ABSTRACT
The general interest in this topic stems from the steadily growing incidence in today’s modern industrial workplace, of sound and/or noise-induced hearing impairments (mostly partial, but occasionally, extending even to total hearing loss). The differences between sounds and noise are subjective. Sounds are considered to be something pleasant or useful — such as music [pleasant] or speech [useful]. Noise, in contrast, is thought of as being unpleasant, consisting of such things as the sounds of a table saw cutting wood or a fingernail scratching a chalkboard. This chapter will focus on the factors, parameters, and relationships that permit an accurate assessment of the potential for physiological damage caused by the ambient noise levels that exist in the workplace.
