Damage To Hearing Arising From Leisure Noise

Young people tend to listen to loud music in almost every environment, individually using their personal music players, as well as in groups in discotheques, night-clubs, concerts festivals etc. As a consequence, an increase in prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss in adolescents and young adults is assumed, especially in the mainstream media. This books assesses the current scientific insights regarding the role of leisure noise exposure in the development of temporary and/or permanent auditory deterioration in young people. This unique book contributes to the understanding of this important, actual topic.

Exposure to loud noise continues to be the largest cause of hearing loss in the adult population. The problem of NIHL impacts a number of disciplines. US standards for permissible noise exposure were originally published in 1968 and remain largely unchanged today. Indeed, permissible noise exposure for US personnel is significantly greater than that allowed in numerous other countries, including for example, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, and the European Union. However, there have been a number of discoveries and advances that have increased our understanding of the mechanisms of NIHL. These advances have the potential to impact how NIHL can be prevented and how our noise standards can be made more appropriate.

The Institute of Medicine carried out a study mandated by Congress and sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an assessment of several issues related to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus associated with service in the Armed Forces since World War II. The resulting book, Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, presents findings on the presence of hazardous noise in military settings, levels of noise exposure necessary to cause hearing loss or tinnitus, risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, the timing of the effects of noise exposure on hearing, and the adequacy of military hearing conservation programs and audiometric testing. The book stresses the importance of conducting hearing tests (audiograms) at the beginning and end of military service for all military personnel and recommends several steps aimed at improving the military services' prevention of and surveillance for hearing loss and tinnitus. The book also identifies research needs, emphasizing topics specifically related to military service.

Noise damage to hearing health is a health risk which is associated with both civilian and military occupations as well as certain leisure activities. Occupational noise damage to hearing must date from the bronze age, when man first began to fashion metals some five thousand years ago. The rapid growth of industrialisation over the past two centuries has produced what might be termed as the current civilian epidemic of occupational noise induced hearing loss. This series seeks to address points relevant to current knowledge of the subject. The volume should prove useful to members of the many disciplines that have an interest in this subject.

Medical-Legal Evaluation of Hearing Loss, Third Edition includes the most accurate and current developments in the field with more than 250 new references. A comprehensive guide on hearing loss and the law, it examines claims, court cases, and the evolution of hearing conservation. This text addresses age-related hearing loss, genetics of hearing loss, and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) - with a newly revised international standard (ISO-1999, 2013) that presents a comprehensive predictive model for NIHL, critical in medical-legal evaluation. Also examined is hearing loss due to toxins, trauma, and disease, as well as the effects of cardiovascular risk factors, race, and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, included tutorial discussions of acoustics, hearing, and hearing testing will be valuable to attorneys and other nonclinicians. New or expanded topics include: The relationship of hearing loss to brain disordersJob fitnessAccommodations under the Americans with Disabilities ActBlast injuryRecreational music and hearing lossHypothesis of progressive NIHL after noise cessationSolvent ototoxicityAppropriate exchange rate for predicting noise hazardThe American Medical Association’s method of measurement of hearing disability This new edition provides practical guidance for expert witnesses and legal practitioners and is essential for otolaryngologists, audiologists, occupational physicians, attorneys handling hearing loss claims, and claims management professionals.