The Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award is an occupational health and safety award that was established in 2007 through a partnership between the

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the C ...

(NIOSH) and the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHC

In 2018, the partnership was extended to include the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC

This award recognizes organizations that demonstrate measurable achievements towards

noise control Noise control or noise mitigation is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution or to reduce the impact of that noise, whether outdoors or indoors. Overview The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement are: transportation noise control, ...

and

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...

prevention in the workplace.

Noise-induced hearing loss Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a hearing impairment resulting from exposure to loud sound. People may have a loss of perception of a narrow range of frequencies or impaired perception of sound including sensitivity to sound or ringing i ...

is a prevalent work related illness and case studies show that substantial reductions in noise levels in the workplace can be achieved. There is low quality evidence to show that implementation of stricter legislation can reduce noise levels in workplaces and moderate quality evidence that training in the proper insertion of ear plugs significantly reduces noise exposure but controlled studies and long term follow-up studies are lacking. This award disseminates information of effective practices to a broader occupational safety and health community to encourage the adoption of evidence based hearing loss prevention.Meinke D, Morata T, Hayden C. Noise Control Strategies: Lessons from Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards™ Proceedings of the NOISE-CON 2013, 2013 August 26–28 Denver, Colorado The winner, chosen by an expert committee, must incorporate evidence of effectiveness and familiar benchmarks of hearing loss prevention. The focus of this effort is documenting and highlighting effective interventions for the prevention of the negative effects of noise exposure and ''not'' regulatory compliance. Trophy Office

The Safe-in-Sound Awards are presented every year at the NHCA Conference. The inaugural awards were presented in 2009 and recipients included

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military av ...

and Domtar Paper Company for the manufacturing sector, Montgomery County Water Services (Ohio) for the services sector, and Sensaphonics Hearing Conservation, Inc. for innovation. Several of the award recipients have reported that

is a cost-effective primary preventive strategy, and that their results encouraged them to expand the adoption and implementation of noise control alternatives. Such approaches include " Buy-Quiet" and "Quiet-by-Design" initiatives. These are programs guiding purchasers to compare the noise emission levels of different models of equipment, and whenever possible, select the quieter model.

Notable recipients

*2012 (Excellence):

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

, for interventions such as an online training in noise control engineering, and company-wide implementation of the

NIOSH The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the ...

recommended 85-dBA limit for 8-hour noise exposure. In 2013, the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agen ...

(OSHA) highlighted this particular Safe-in-Sound recipient in their OSHA Technical Manual (OTM), which provides information and guidance on workplace hazards. *2014 (Excellence): Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Linthicum, Maryland. This facility has implemented a process to identify and effectively control hazardous noise sources that have reduced or eliminated individual worker daily noise exposures and the need for most of their workers to be enrolled in a hearing loss prevention program. *2015 (Excellence): United Technologies Corporation (UTC), for their extensive efforts to reduce the exposure of their employees to hazardous chemicals and

industrial noise Occupational noise is the amount of acoustic energy received by an employee's auditory system when they are working in the industry. Occupational noise, or industrial noise, is often a term used in occupational safety and health, as sustained expos ...

. *2016 (Excellence): 3M Alexandria plant, for their successful reduction of noise exposure within their facility (12-14 dBA across 24 departments). The initiatives implemented by 3M proved to be cost-effective, utilized Buy-Quiet principles, and resulted in 199 of 203 no longer being required to complete the 3M Alexandria Hearing Conservation Program. *2020 (Innovation):
2020 Multilateral Medical Operations Panel's Acoustics Sub-Working Group
for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(ISS). ISS Crewmembers are exposed to noise 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with current missions averaging 6 months in duration. Concerns over noise exposure are not restricted to risks to hearing effects, but also to crew health and performance in the form of interference in sleep and communication, and reduced alarm audibility. The Acoustics Sub-Working Group work with the astronauts to monitor noise levels on the Space Station, identify noisy tasks or equipment for their Noise Hazard Inventory, test equipment for noise levels before it is sent to the ship, develop and implement solutions to reduce noise levels, recommends hearing protective devices to reduce crew noise exposures and perform audiometric testing before, during (on-orbit) and after flights. *2022 (Innovation)
Michael Lawrence and Jamie Anderson, Rational Acoustics LLC
Rational Acoustics LLC develops, distributes, and supports audio measurement software for the worldwide professional sound industry. Their focus goes beyond product development. They have addressed the compounding issues related to risks of overexposures to music experienced by live sound mixers, event crew and attendees of concerts. Their efforts contributed to the 2022 World Hearing Day theme, “To hear for life, listen with care!” World Hearing Day is hosted by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

(WHO) and celebrated each year on March 3. *2022 (Excellence):

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military tech ...

, St. Augustine site. At this site, Northrop Grumman conducts ongoing noise monitoring; implements noise controls; adopts buy-quiet strategies in the purchase of new equipment and tools; provides several alternatives of hearing protection devices and

hearing protection fit-testing Hearing protector fit-testing, also known as field attenuation estimation system (FAES), determines how effective a hearing protection device is for an individual when worn correctly. This is typically carried out using one of the available fit-tes ...

with accompanying individual, periodic training; provides state-of-the art communication-enhanced electronic hearing protection devices; carefully analyzes

pure tone audiometry Pure-tone audiometry is the main hearing test used to identify hearing threshold levels of an individual, enabling determination of the degree, type and configuration of a hearing loss and thus providing a basis for diagnosis and management. Pu ...

results aiming to identify early changes, and finally; continuously improving their training to ensure relevance. Employees at all levels are engaged in the initiatives.

References

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External links

Official Website
* https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/enews/enewsv13n11.html * https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/enews/enewsv10n11.html * https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2017/03/03/firing-range-program/
Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation

National Hearing Conservation Association
Noise pollution Hearing loss Working conditions Occupational safety and health awards National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Prevention in the United States Acoustics Sound Occupational safety and health

Categories

Excellence Award

Innovation Award

Notable recipients

See also

References

External links