webOSCAR™ has been selected by OSHA, MSHA and NIOSH as one of the 10 finalists in the US Department of Labor’s “Hear and Now” technology challenge. Dr. James Craner, president of Verdi Technology, Inc., will present webOSCAR’s patent-pending audiometric data analytic methods and tools at the Noise Safety Challenge event in Washington, DC on October 27, 2016.
Workplace noise over-exposure impacts more than 22,000,000 workers in the USA, most of whom are employed by small- to medium-sized businesses. Worldwide, noise-induced hearing loss is the most prevalent occupational disease. The OSHA and MSHA Noise Standards, which have been in place 30 years, are intended to prevent occupational noise-induced hearing loss. Companies in the USA spend billions of dollars annually on products and services to implement hearing conservation programs to comply with these regulatory requirements.
Even with the continuous enforcement of these regulations, the incidence of occupational noise-induced hearing loss remains unacceptably high. In addition to the profound human impairment caused by hearing loss, hundreds of millions of dollars are expended in workers’ compensation and public disability insurance claims. As a result, OSHA, MSHA and NIOSH have recently challenged the private sector to design innovative solutions that help companies overcome barriers in work-induced hearing loss prevention.
Dr. Craner’s extensive training and experience as an occupational medicine physician providing medical surveillance to workers and consulting to companies in hazardous, highly regulated industries provided him with the unique insight to understand why this problem persists and create a technology solution.
- The Noise Standard requires annual audiograms (hearing tests) to be performed on workers exposed to noise above a certain level.
- The Standard defines an audiometric “standard threshold shift” (STS) as a loss of 10 dB (decibels) or more in the average of three high-frequency (2, 3 and 4 KHz) hearing levels. The STS is the regulatory outcome required for reporting and counting cases of noise-induced hearing loss as recordable injuries. The problem is that in most cases, by the time a STS is reported, a moderately advanced level of irreversible hear loss and impairment has already occurred.
- Since the early 1980s, audiology professionals have advocated the development of statistical audiometric database analysis (ADBA) methods for employers to identify early audiometric changes in workers before irreversible hearing loss occurs. Though not specified by the regulation, hearing professionals deemed this capability as essential for regulated employers to objectively measure the actual effectiveness of their hearing conservation programs and interventions.
- After three decades of satisfying the minimum Standard audiogram recordkeeping requirements for audiometry, and the concurrent production of hundreds of millions of audiograms, however, companies still do not effectively utilize their audiometric data to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
- Neither governmental agencies, nor any professional associations, hearing protection or audiometry device manufacturers or service providers has developed or provides specific tools or methods for employers to statistically analyze individual and aggregate audiogram trends. Consequently, employers do not utilize their audiometric data to identify and predict early noise-induced hearing loss before a standard threshold shift (STS) occurs, or measure the effectiveness of their hearing conservation programs.
Dr. Craner collaborated with a PhD statistician colleague to solve this problem by developing and testing the proprietary dBw™ metric and analytic method.
By integrating this patent-pending (US PTO # 62|401620) data analysis into webOSCAR’s affordable, real-time, automated information management platform for managing health and safety compliance data, employers of all sizes can leverage their information to better protect employees’ hearing and effectively meet and exceed compliance requirements.
This technology allows companies to achieve Best Practices for hearing loss prevention and risk management—without changing their regulatory compliance requirements or incurring additional expenses for staffing, information technology support, or external technical expertise.
