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Hearing Protection #1

    Most people, especially when they are young, take their good hearing for granted. They know that a lot of older people are hard of hearing and many wear hearing aids. They assume that most hearing loss is the unavoidable result of getting old. If a younger person loses some of his hearing, then he is probably a rock musician or maybe works in a boiler factory.

    In the first place, most hearing loss in older people is not due to aging but to exposure to noise over a long lifetime. These include traffic noises, airplanes, machinery, stereos, televisions, etc.

   Headphone type radios, which can be played at very high volume can be especially destructive to hearing. On the other hand, people living in primitive parts of the world, where they don’t have all these everyday noises of modern society, have little or no hearing loss as they grow older.

As for construction work, there are many sources of loud noises. For example:

  • Power saws of various types.
  • Hammers
  • Cement trucks and cement mixers.
  • Power  & powder actuated handtools
  • Stapling guns
  • Jack hammers and other cement power tools

    One problem is, hearing loss happens so gradually the people usually don’t notice if until it is too late. Then, even a hearing aid may not help. Don’t risk losing some of your hearing on the job or elsewhere when it can be easily avoided. Use earplugs or ear muffs when noise levels are high.

* Lend Safety an Ear *