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Posted on Apr 16, 2008, 8 p.m.
By Jeanelle Topping
Prolonged exposure to noise in the workplace could lead to tinnitus and longer-term degeneration of hearing, studies have shown.
Prolonged exposure to noise in the workplace could lead to tinnitus and longer-term degeneration of hearing, studies have shown.
The introduction of new workplace noise regulations in the UK highlights to people the importance of safeguarding their hearing as they age.
Andy Lenthall, general manager at Production Services Association, explained: "High levels of noise in a work place can make you go deaf or give you hearing damage.
"[We need to] have a cultural shift from tinnitus from being a badge of honour to it being what it actually is: a debilitating condition that has actually driven people to suicide."
At present, nine million people in the UK suffer from hearing loss, the Royal National Institute for Deaf people reports.
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations were introduced to the music and entertainment sectors in April 2008 and has been enforced in other sectors since 2006.
According to the British Health and Safety Executive, figures show that 1,395 prescribed industrial diseases (not including lung disease) were declared in 2005/2006 in England, Wales and Scotland.
