When you start a new job, you probably don’t immediately look at dangerous practices occurring inside the facility. While some might stand out as rather obvious, loud noises probably don’t come to mind initially. However, loud noises serve as one of the most dangerous aspects of an office or factory and the effects of loud noise is also one of the few dangers that cannot be undone.

Bones heal in a slip and fall and vision can be repaired after looking at a computer screen for too long, but once the eardrums are damaged, this can never be replaced. Hearing aids only due so much, and even so, these intrusive objects must be inserted for the rest of your life in order for you to continue hearing as you might have done, before working in an office with loud noise. Being able to identify excessive workplace noise is essential, and if it is too late and you are already suffering signs of workplace hearing loss, it is necessary for you to seek out professional, legal counsel, to see what your rights are as an employee.

Roughly 20,000 individuals a year suffer from hearing loss caused by loud, excessive noises that take place on the workplace. Some jobs are far more dangerous than others, but it is possible to sustain damaged hearing just about anywhere. Occupational diseases as they are called are different from a lone incident as these injuries occur over an extended period of time and not just at once. Hearing loss from excessive noise actually cannot be treated through hearing aids and surgery. The hearing aids make the noises louder, so you might be able to comprehend the information easier, but the definition of the sound does not return and the ability to pick up peaks and valleys in the sound wave is also lost.

Noise about a certain decibel level inside your workplace is what causes extended, prolonged damage. If you have a ringing in your ear from work, this is hearing loss taking place. Sometimes the ringing occurs immediately after you have finished the activity while other times the ringing might take place hours afterwords. Regardless of when the ringing takes place, the hearing lost due to the ringing is never going to come back.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) set a decibel limit of 90 for an eight hour work day. As the decibels increase, the amount of time you can perform the task decreases. 90 decibels falls between the noise created by a vacuum cleaner and an industrial truck. Of course, scheduling shorter shifts when it is louder noise taking place is not always an option, so it is up to your employer to mitigate the noise and to ensure you are not continually exposed. Activities with noise levels louder than 90 decibels include:

· A jackhammer (95 decibels)

· Discotheque (110 decibels)

· Jet takeoff (125 decibels)

Experts agree that anything that’s 140 decibels or higher will cause pain in your years.

If you are starting to suffer from workplace noise and have noticed a loss in hearing and a ringing in your ears, you need to take action right away and to move toward seeking out professional attention. Your hearing is not going to get any better, and in fact, it is just going to continue to worsen over time, as the longer you work the loud job the more hearing you are going to lose. Instead of having to deal with continual hearing loss, you need to discuss the issue with both a medical professional and a work injury attorney to see what the next step should be.