Occupational Hearing Loss PDF

Preface to the Third Edition

Otologists assume a major responsibility for diagnosing and preventing occupational hearing loss and resolving its many medical and legal ramifications. Responsibility for managing this important problem is shared closely by audiologists, industrial physicians, nurses, occupational safety and health personnel, legislators, attorneys, and others. Occupational Hearing Loss, Third Edition, is intended to serve as a handy reference volume for practitioners in all these fields, as well as a resource for medical students and paramedical personnel. In practical and comprehensive form, this book presents principles and procedures for determining the causes of hearing loss, including information on the otologic history, otologic examination, and hearing tests, stressing criteria for distinguishing occupational hearing loss from other causes. It also reviews noise control, hearing conservation, legislation, and other relevant subjects.

For more than six decades, the hazards of occupational noise exposure have been recognized and documented. However, it took many years to raise sufficient interest in addressing the problem on a large scale. In 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) included a noise standard for all American industries, making it mandatory for them to prevent occupational hearing loss. This regulation, the subsequent hearing conservation amendment, and growing interest in compensation for hearing loss have made occupational hearing loss a major concern for industry, government, medicine, and law.

When the first edition of Occupational Hearing Loss was published in 1987, hearing loss was the leading occupational disease in the United States in both prevalence and potential cost. Regrettably, this is still the case, despite considerable progress. Since the first edition was published, there have been improvements in our understanding of the physiology of the ear, the ability to differentiate occupational hearing loss from other etiologies, diagnosis and therapy of hearing loss from many causes, hearing protection, hearing aids, and many other facets of the field.

The second edition updated these and other subjects. It included new material on cochlear biology, criteria for diagnosis of occupational hearing loss, techniques for establishing hearing conservation programs, numerous "new" causes of hearing loss such as Lyme disease and AIDS, advances in audiometry and aural rehabilitation, otologic symptoms associated with head trauma, and many other areas. In addition, it contained new chapters on tinnitus, vertigo, facial paralysis, hearing loss in musicians, hearing conservation in divers, problems associated with taped simulation of hearing loss, and the attorney's approach to cases concerning hearing loss. It also provided updated information on legislation in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, and a vastly expanded chapter on hearing loss in the railroad industry. The first and second editions of the book were rich in illustrative case reports, and even more have been added to highlight important concepts introduced in the third edition.

The third edition of Occupational Hearing Loss has been rewritten and updated extensively. In addition to expanding the discussions of topics included previously (cochlear biology, causes of hearing loss, and other subjects), much new information has been added; and the book has grown from 35 chapters and 2 appendices to 42 chapters and 6 appendices. In addition to expanded discussions on topics such as autoimmune inner ear disease, diagnosing occupational hearing loss, and other issues, entire new chapters have been added on auditory evoked potentials, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, malignancies of the ear, otologic complications of scuba diving, and hearing in dogs. There is also a personal perspective on the history of occupational hearing loss by Joseph Sataloff, who has been involved in the field since its inception.