Vol.5 No.2   The Noise Monitor    Page 3       Previous         Next          Page 1

NIOSH Workshop Sets Noise Agenda

(NIOSH Continued from page 2)

difficult to discuss because material indicators have not been adequately defined.

What is effective enforcement of the regulation?
What is an effective Hearing Conservation Program?
What is an effective Noise Control Engineering Program?
What is effectiveness in a hearing protection device (HPD), and how can it be evaluated?


Other findings:

The cost and implications, in economic and social terms of the excess hearing loss that is accruing in this country are not known.
There is no evidence that an infrastructure exists to support a noise control agenda were one to be created.
There is no concept of what would be required in a comprehensive awareness training agenda. That is, who would require training - who would be the target audiences?  What topics would be emphasized? How would the effectiveness of such training be assessed?


In summary, the existing hearing conservation paradigm has failed.  Current data show hearing loss is progressing at a higher rate than would be expected if existing programs were effective.  It is proposed that the essential research agenda be divided into four components:

  1. Surveillance,
  1. New Technology,
  1. Personal Protective Equipment, and
  1. Social Marketing.
    2.

Surveillance Agenda
The Surveillance Agenda consists of a technical surveillance component and an economic surveillance component.

Technical Surveillance

Research on sound exposures is


Because the country's manufacturing base has changed significantly since previous studies, the impact of this change in workplace demographics on noise exposure distribution needs to be assessed.  Equally significant, due in part to the effect of downsizing and outsourcing, the fundamental responsibility and loyalty relationship between employer and employee has changed.  The effect of this dynamic on worker exposure to noise and the implications to employers need to be determined.

Part of the technical surveillance effort should be the development and maintenance of a hazardous task inventory, or a compendium of industry-specific noise hazards and noise sources.  NIOSH has initiated this effort in the construction trades, but it needs to be expanded to cover all of industry.

Economic Surveillance

The implications of the current trend of hearing loss are unknown.  Real costs of maintaining hearing health for the worker, for industry and for society in general need to be identi

(NIOSH Continued on page 4)

In summary, the existing OSHA hearing conservation paradigm has failed. 

needed. Updated information on the distribution of exposures is required.  The current state of exposure monitoring needs to be defined, with the underlying assumptions that define scope of exposure assessment revisited.

A research agenda is proposed that will collect, collate and distribute data on noise exposure including:

Existing MSHA data
Other existing data sets
New data for the 95% of small and medium sized workplaces for which there is no evidence of monitoring having been conducted in any form

The Workplace Controls Workshop featured breakout discussions on several topics, including The Unfinished Business of Noise Control