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1 The surveys must be conducted by trained personnel using sound-level meters or dosimeters meeting or exceeding relevant standards established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Noise exposure (i.e., dose) is to be measured as time-weighted average (TWA) noise levels for military personnel working in industrial-type operations with hazardous noise levels. The current requirements, contained in DoD Instruction 6055.12, DoD Hearing Conservation Program, specify that sound pressure levels (SPLs) are to be measured in all potentially hazardous noise work areas at least once and within 30 days of any change in operations affecting noise levels (DoD, 2004). Also included were separate specifications for the measurement of impulse noise and performance criteria for the measurement devices to be used.
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By 1987, the requirements included provisions for measuring noise exposures for workers exposed to noise levels of 85 dBA or more (DoD, 1987). In 1978, DoD established a requirement that each of the military services conduct sound surveys to identify and periodically monitor noise-hazardous environments (DoD, 1978).
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Noise-exposure limits are discussed in Chapter 5.
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It also reviews the services’ data collection activities and the availability of these data. This section briefly reviews DoD-level requirements concerning measurement of noise levels and noise exposure. Many military sites had been collecting such information well before the DoD requirements were put in place. Each military service was responsible for collecting and maintaining information about hazardous noise environments and noise exposures. In the late 1970s, the Department of Defense (DoD) established, as part of an overall hearing conservation program, a department-wide requirement for periodic surveys of noise-hazardous environments and, subsequently, requirements for noise dosimetry. In addition, information has been collected on estimated noise doses for personnel working in steady-state noise. Since World War II, numerous measurements of the sound pressure levels in proximity to various weapon systems and other military equipment have been collected. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the committee’s assessment of data on hearing thresholds and hearing loss among military service members since World War II.Ĭollection of Data on Noise Levels and Estimated Noise Exposures Examples of the kinds of data collected through these efforts are provided. The first part of the chapter briefly reviews the services’ policies and programs to collect data on noise levels generated by equipment used by military personnel and the noise doses received by military personnel working in certain settings. Concern about noise exposure and hearing loss among military personnel has been evident throughout this period (e.g., Glorig, 1952 Carmichael, 1955 CHABA, 1968 Yarington, 1968 Walden et al., 1971 Yankaskas and Shaw, 1999). The committee was asked to identify sources of potentially damaging noise in the military setting and to review and assess available evidence on hearing loss incurred by members of the armed services as a result of noise exposure during military service since World War II. The focus of this chapter is on noise and noise-induced hearing loss in theU.S. Noise and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in the Military