Photo credit: Mikael Blomkvist
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Research from China, published in the open-access BMC Public Health, found that occupational noise exposure was associated with hearing loss and hypertension in female workers. We usually don’t cover occupational noise issues because workers have recommended exposure limits from federal agencies, mandated hearing conservation programs and the workers compensation system to pay for workplace injuries. That would cover occupational noise-induced hearing loss. But the public has no guidelines, recommendations or standards for noise exposure, and instead only the tort law system for protection.
We’re making an exception because noise exposure is ubiquitous in industrialized societies. Everyone is exposed to noise 24 hours a day, year-round, regardless of age, gender or gestational status, with fetal perception of noise beginning late in pregnancy. Non-occupational noise exposure often exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculated safe noise level of 70 decibels time weighted average for a day.
This article claims to be the first to find an association between occupational noise exposure and hearing loss and hypertension in women. Such associations have previously been found only in men. As the article states, occupational noise exposure while pregnant has also been associated with hearing problems in children and worse fetal outcomes. There is no reason to think that the physiology of women who work in noisy environments is any different from women who work in quiet environments, or in women who are not working.
Women should be aware of the dangers of noise that could cause hearing loss and hypertension. Women of childbearing years contemplating pregnancy should also be aware of the adverse consequences of noise exposure during pregnancy. Obviously men can’t get pregnant, but they should also be aware of auditory and non-auditory dangers of noise.
I hope this report will help motivate everyone to reduce noise exposure, and to join us in working for a quieter world. A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all. Thanks to our friend and colleague Yishane Lee at Hearing Health Foundation for bringing this article to our attention.
