In the UK alone, findings indicate that 19 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women above 16 years of age experience varying degrees of hearing loss and over 7.5 million people suffer some form of more serious hearing damage.

Whilst it is certainly true that exposure to excessive noise levels can occur in different ways and environments, e.g. MP3 players, urban traffic, heavy metal music concerts, and even children’s classrooms, the predominant source of dangerously high levels of noise is the factory/ industrial workplace.

In an attempt to deal with the risk of reducing industrial deafness in the workplace, the EU directive sets a daily noise exposure limit value of 87 dB, to which the laws and regulations of all EU countries must comply. However, in too many instances, this is ignored or actually represents a lowering of the acceptable level from an earlier noise exposure limit of 90 dB.

Where noise levels cannot be sufficiently reduced the employees must be provided with hearing protection, such as ear defenders or ear plugs. New design ‘hard hat’ head wear, incorporating ear defenders, are now commonly available. The directive also stipulates that hearing tests must be carried out on employees to ensure sufficient noise level protection.

Unfortunately, even when responsible employers make hearing protection available, many workers still fail to wear ear defenders as they may underestimate the potential harm. In addition, where workers are all too aware of the dangers of noise induced hearing loss as being a common work related injury, many still fail to wear adequate hearing protection for diverse reasons, or if they do, are incorrectly worn.

However, another solution is also available – a personal noise level meter, which alerts employees to when the surrounding noise rises above safe levels and could cause damage to hearing.

The meter, which is the size of a credit card and easily attached to work clothing, indicates the prevailing noise level by a simple traffic light system:

• Green = below 80dB = Safe
• Yellow = 80 – 100dB = Risk
• Red =  Above 100dB = Danger

It is hoped that by employees being able to “see” the level of the noise, their noise awareness will be increased, so making it easier to respond and take positive action by protecting their hears when actually necessary, thereby, reducing the risk of hearing damage.