Noise in the workplace - Essay Example

This research will tackle the effects of Noise exposure on the people mainly on workers. According to Acton, W. I. (1982) constant exposure to loud noise have an effect on millions of workers, including factory and heavy-industry workers, construction workers, farmers, military personnel, and entertainment professionals. This research will discuss the health effect of noise. The financial effect of noise to the business and workers will also be discussed. Noise at occupation can present a health hazard in many business activities.

Causes of workplace noise might comprise: machines, for instance in factories, engineering workshops, mills and foundries; plant, for instance in construction, agriculture and forestry; and loud music, for instance in bars and discos. According to Buck, K. and Parmentier, G. (1996) the health effects of noise exposure vary on the level of the noise and the duration of the exposure. Hearing loss is one of the most apparent and simply quantified effects of excessive exposure to noise (Gooday, Scanlon and Devine, 1994).

Its progression, though, is insidious, in that it typically develops slowly over a long period of time, and the harm can reach the handicapping stage prior to an individual is aware of what has happened. While the losses are short-term at first, they turn into permanent after continued exposure, and there is no medical treatment to counteract the effect. When combined with presbycusis, hearing loss obviously occurring with the aging process, the result is a premature impairment that cultivates inexorably with age.

In addition to hearing loss, working in a noisy office raises the possibility of dying from a heart attack. This raise in risk appears to be caused by the physiological effects of environmental and work noise (Singal, 2005). The workplace protection for noisy workplaces should be reconsidered. According to Alberti, P. W. (1979) constant noise exposure was a threat factor for high blood pressure and that it was the actual sound which rooted the problem rather than getting annoyed regarding it. Even though people thought they had got used to living near a busy road or working in a noisy environment, their health could still be injured.

The effects of noise are determined generally by the extent and level of the noise, but they are also influenced by the frequency (BSI. 1994). Long-lasting, high-level sounds are the largely damaging to hearing and commonly the most annoying. High-frequency sounds tend to be more dangerous to hearing and more bothersome than low-frequency sounds. The way sounds are distributed in time is also significant, in that irregular sounds appear to be to some extent less damaging to hearing than constant sounds for the reason that of the ear's ability to revive throughout the intervening quiet periods.

On the other hand, intermittent and impulsive sounds tend to be more annoying for the reason that of their unpredictability.Non auditory health effects are considered one of the psychosocial stressors in the aetiology of coronary heart disease (Passchier-Vermeer and W.F. Passchier 2000); it is hypothesized that noise directs to perturbation in hormonal balance and autonomic nervous system which lead to chronic disease. For instance, the inherent function of hearing is to notify and produce normal stress reaction throughout the sympathetic