is unavoidable!) should be the only reason for hearing loss.