How many of you have had hearing loss do to years loud headphones?

[louiemanno]

I was always told to keep the cans loud so I can hear the mix- I had one PD that use to drill that into all of us at the station at every air-check critique.

Do any broadcasters hold hearing test for the air staff?

Post warnings?

Or even have a policy regarding the danger of hearing loss?

Where is OSCHA for us?

The Radio Industry should really consider a policy to protect the health of their employees… With all of the seminars these people attend, you would think the subject would have come up. If only to limit their exposure.

Once again just curious…

Louie

 

[broadcastbabe]

Huh??

Seriously, I don't THINK I've had any hearling loss after 20+ years of blasting my phones.
Honestly, I seem to have the oposite problem of having to keep my volume low.... I can't get the volume on the headphone jack to crank LOUD enough.....HEY, maybe that's because I HAVE hearing loss.
Could be.....
But in the real world, I seem to hear just fine. I'm not always asking people to speak up, or repeat things. We'll see if that's changed in another 20 years though.....
I will say, that since I switched about 15 years ago from the old yellow exposed foam rubber phones (can't remember the name...KOSS???) and those little cheap tinny sounding sony's, to a nice pair of padded enclosed AKG's, I don't have those headaches every day when I get off the air.

 

[louiemanno]

Well I know I have some hearing loss… and many of my good friends who are broadcasters say they do as well. But we are getting old, which might have something to do with it. And ipod ear buds are no help either. But it seems every business has a eyewash station or a hard hat zone and most industries seem to be very cognizant of worker safety. I just wonder why the radio industry isn’t at least paying lip service to possible hearing loss. There must be a reason headphones come with warnings.

 

[broadcastbabe]

I was honest about the jack in the studio where I'm currently on the air.
Even cranked all the way up, it's not that loud (compared to the studio I was in a few months back)
The jack is directly into the board...which is brand new....and I must wonder if it's intentionally built or installed that way on purpose...
If that's the case, it WOULD say that there is awareness of the volume issue at some level.
HHMMM, going to ask about that on Monday.....

 

[louiemanno]

BB

Please let us know what you find out. It would be nice to know that somone's broadcast boss cares.

Louie

 

[Nelz]

Hey guys and gals,

Hearing loss will occur if you maintain loud volumes for long (we're talking 10-20 min.) periods of time. I was concerned about hearing loss, too, so I did a bit of research. I forget all the scientific terminology, but it's the long exposure to loud volumes of anything that'll do you in. I do keep my headphones a bit louder than most of my comrades in the radio biz, and I'm no worse for the wear after eighteen years of cranking out the hits. My biggest enemy for hearing loss is age. Tinnitus is an issue for me.

On a side note, a friend of mine, who's a sound engineer, told me that the low, boomy frequencies will kill your hearing quicker than anything else. I feel for those dudes that have the bass blasters cranked in their cars. By the time they're in their late twenties, they'll having the hearing capacity of a rock.

I'm certain that if I lost hearing in my lifetime, it was because of the 2 and 3 hour rock concerts that I attended starting back in the 70's.

Having to crank the headphone volume control all the way up to get anything out of it is another issue. There are two things to consider:
1) The volume control for headphones is just out of adjustment, and the engineer can easily tweak it, and 2) your headphones, like one set that I own, need more amplitude to drive them. The cans that I speak of are AKG 141M headphones that are 600 ohms. In most situations, they need a bit more power to drive them. I bought a headphone amplifier a while ago for the home studio, but now I just leave it set up at the station for everyone to use if they want.

 

[louiemanno]

Thank you for sharing your experience…

But the big questions here is has the management of any radio station actually ever set a policy or offered any information to the employees about the risk of hearing loss..

Here’s another question …if you went to a doctor for a hearing problem would the radio station pay for it?

Is it a valid workers comp claim?

And what about OSHA if they visited a radio station would they raise a stink?

Radio Hosts are human beings to… As American workers we not entitled to the protection that every other worker has?

In an industry that constantly covers it’s but with waver forms and non-compete forms and sexual harassment training you would think a little reminder to the staff that you could loose your hearing is in order.

And if you need to buy a hearing aid later in life because of prolonged exposure to loud sounds on the job… Should you have to pay for it?

If you have to sit through programming meetings, you boss should have to answer these questions!

 

[broadcastbabe]

Having to crank the headphone volume control all the way up to get anything out of it is another issue. There are two things to consider:
1) The volume control for headphones is just out of adjustment, and the engineer can easily tweak it, and 2) your headphones, like one set that I own, need more amplitude to drive them. The cans that I speak of are AKG 141M headphones that are 600 ohms. In most situations, they need a bit more power to drive them. I bought a headphone amplifier a while ago for the home studio, but now I just leave it set up at the station for everyone to use if they want.

Yepper....them's the can's I have...and you know, I think someone told me that a long time ago too....I'll need to look into an amplifier as well.
I'm SO not a technical geek, just an entertainer....HA!
Thanks!



[/quote]

 

[Ozman]

I have definately noticed a difference in my 3 years at WWLR
~OZ

 

[ken gilbert]

How many of you have had hearing loss do to years loud headphones?

Hey Louie! What?????? I'm deaf as well. Just crank the can's up louder! How the hell ya been?

 

[PRND21]

I worked in radio for ten years full time from 1977 and off and on part time since 1995. I've since gone to work building airplanes with rivet guns banging away around me most of the day. Part of the hire on routine is a hearing test and follow up tests annually. Two tests so far have shown no significant variations from what's considered normal for my age(extremely late 40s!).

If women followed me on the board they always complained I set the volume way too high. I think women are naturally more sensitive to volume and no two sets of cans usually play the same volume at the same setting.

Ultimately, the volume knob is under your control.

 

[nhradiochild]

I'd have to agree with PRND about the volume knob thing. That being said, it is a little odd that stations generally don't make mention of hazardous volume levels, probably because they assume that one won't be crazy enough to blast it all the time (although I do when listening privately at home many times).

I have to say though, when I was on the air, I generally only used just enough volume to make myself sound like a normal speaking volume anyway. Anything louder would freak me out because I'd be listening to myself too closely, lol. Or the music would seem louder than it ought to be and might make me pot it down or up depending on the way it sounded resulting in crappier listening for the listeners.

Does anyone even use their phones when they aren't talking? Heck, with voice tracking, I wonder if they aren't even optional lol. I know on a couple days that I was hard up for headphones I did shifts with live talkups without them. I hope I sounded ok. lol (Just lookin at the levels)

One other thing, I can relate to the bad headphones = bad headaches conundrum. I sometimes wonder if crappy phones don't cause a more significant hardship with nappy levels (can I say "nappy" without getting a furor over me, Imus?) than if you have a well-equalized pair.

 

[louiemanno]

Prnd:

I do not disagree with you either… But the fact remains that hearing loss is a work place hazard. When you worked with a riveting tool no doubt your employer provided you with sound mitigation equipment such as earplugs and as you indicated there were hearing test conducted at your work place.
Why do factories and assembly plants care about their employees and why do broadcasters not?

Many on air people have indicated on this forum that they are treated like dirt… some have had better experiences. But if you are an employer in any kind of industry it is your responsibility to provide information and policy to protect your employees from job related hazards. Especially if you are in a business filled with an apparently higher percentage of disgruntled staff then most businesses. In other words “care enough to cover your but” – Don’t be lazy. How much does it cost to have quarterly hearing test or just simply post a freaking sign in the coffee room.

OSHA inspectors are all over the construction industry… But that wouldn’t stop some idiot steel worker from detaching his safety harness, blind folding himself and two stepping on a 20 story high iron I-beam.

Of course the volume control is in the hands of the employees …all I’m saying is broadcasters should care enough to provide testing and warnings… And though the issue may never have been raised, I believe they are bound by law… or a least common decency to care about the health and welfare of the human beings that they employ.

The NAB should set a Policy for this issue instead of trying to crush low power FMs. Perhaps the NAB should have to deal with a class action suit… any lawyers out there?

Louie

 

[PRND21]

Prnd:

I do not disagree with you either… But the fact remains that hearing loss is a work place hazard. When you worked with a riveting tool no doubt your employer provided you with sound mitigation equipment such as earplugs and as you indicated there were hearing test conducted at your work place.
Why do factories and assembly plants care about their employees and why do broadcasters not?

Louie

Hi Lou,

The Sony Walkman started this ball rolling in the early 80s. I remember it being a network news story on NBC one day. Most recently, the i-Pod has brought it back to the public's attention. Too much volume over long periods can cause partial hearing loss. I think we even talked about it in a staff meeting back then. Studies that followed that original "Walkman Deafness" scare found that it took a heck of a lot of listening at painful volumes before hearing was affected. The greatest risk was in workplaces like my current occupation. Loud, repeated and at the same frequency over extended periods. Rock stars, especially drummers, suffered, too.

Factories and assembly plants care about their employees because their insurance companies demand it. They don't want to pay for a preventable injury. We are constantly reminded that we must wear eye protection. Premiums could be increased if insurers weren't happy with our compliance level. Hearing protection is strongly suggested but the riveters aren't always banging away in unison. Glad I build Pipers and not Boeings! The insurance industry probably isn't as concerned with the relatively small number of employees and comparitively low risks of the office/studio environment. It's more important to keep the walk cleared and ice off the steps! I wouldn't be surprised if someday insurance companies start policing headphone amps, though.

Talk to your PD about making the staff aware. He/She is the logical place to start. Maybe the engineer has a sound level meter so you can find where the 85 dB threshold is on the volume knob for each individual's cans. Learn, then spread the knowledge. Your management is busy worrying about sales figures!

Bill

 

[louiemanno]

Bill:

Thank you for your thoughtful post. The only point that I am trying to make is that it wouldn’t take much work or planning to at least post a sign in the studio. I did talk radio most of my career and I had my cans on for 3 and a half-hours a day. It was my own fault that I had the headphones cranked. But if a broadcasting Co would take the time to at least warn the on air staff. So perhaps the young broadcasters out there would not have to say “What…what”? Like I do.


Louie

 

[broadcastbabe]

Hey Louie,
BTW, yes, it IS just MY headphones (AKG 141) that run REALLY low on the board I'm at. My buddy at work has audio technica phones, and they run MUCH hotter.
BB

 

[louiemanno]

Thanks BB

and Bill:

Thank you for your thoughtful post. The only point that I am trying to make is that it wouldn’t take much work or planning to at least post a sign in the studio. I did talk radio most of my career and I had my cans on for 3 and a half-hours a day. It was my own fault that I had the headphones cranked. But if a broadcasting Co would take the time to at least warn the on air staff. So perhaps the young broadcasters out there would not have to say “What…what”? like I do.


Louie

 

[ken gilbert]

Louie,
The only way we can get the radio industry to warn folks about the dangers of cranking up the V.U. on your can's is to start a movement. It's the only way we can even think about a young broadcaster's future hearing problems. Anyone out there want to voice your opinion or would you rather like to start something to help the next generation. And yes, Louie. I, as well, use my real name. Nothing to hide here. NO DAG, J, you out there. Let's hear you opinion on the up-comming stars and your thoughts on this subject. It will be good to hear from you.

Ken

 

[BenKarlow]

I have definately noticed a difference in my 3 years at WWLR
~OZ

Am I really reading this?

You do a show on college radio once a week.

I think it's all that walkman listening that's making you deaf.

Either that or they're teaching you weird things at that college.

 

[louiemanno]

What? Do you think a simple warning is not in order? Someone has to care. We are talking aboud A Job elated health hazard! The same rules should apply to radio!