The Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards™ are presented each year at the Annual Conference of the National Hearing Conservation Association. The awards are co=sponsored by NHCA and NIOSH. The 2018 awards will be presented at this year’s National Hearing Conservation Association meeting, Feb. 15-17, in Orlando.

The 2017 honoree was Ryan Lee Scott, Deputy Sheriff, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, FL. Deputy Sheriff Scott recognized the potential risk that shooting firearms during qualification training posed to his ability to hear, and the need for effective hearing loss prevention strategies and training for police officers.

He sought guidance from a faculty team at the University of Florida to learn about the high-level impulse sounds produced by firearms and interventions to minimize the risk. The new knowledge motivated him to develop an educational workshop: “Firearms Training and Hearing Loss” tailored specifically to the law enforcement community.

The workshop covers the potential for unprotected firearm sounds to damage their hearing, and the use of specialized hearing protection devices and firearm suppressors to reduce the sound levels. Deputy Sheriff Scott engages attendees with his own real-world real-life career and training experiences.

His commitment is even more noteworthy as he has invested both his personal time and money to voluntarily develop, travel and deliver his training sessions. He has also become an advocate, working to increase the availability of technological solutions and devices that integrate hearing protection with radio communication systems, so that situational awareness is preserved for those whose hearing is critical to job performance and safety.

Towards that goal, he has reached out to a variety of stakeholders, including public safety officers and supervisory administrative teams responsible for acquisition and purchasing decisions.

Source: Safe-in-Sound™ http://www.safeinsound.us/about.html