With the World Health Organization declaring noise-induced hearing loss as one of the world’s most prevalent, irreversible industrial diseases, the EU has passed strict new regulations requiring employers to quiet down their workplaces or face stiff penalties. The EU notes that noise pollution is endemic at work, “from factories to farms, call centres to concert halls,” and that fully one third of employees in Europe currently are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of noise for at least a quarter of their time at work.
Because noise-induced hearing loss is a completely preventable condition, Sonomax’s story is compelling. Plugging your ears is the only way to prevent hearing loss, but normal earplugs make it impossible to hear at work as well as many need to. Sonomax solves that problem with a special system that dampens environmental noise while still enabling workers to hear and communicate with each other at work at normal decibal levels. I wonder if the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health and Administration (OSHA) will get on the earplug bandwagon before it rolls out of town. Right now, the U.S. regulations appear a lot less strict than in Europe.