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#1 Posted : 05 January 2006 17:12:00(UTC)
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Posted By Dave Langford
What inference do you draw from the HSE's employers' guidance booklet

INDG362(rev1)
which notes under the 'Health Surveillance' section that
persons who 'are particularly senstive to damage' must be provided with
health surveillance.

Question: How do you know whether they are 'sensitive' without undertaking
audiometry testing?

My business operates many call centres and the issue of acoustic shock
could involve a lot of testing (due to high staff turnover) and cost.

Is it a mandatory requirement or not in a relatively 'quiet' environment?
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#2 Posted : 05 January 2006 17:21:00(UTC)
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Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Dave

In my experience, call centres are not 'quiet' environments. Noise levels can be high enough to interfere with telephone conversation (!) Of course, employees are not just exposed to ambient noise but also the sound from the headset (including acoustic shock); they are likely to increase the volume of the headset to counter the ambient noise. Audiometry may well be necessary to ensure that hearing damage is not occurring; however, with the increasing use of iPods, etc. any hearing loss may not be work related but that is another issue. I foresee big problems in this area.

Paul
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#3 Posted : 05 January 2006 20:16:00(UTC)
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Posted By Adrian Watson
Dear Dave,

What is accoustic shock? I understand that it is a psychophysical response to accoustic feedback. As such, a normal audiogramme wouldn't pick it up; however, it would pick up temporary threshold shift or permanent threshold shift.

Regards Adrian
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