Hearing Loss: Swedish study finds improved hearing in older adults

October 22, 2018

Swedish study finds improved hearing in older adults, but hearing loss is still a worldwide issue.

Have the Swedish figured out the secret to preventing hearing loss? 

Older adults in Sweden are hearing better than they were more than four decades ago, according to a May 2018 study published in Age and Ageing. The H70 study, part of a large-scale investigation initiated in the 1970s designed to study the medical and social effects of aging, found that hearing among 70-year-old residents of Gothenburg, Sweden had improved significantly in the last 45 years — especially among its men.

Sweden
A Swedish hearing loss study provides
hope and insight.

The comparison study tested hearing acuity in approximately 1,135 residents of Gothenburg born in 1944. When comparing the results to three previous studies of residents born in 1901, 1906 and 1922, the prevalence of hearing loss declined from 53 to 28% for men and 37 to 23% for women.

Hearing conservation

While Swedish researchers don’t know why hearing has improved in this population, they speculate the decrease among the male participants may be due to a reduction in occupational noise exposure. Most age-related hearing loss, also known as presbycusis, is thought to be due to a lifetime exposure to a noisy environment.

Men, especially those in this age group, have traditionally worked in occupations where noise levels exceeded current acceptable limits, such as in the mechanical and engineering industries. Hearing conservation programs were introduced in Sweden in the 1970s; however, the study’s authors caution further research is needed to determine possible reasons for this improvement.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL)

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common form of sensorineural hearing loss — and also the most preventable. Permanent damage to your hearing can occur when you’re exposed to noise levels over 85 decibels (dB) for an extended period of time or from a one-time exposure to a loud noise such as an explosion or gunshot. Hearing conservation can begin at any age, so follow these tips to reduce your risk from developing additional hearing loss due to NIHL:

  • If you’re still in the workplace and noise is a constant in your environment, talk to your supervisor about ways to decrease noise levels.
  • Keep the volume turned down on personal electronic devices, especially those you listen to through a headset or earphones. That goes for the volume on the television or car radio, too.
  • If you enjoy a hobby, such as car racing, music, or hunting, purchase the appropriate hearing protection and wear it. Insist that others in your family who enjoy similar noisy pastimes do the same.
  • If you know you’ll be attending an event where there will be lots of noise — such as a sporting event, parade, or fireworks celebration — invest in noise-canceling headphones or purchase inexpensive foam earplugs from the local drugstore.

Preventing Hearing Loss

While the results of this study provide a glimmer of hope, bear in mind that unlike the study population in Sweden, the prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is on the rise.

Hearing loss doesn’t discriminate based on age as it affects younger Americans than ever before. What this study does offer is even more evidence that hearing loss is not inevitable. The best treatment for many is prevention. Learn how to prevent hearing loss. 

Hearing Loss

Keeping your hearing as healthy as possible begins by scheduling an appointment with a hearing healthcare professional for a baseline hearing evaluation. Results from this exam will be used to monitor your hearing health annually so that you can address any issues which may arise sooner rather than later. To find a hearing healthcare professional in your community, search our online directory of hearing centers.


Contributed by Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy Hearing
August 8, 2018

Timber, Noise, and Hearing Loss: A Look into the Forestry and Logging Industry

June 13, 2018

Timber, Noise, and Hearing Loss: A Look into the Forestry and Logging Industry

We use our senses for many things. Take away or weaken one, such as hearing, and many things around us begin to change. Unexpectedly, the conversation across the room becomes more difficult to hear. Our favorite song on the radio doesn’t sound quite the same. This can become very frustrating for the person affected.

Hearing loss is common, especially among workers who are exposed to hazardous noise where they work. What exactly is “hazardous noise”? Noise is considered hazardous when it reaches 85 decibels (dBA) or more. In other words, when a person needs to raise his/her voice to speak with someone at arm’s length or about 3 feet away, a person is likely being exposed to noise that can potentially damage his/her hearing over time. This exposure to hazardous noise and/or chemicals that can damage hearing may lead to hearing loss linked to the workplace, also known as occupational hearing loss.

The risk of developing hearing loss varies by industry. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently looked at one particular industry sector in its paper: Prevalence of hearing loss among noise-exposed workers within the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sector, 2003-2012. This study looked at the number of workers in this industry sector that had a material hearing impairment, which is hearing loss that interferes with understanding speech. We’ll call it hearing loss in this blog.

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting is among the top industry sectors for worker exposure to hazardous noise that can contribute to hearing loss (37% exposed vs. 25% for all industries combined). Hearing loss within Forestry and Logging, an industry within this sector, is more pervasive. Noise-exposed workers in Forestry and Logging had a higher percentage of hearing loss (21%) than all noise-exposed industries combined (19%). To put this into perspective, a different study found that only 7% of non-noise-exposed workers reported hearing difficulty. Worker tasks in Forestry and Logging include:

  • managing forest nurseries
  • tending to timber tracts (plots of land selected for collecting timber)
  • gathering forest products
  • harvesting standing trees for timber

 

Timber-Logging

Activities associated with these tasks, such as unlatching cables used to hold and move logs (92 dBA) and the use of chainsaws (91-110 dBA), represent some of the highest noise exposures to this industry’s workers, and overall average exposures in some occupations have been shown to range from 97-102 dBA. These noise exposures, among others, contribute to the elevated prevalence of hearing loss seen in this industry.

Within Forestry and Logging, Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products had the highest prevalence of hearing loss (36%). This represents the highest prevalence within Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting.

Fortunately, there are effective methods for preventing worker hearing loss from noise. Reducing the noise, preferably at the source, is always the first and best step. To further reduce worker exposure to hazardous noise and minimize hearing loss within Forestry and Logging, this industry can:

  • Enclose engines and heavy equipment workstations to contain the noise
  • Install silencers and mufflers on equipment
  • Reduce exposure time for workers operating noisy equipment
  • Perform maintenance of hand tools and vehicle systems
  • Ensure that workers consistently wear properly-fitted hearing protection every time they are in noisy areas or using noisy equipment
  • Make sure that employees receive regular monitoring for changes in their hearing, so that additional measures to limit the progression of any detected hearing loss can be taken

There are also activities within Forestry and Logging that can expose workers to vibration, which may also contribute to the risk of hearing loss through suspected changes to the blood-flow within the inner ear. Vibration exposure can be reduced through routine maintenance of equipment and the use of anti-vibration chainsaws and gloves.

Visit our website for more information on occupational hearing loss surveillance and links to resources to protect worker hearing.

If you work in this industry, please share your experiences with reducing noise and improving worker safety and health.


SOURCE 

Study Finds 36% of Forestry Workers with Noisy Jobs Suffer Hearing Loss

April 17, 2018

Hearing loss affects many sectors and industries. We have explored Manufacturing Plants, Food Processing plants, Security, Mining, Construction and many others. In this study, hearing loss also has a major impact on Forestry Workers. We know that the hearing is impacted where loud noises occur for long periods of time. This is why Custom Protect Ear created the Smartest Hearing Protection in the World.

Only dB Blockers™ have proven results for effectively eliminating noise-induced hearing loss.  We participated in a study  with a company that obtains 90 plants and approximately 9,000 employees and found that after fitting with dB Blockers, used in conjunction with an effective hearing conservation program, noise-induced hearing loss was virtually eliminated. Learn More. 

About 15 percent of noise-exposed workers in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (AFFH) sector experience hearing loss, according to a new NIOSH hearing loss study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

While the 15 percent figure is below that found in other sectors, the prevalence of hearing loss is higher — as high as 36 percent— in particular industries including forestry within the AFFH sector.

Also, the prevalence of hearing loss in the AFFH sector has declined since the 1980s, however, it remains one of the industrial sectors with the highest risk for hearing loss.

While we found the overall prevalence of hearing loss in the AFFH sector to be less than all industries combined, which is 19 percent, our study shows there are many industries within the sector that have a large number of workers who have or are at high risk for hearing loss,” said Elizabeth Masterson, PhD, epidemiologist and lead author of the study. “Workers in the high-risk industries identified in this study would benefit from continued hearing conservation efforts.”

 

In what they say is the first study to estimate hearing loss within the AFFH industry sector, NIOSH researchers identified the AFFH industries with the highest number of noise-exposed workers who have hearing loss and an elevated risk of hearing loss:

  • Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products (36%), which entails growing trees for reforestation or gathering barks, gums, fibers, etc. from trees;
  • Timber Tract Opera ons (22%), which entails harvesting standing trees to make timber; and
  • Fishing (19%), this study sample comprised workers fishing for finfish such as tuna, salmon, trout, etc.

Additionally, researchers found workers in the aquaculture (fish farms or hatcheries) and logging industries are at higher risk for hearing loss. “Hazardous noise affects an es mated 22 million workers in the U.S. and hearing loss from this workplace exposure is entirely preventable with the right strategies and techniques such as controlling noise to safe levels, protec ng employees through the use of personal protective equipment and monitoring workers for changes in their hearing levels,” said Dr. Masterson.

For the study, researchers examined the results of 17,299 hearing tests, or audiograms, from workers employed at 458 companies in the AFFH sector.


SOURCE:

www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/04/03/485131.htm