tizinc's blog

We have a new free, white paper that's written to help Hearing Conservation and occupational safety professionals better understand the hybrid push-in style of ear plugs that combine the use of foam for comfort with an insertion stem for ease-of-use.

Learn about the increasing critical importance — and rapidly changing regulatory environment — of occupational Hearing Conservation Programs at our free “HearForever: Best Practices in Hearing Conservation” seminars coming to Chicago, Cincinnati, Davenport, and Indianapolis this September 13-16.

A fourth valuable tool in motivating workers to use Hearing Protection properly is the immediate feedback that comes from fit testing. Tools like VeriPRO® ear plug fit testing or QuietDose™ in-ear dosimetry give workers immediate feedback as to whether they're using that Hearing Protection the right way.

A third tool that we can use to motivate workers is simply to remove barriers to using their hearing protection.

A second important step in motivating workers is to show them what it’s like to have that hearing loss due to loud noise.

In other words, demonstrate what the future risk will be. We want to fast-forward that employee’s worklife to show them what their hearing will be like in 10, 20, 30 years.. 

Here are a few tools to help motivate workers to protect their hearing on- and off-the-job.

I was talking with a safety manager at one company who said, “We've been administering audiometric testing for 25 years, and now have 25 years’ worth of data that tells us that what we've been doing in our Hearing Conservation Program hasn't worked. We’ve simply documented the progression of hearing loss in our Hearing Conservation Program.”

I noticed in the March 1, 2010,  issue of Time magazine a summary of studies discussed in an article by Martin Lindstrom in which brain activity, sweat response, pupil dilation and facial muscles were used to measure emotion in response to various sounds.

The researchers were doing "neuromarketing research" to determine how sounds effect our emotions which in turn effect how we buy.

While many occupational Hearing Conservation Programs aim to prevent hazardous noise exposure amongst its participants, many programs walk through the steps of the local regulations and still do not prevent hearing loss. Most just document the progression of hearing loss through annual audiograms.

If you’re in the Mid-West, please join us at one of our free seminars this September for employers focusing on the increasing critical importance – and rapidly changing regulatory environment — of occupational Hearing Conservation Programs.