Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common job-related illness in the United States today. NIHL is a top priority area in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). It is especially common among miners. A NIOSH analysis of more than 60,000 audiograms showed that by age 51 about 90% of the coal miners and 49% of metal/nonmetal miners had a hearing impairment. By contrast, only 10% of the nonoccupational noise-exposed population had a hearing impairment by age 51. A 2005 analysis of changes in noise exposure showed that the renewed emphasis on hearing loss prevention has already had a substantial impact. There has been a 40% reduction in the average coal miner’s noise dose from 1997 to 2003. The rate of decline in exposures increased around 2000 when a new federal noise regulation took effect. Around the same time, our Hearing Loss Prevention Branch became fully staffed. The program is playing a major role in reducing NIHL in the U.S. mining industry.

When NIHL became a prominent mining health issue in the late 1990s, a new noise rule was passed in 1999 (30 CFR 62) to be enforced by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Before 1998, there were fewer than three employees in the Mining Program working on noise issues. The Mining Program quickly increased its hearing loss prevention staff and has had more than 20 employees working on the problem every year since 2001. It now has core expertise in a variety of physical and social sciences so that it can fully support the other partners. These include industry groups, labor organizations, equipment manufacturers, and the mine workers themselves.

The Hearing Loss Prevention Program is following a two-phase strategy for maximum impact on the national hearing loss problem. In the first phase, the program provided scientific input to the new regulatory and voluntary industry efforts to curb NIHL. During this phase, the program established its scientific credibility as the best source for unbiased information about effective interventions. In the second phase, the program began generating proven techniques that would directly affect noise exposures and subsequent hearing loss.

Phase 2 is now well underway. Initially, this involved field tests of effective engineering controls and worker empowerment techniques that had proven effective in controlled settings. For instance, noise reduction coatings for a continuous mining machine conveyor have proven to be effective in lab and field trials. Also, NIOSH testing facilities identified that drilling systems originally developed to control dust also have a significant noise reduction benefit. On the behavioral side of prevention, a hearing loss simulator was developed to motivate workers to take a more active role in protecting their own hearing. These and other interventions are being promoted and disseminated to all applicable sectors of the industry and workforce through technical communication and social marketing. The impact of these and other successful interventions will be followed through long-term evaluations to confirm that workers are being exposed to less noise and that fewer of them will develop a hearing loss, thereby enhancing the quality of life of the nation’s miners.