The Ears Have It!

“Did you hear that?” said my hunting buddy as he nudged me in excitement. “There's another one further up the gully.”

“Where did you hear them?” I asked.

He looked at me and said, “Are you deaf, you old bugger?”

To my embarrassment, he was right. This one event was a wakeup call to do something that I had been in denial about it for far too long, even though I had owned hearing aids for a number of years. Having been a Sika deer hunter for 50+ years and not to have heard the Sika stags roaring was a real shock. My wife, children and now grandchildren have been telling me for ages that I needed to use the hearing aids. $5,000 and new hearing aids later, my life is now very different.

This article is about hearing and the ability to hear, or if the cap fits, the inability to hear. If you wake up in the morning and can't hear the birds singing, you can't hear your kids or grandchildren properly, or have to keep repeating yourself to your wife or partner, it's too late. Stop blaming it on the male only syndrome of selective hearing.

If you are or have been exposed to a noisy workplace with power tools, machinery, vehicles, compressed air systems, chainsaws and such like, there is a very high possibility that you could be or are suffering from hearing loss. It is nothing to be ashamed of, it happens. The real test is how much do you value your family and friends around you who also suffer from your loss and what you are prepared to do about it?

A simple test

Sit with your family or friends in a row in front of the TV. Get the kids to turn the volume down to their comfortable hearing level, then get your partner to adjust the volume to their preference, then you adjust it to your preference. You may well be surprised at the different sound levels required for each member of the family. So what's the solution - denial that you have a problem, a clean out of your ears, or hearing aids?

Before you rush off to get your hearing tested, I suggest that you get your ears checked for wax and cleaned out. Your doctor or his/her nurse can do this for you by water flushing. Preferably I suggest you consult someone that specialises in removing ear wax by suction.

The problem with warm water flushing is twofold:

You may damage your eardrums with overpowered flushing, and
If you do not dry out your ears thoroughly, this can lead to potential fungus growth leading to ear infection and itchy ears.

Ear hygiene

The smallest thing you should put in your ear is your fist. Never use hair clips, paper clips or cotton buds to remove wax or to scratch an itchy ear. You may consider cotton buds to be soft - they aren't. The skin in your ear is very sensitive - it could scratch the skin and could lead to itchy ear and/or infection. You can also damage your eardrums.

Hearing protection and Ear Muffs (PPE)

Personal Protective Equipment is the last form of risk/hazard control and if possible, the source of the noise should be controlled by other means.

Ear muffs come in different shapes, sizes and grades for different situations and environments.

Has your business or employer implemented a process to have the muffs cleaned on a scheduled basis?

Do all employees have their own hearing protection or do they share?

An ear infection is something you don't want and can potentially be transferred from one employee to another if they share ear muffs. A good cleaning programme for all ear muffs is a must and should be planned and strictly adhered to.

Ear plugs

If your workplace issues ear plugs to minimise the noise in the workplace, a key requirement is the training of how to use these properly. In order to insert them so they fit and are comfortable, the plugs are required to be rolled and twisted so they expand in the ear when inserted. The issue here is the hygiene.

Does the user wash their hands prior to rolling the plugs?

Employment health monitoring

The Health And Safety in Employment Act requires that where employees are exposed to high levels of noise from identified and documented significant hazards that cannot be eliminated, that the employee's exposure is monitored every 12 months. These tests are usually carried out by a registered occupational nurse. What is also important is the outcome review of this monitoring to identify if there has been a lowering of the employee's hearing compared to the last test or the employee's pre-employment medical assessment. If there is a shift, then it's the responsibility of the employer to take action to reduce or adequately control the causal factor and/or the exposure to the source of the noise.

Hearing Aids

For whatever reason you have decided that you need hearing aids, you should consult a qualified audiologist, and have the tests to confirm your level of hearing loss. This is painless and will provide you with a bench mark for an informed decision of what you will require.

The cost

Hearing aids are expensive and range from $5,000 to $10,000. If you believe that your loss has been caused by a work situation, ACC may subsidise the payment for them. To obtain this funding, you will have to undergo an assessment by an approved ACC medical practitioner.

The outcome of the assessment and the amount of subsidy funding will depend on the factors below. You will start with 100% funding and depending on your responses the funding will be scaled downwards.

Your level of funding will be based on a number of downward scaling factors.

Your medical history - have you ever had ear infections or grommets as a child?
Have you had operations or medication for your ears?
What are your hobbies? E.g. are you in/or have been in a band, car racing, hunting, shooting etc?
What is your work history? E.g. have you been exposed to loud noises - chainsaws, noisy machinery or equipment?
Your age. This point will also be used in the scaling assessment as age is recognised to diminish hearing as we get older.

If you think you may have a need for hearing aids in the future, I suggest you start saving as you could be having to pay $3,000 - $4,000 or in my case, more.

Employer's responsibilities

Apart from health monitoring, a fact not well known is that if you have an employee who gets hearing aids for the first time, as the employer you are required to furnish Worksafe NZ with a prescribed Notification of Serious Harm form - this is required even if the employee had only been working for you for a short time. This is why you should have in your “Application for Employment” a question relating to hearing impairment or loss, especially if you have a noisy work environment.

In conclusion

Remember, denial is not just a river in Africa.

If you have a hearing problem, do something about it. Wear the PPE issued and actively encourage others to wear their hearing protection, especially the younger employees. In the meantime, my life has improved dramatically, my wife does not have to repeat everything twice and I am looking forward to the thrill of hearing the Sika stags screaming and roaring next April/May.

Gordon Anderson, November 2015