Medicine: Boilermaker's Ear

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Wisconsin's supreme court let fall a decision last week that reverberated like a boiler factory. The court approved a compensation award of $2,429 damages for partial loss of hearing to one Albert Wojcik, 62, an operator employed by the Green Bay Drop Forge Co. What made the case news was that Wojcik is still working at his job. He has not lost a penny in wages. But substantial loss of hearing is in itself sound basis for compensation, the court held.†

Albert Wojcik was a victim of "boilermaker's ear," the impairment of hearing that follows long exposure to noise. As sound engineers measure it, the intensity of ordinary conversation is 50 decibels; an average factory is rated at 85 decibels. Above 90 decibels, reached in many factories, prolonged noise will impair the hearing of some sensitive individuals; in the range from 100 to 120 decibels, noise will damage the hearing of most workers. Above 120 decibels, practically everybody will suffer.

Damage claims resulting from hearing loss are plaguing U.S. industry. Against a single New Jersey company they total no less than $5,000,000. Medical criteria to determine whether there has been an actual loss of hearing, and if so to what degree, are only now being standardized. To correlate the results of scattered research, and to help industry cut down noise, the Mellon Institute's Industrial Hygiene Foundation in Pittsburgh has agreed to act as a "unifying agent."

Says the institute's head, Dr. C. Richard Walmer: "Noise costs employers money, even if they never face a compensation claim. Medical authorities agree that [it] cuts human efficiency, slackens and dulls mental processes, clouds judgment and reduces precision."