Elliott Berger, M.S., Division Scientist for 3M’s Personal Safety Division, will be presented with the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) Lifetime Achievement Award in St. Petersburg, Fla., in February 2013.

This award represents the highest honor bestowed by the NHCA and recognizes a lifetime of accomplishment in the field of hearing loss prevention and in service to NHCA. The NHCA honors Elliott Berger for his significant and lasting contributions to hearing conservation and to NHCA, as evidenced by his extensive body of quality work.

“Elliott is a driving force in hearing loss prevention research and training, personal hearing protection product development, and the establishment of national and international standards and regulations,” said Dennis Driscoll, past president of NHCA and principal consultant with Associates in Acoustics Inc. “As a scientist, Elliott has consistently and steadfastly worked to assure and improve the protection of individuals from noise-induced hearing loss. His body of work is truly extraordinary, widely recognized as such, and of positive and lasting quality. No one in our profession is more deserving of NHCA’s Lifetime Achievement Award than Elliott.”

In his role as an acoustical engineer and researcher, Berger developed the E-A-RCAL acoustical laboratory at 3M and with E-A-R and Aearo Technologies, and has helped direct the industry’s approach to the prevention of hearing loss due to occupational and environmental noise. Berger was instrumental in the launch of hearing conservation seminars to help industrial hygienists, health and safety personnel, nurses, audiologists, consultants, engineers and medical staff better understand the mechanics of hearing, how noise levels are measured, and how to properly protect workers from hazardous noise. Berger has conducted the hearing seminars for more than 30 years and believes there has been improvement in the number of people wearing hearing protection.

“Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable, and I am honored to be in a position to help people understand the risks of excessive noise and wear the appropriate hearing protection – at work and at home – to preserve their quality of life,” said Berger.

Berger is a respected author and editor of hearing conservation-related books, book chapters, peer-reviewed papers, and articles, and is well-known through hundreds of national and international presentations. As chair of the ANSI Working Group on hearing protectors, Berger has labored tirelessly since 1985 to establish relevant standards that support hearing conservation efforts. He is a past president of NHCA and currently serves as NHCA’s historian.

Berger’s acceptance of the Lifetime Achievement Award will take place at an awards ceremony during the NHCA’s 38th Annual Conference, held Feb. 21 to 23 in St. Petersburg.

About 3M

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs about 88,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

About 3M Personal Safety Division

3M offers a comprehensive, diverse portfolio of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) solutions providing respiratory protection, hearing protection, fall protection, reflective materials for high visibility apparel, protective clothing, protective eyewear, head and face protection, welding helmets, and other adjacent products and solutions such as tactical safety equipment, detection, monitoring equipment, active communications equipment and compliance management. In 2012, 3M celebrated 40 years of occupational health & safety leadership – recognizing the company’s respiratory and hearing protection solutions introduced in 1972. Visit www.3M.com/PPESafety or http://m.3m.com/PPESafety.