A Solution To Prevent Deafness

From 8-9 AM on Mondays, I saw a stream of young people for "industrial pre-hires." During these exams I did a simple hearing test consisting of rubbing my fingers near a patient's ear or holding up a ticking watch and asking "do you hear this"? When the answer was "no", my next questions were "are you a musician" and "did you have a gig this weekend"? The answers were usually "yes" and I would take a few moments to explain that these young musicians were losing their hearing from the trauma of the loud music they were playing and that they needed protection from the noise.

A friend, a well-known Silicon Valley caterer, and I were discussing my experience when he explained his solution to protecting his employees from loud music at parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs and other events. He carried a pair of insulated wire clippers in his pocket to all of his catering functions. If the music was too loud, he told the band leader "this is warning #1, reduce the sound level." If the band leader complied, that was the end of the matter. If not, he got warning #2. There was no warning #3: my friend simply took his wire clippers and cut the leads to the amplifier. He was never attacked (he was a physically imposing fellow) and he never ran into the same problem when he and the band leader were working at another function: the music level was reasonable.

My friend was aware that band leaders didn't know that their music was too loud because they were already deaf. They didn't have the slightest idea of the volume.

My friend's concerns were his employees and their hearing well-being, as well as the guests whom he was serving. Musicians (including band leaders and conductors) and all those exposed to loud noises are at a high risk of permanent hearing loss and progressive disability from deafness. A sensible "health care reform" step would be enforceable national, state and local standards on industrial and commercial noise exposure to protect the hearing of workers and others (including our kids) and the requirement that low-cost hearing protective devices (ear plugs) be made available to all exposed to loud commercial noise. Not only will hearing and function be preserved, but the significant social cost of hearing-aids (rarely fully insured and not covered by Medicare at all) would be reduced.

The cost of the insulated clippers: about $3.00. Hearing: priceless.