Prevent Hearing Loss! Alberta Oil Tool's #Safety Moment of the Week 07-Aug-2016

1. PREVENT HEARING LOSS!
Safety Moment of the Week
August 7th – 13th, 2016
Generally hearing loss is gradual. By the time you notice it, it is probably too late. We
want to prevent hearing loss before it happens. Depending of the cause, it can be mild
or severe, temporary or permanent. Noise is one of the most common causes of
hearing loss. It can be a quick loud blast or exposure to loud noise over an extended
period of time that can damage your hearing. One third of hearing loss is preventable
with proper hearing loss prevention strategies.
There are different noise exposure rates for different
countries. It is important that we monitor these levels
and take actions to protect our workers.
Protect your ears:
 Limit exposure to noisy
activities at home; monitor
your listening levels and
how long you are listening
to personal devices
 Wear hearing protection
while performing loud
activities at work or home
such as: hunting/shooting
guns, at work, cutting
wood, mowing the lawn,
using power tools, riding a
motorcycle or snowmobile
 Have your hearing tested
 Watch for symptoms and
early signs of hearing loss
such as: conversations
becoming difficult; you
have trouble using the
telephone; it is difficult to
catch sounds like ‘t’ ,’d’ and
‘s’; permanent tinnitus
(ringing, whistling, buzzing
or humming in the ears)

2. Safety Moment of the Week
August 7th
– 13th
, 2016
PREVENT HEARING LOSS!
Why hearing is important? Consider all the sounds that surround you every single day: a child
laughing, a bird singing, a friend chatting, or a great song on the radio - it is this symphony of sounds
that makes life richer.
Hearing empowers us and helps us lead our everyday lives without limitations. It enables us to
socialize, work and communicate. It also helps us to stay connected to the outside world and it keeps
us safe by warning us of potential danger. Hearing is an easy thing to take for granted.
Things are not nearly as easy with a hearing loss. When hearing loss occurs, a simple thing like
following a conversation in a restaurant or hearing the doorbell or telephone can become a real issue.
You may start to experience all sorts of emotions – from worry to sadness and loneliness. You may
also feel tired and irritable from having to concentrate just to hear what people are saying. Left
unattended, hearing loss can ultimately lead to feelings of isolation and depression.
Recognize the signs - Hearing loss can creep up so slowly that the person affected is often the last
one to know. In fact, family members, friends or colleagues are likely to spot the problem before you
do. They might say that you are not listening to them, or that the television is turned up far too loud.
And they might wonder why you don’t answer the doorbell or telephone when they are trying to get a
hold of you.
 Do you find yourself straining to keep up with conversations in a busy office surrounding? At
social occasions?
 Do you feel that people are mumbling and sometimes need to ask them to say things twice?
 Do you turn up the volume on the TV or radio louder than others in the room prefer?
 Is it hard to hear the person on the phone and do you need to ask them to speak up?
 Do friends and relatives often complain that no one answers the door or their phone calls?
 Do you have difficulty hearing sounds of nature, such as birds singing or rain falling?
 Do you find that softer, high pitched consonants such as ‘f’, ‘s’ or ‘t’ are being drowned out by
the louder, low-pitched vowel sounds – such as ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’. So if someone says “statue” and
all you can hear is “s_a_ue”?
Potential Causes of Hearing Loss:
Age-related hearing loss - As we get older, some of us lose our ability to hear softer, high-pitched
sounds. Birdsong, footsteps and leaves rustling in the wind is fairly easy to live without, but if you lose
some of the building blocks of speech or the ability to hear important warning signals in your home, it
is far more serious. Hearing loss may creep up slowly, but eventually it will affect your ability to live a
rich and active life.
Noise-induced hearing loss - This is caused by overexposure to excessive sound levels. All over the
world, people are encountering increasingly more sound. Even relatively low sound levels can
actually damage your hearing if you are exposed to it on a daily basis. It threatens the hearing of
many people in our society – from police officers, construction workers and farmers to teachers,
dentists and restaurant workers. Wear the proper hearing protection for the task you are performing!