Tinnitus & Industrial Deafness - Advice & Infomation
Trust In Clear Law£15,000 fine for lack of noise control
A foam and feather furniture firm has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of a further £4,500 after failing to protect their workers from the excessive noise levels found in its factory. Yorkshire furniture company Fibreline ltd; based in Keighley, was...
Worried about your hearing?
Sound, and noise are natural parts of everyday life, but exposure to loud noise can cause permanent damage to your hearing; whether you are young or old, once your hearing is damaged it will never get better. While new regulations have been introduced to protect...
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of sound within your ears, or head, that isn’t caused by any external source. There are two main types; Subjective Tinnitus where sounds can only be heard by the sufferer, and Objective Tinnitus where the sound can be heard by the sufferer...
Noise Regulations
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (the Noise Regulations) came into force for all industry sectors in Great Britain on 6 April 2006, except for the music and entertainment sectors where they came into force on 6 April 2008. The aim of Noise Regulations is...
Avoiding Hearing Damage through Health Surveillance
According to the Health and Safety Executive, health surveillance for hearing damage usually means: Regular hearing checks in controlled conditions Informing employees about the results of their hearing checks Keeping health records Ensuring employees are examined by...
Noise induced hearing loss in the workplace
Too much exposure to high levels of noise in your workplace can cause irreversible hearing loss and is one of the most common health problems. It can be difficult to detect as the effects gradually build up over time. Across industry as a whole, industrial hearing...
Protect your ears from loud music
Festival-goers and concert attendees might not be aware that noise levels around the stages at music festivals and at some concerts and nightclubs can reach 110 decibels or more; that’s similar to standing next to a pneumatic drill working at full bore. Spending too...
Ear Protection – what type and when?
Noise is a part of everyday life, but being exposed to too much noise, or noise that is too loud can do permanent damage to our hearing. This damage can sometimes develop over time, or sometimes set in very swiftly – for example after being exposed to a very loud...
Tinnitus and Stress
Tinnitus is one of the most common conditions experienced by people in the UK today – around one in ten people suffer from it. In many cases it can cause stress to the sufferer, however, in some cases it is stress that is making the problem worse. Stress is...
Acoustic Trauma – what is it?
Acoustic Trauma is an injury to the inner ear that can often be caused by exposure to a single, very loud noise (such as a gun shot, or explosion) or long-term exposure to noise at a lower, but still high volume. It can also be caused by a serious head injury if the...
Minimising noise risk and reporting noise emissions
In an ideal world all work equipment would be designed and manufactured to avoid the risk of deafness and other hearing damage and would not interfere with normal conversation. However, in some cases this is simply impossible and so measures have been put in place to...
How the ear works
Sound waves are made up from the vibration of thousands of air molecules. In low frequency sounds, these waves are quite far apart, whereas high frequency sounds have waves that are bunched together far more tightly. Sound waves are funnelled through the outer ear...
Worried about your Hearing?
Sound and noise are a part of everyone’s everyday life, but loud noise can be bad for your hearing. Whether you are young or old, once your hearing has become damaged it is very unlikely that you will ever enjoy good hearing again, but how do you know if you are at...
White Noise
One of the treatments that have been found to assist sufferers of Tinnitus in minimising or at least reducing the discomfort is the use of White Noise. White noise is a type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. If you...
Tinnitus Cure
There is not usually a quick fix for tinnitus, but there are now many products and treatments available which can help to lessen the symptoms, and in some cases eradicate the issue entirely. What is Tinnitus? Tinnitus is the term used for hearing sounds that are...
Noise Surveys and Assessments
If you operate a workplace where noise is suspected to be a hazard, you should conduct a risk assessment for noise, also known as a noise assessment. Do you need to perform a Noise Assessment? One of the first questions an employer has to decide is whether they need a...
The Quiet Nightclub – a step too far?
If you think about dancing the night away at your favourite night-spot you’ll probably be thinking of loud music helping to create an atmosphere where inhibitions can be shed and dance-moves displayed. You might be an occasional clubber who attends only infrequently,...
Hearing Protection
The human ear can easily be damaged by loud noises; whether the noise is continuous, such as in a nightclub or concert, or occasional such as in a foundry or call-centre, protection must be provided to any employee who is exposed to loud noises. When should hearing...