I think it was George Burns who said, “You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.” Now that I am 40(ish), each year brings new unpleasant signs of age and wear to my body. Some are self-inflicted; too many years of sports, an unfettered love of fried chicken, and a passionate approach to bacon consumption have left me with an aching body and an extra ten pounds that eludes elimination. Others are natural signs of my body deteriorating; challenging memory skills and poor eyesight requiring Hubble-strength lenses.
The latest addition to my growing list of concerns is my hearing. I won’t play the victim and pretend that I have not attended dozens of rock concerts where the decibel level rattled my fillings loose and left my ears ringing for days. However, my exposure to elevated noise levels has been infrequent and for short periods of time. It was not until I entered the industrial environment did I realize that millions of American workers are exposed to unsafe decibel levels for hours each day, five days a week-spanning decades of their working lives. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise at work annually. If not protected properly, this exposure can result in hearing degradation and a significant reduction in quality of life.