 Audiometry home
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Audiometry routine & reports
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Types of hearing loss
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Audiometry Q & A
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Noise surveys / assessment
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Noise training
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About hsmc
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Audiometry Q&A
The audiometry itself
What are the results categories used in audiometry?
How long does each audiometric test take?
How many hearing tests can hsmc do in one day?
Will you come to our site to do the hearing tests ?
From April 2008 the audiometry requirements apply to musicians - do you cover this?
How often should our employees have their hearing tested?
Confidentiality, waivers, non-attendance and claims
Will I get more claims because we tell people
they have a problem?
Will I get a copy of the audiometry results - are they confidential?
Do I need employees to sign a waiver so I can see the audiometry results?
Employees refuse to attend the audiometry - is it mandatory?
Reports, price structure and general gubbins
How long does it take to get my report back
following the testing?
What do you charge - per test or per day?
You are not based near me - will I be hit with high travel costs?
You use a mobile studio rather than testing in an office or meeting room - why?
Why use small single units rather than larger ones with multiple booths?
What do you do to secure our audiometry data?
THE AUDIOMETRY ITSELF
What are the results categories used in audiometry ?
In order to ensure a simple and verifiable system for analysing the results of the hearing tests the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have specified a 4-part categoisation system which is used by HSMC. To summarise these into plain English:
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Category 1 - good and no problems with hearing
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Category 2 - just about OK but slightly lower than we would like
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Category 3 - a loss which is in excess of the normal standard for their age
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Category 4 - a rapid loss identified by comparing two results
There is also a classification called 'unilateral' which is where one ear is performing at a lower level than the other (ears are generally in balance so one weaker one may be a sign of a problem). All results take into account the employee's age - as we get older hearing deteriorates naturally therefore we take this into account when analysing the results.
How long does each audiometric test take?
Each test takes approximately 15 minutes from start to finish.
How many hearing tests can you do in one day?
We can undertake around 25 tests in a standard day but we can modify
this to take account of shifts, etc. We also work nights if you have a
night shift which requires testing meaning our daily testing numbers rise to around 60 to 70 where both day and evening or night shifts are worked. For the larger jobs we can also send multiple testing units to double-up on the numbers completed.
Will you come to our site to do the hearing tests?
Yes, we are nice like that. We have portable audiometry testing units which have a built in waiting room and testing booth.
Some companies offer audiometry
based on the use of noise-reducing headphones in place of the booth, with the testing taking place in a meeting room or office. HSMC
use these in addition to the booth to ensure maximum sound attenuation
and therefore the most accurate results possible. We are also confident
of still providing extremely competitive prices despite our increased
investments in quality of service.
From April 2008 audiometry applies to musicians - do you cover this?
Yes, we cover all noise risks, including orchestras, bands, school music rooms, etc. We can also measure noise exposures for anyone involved in these activities and can provide hearing tests for them.
How often should our employees have their hearing tested?
The frequency of repeat tests depends on the results of the audiometry. Basically, everyone should be done in the first year ('year 1') and then everyone should be done again in the following year, ('year 2'). From then on it depends on their result:
- For those with good hearing (Category 1) - every three years.
- For those with OK hearing (Category 2) - every two years.
- For those with poor hearing (Category 3) - every year.
- For those with a change in hearing (Category 4) - every year.
Some companies choose to just do everyone every year or every two years and this is an acceptable approach to take if that is the easiest way to manage it.
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CONFIDENTIALITY, NON-ATTENDANCE, WAIVERS AND CLAIMS
Will I get more claims because we tell people they have a problem?
Usually not. Some level of hearing loss is perfectly normal - pretty much
everyone over the age of 20 or so often has a degree of hearing loss from
a variety of sources including ill health, age and a miss-spent noisy
youth. We are VERY careful when explaining results to people to ensure
they fully understand the full range of potential sources of any loss
and that they don't just focus on workplace exposures. Also, to classify
as a claim the loss must meet criteria set by the DSS which are generally
quite severe.
Will I get a copy of the audiometry results - are they confidential?
We have heard of audiometry companies telling clients that they cannot
have the complete results as they are medically confidential. This is
nonsense - you are paying for the work and the resulting data is yours.
The Noise Regulations and accompanying HSE information also state that
where an outside service is used for the audiometry then the results must
be retained by the employer (who must then respect the confidentiality
of the information and must retain them separately from the normal HR
records). Page 120, paragraph 39 of L108 “Controlling Noise at Work”
states:
“Where a visiting service conducts the testing the results should
be maintained by the employer, separate from personnel records. A person
should be nominated to keep the records and oversee access to them”.
To give an example of part of the reasoning for this - audiometry looks
at both the current hearing performance and also makes a comparison with
any previous results. Should you choose to use a different provider for
the second year's testing then you need the first year's results to compare
against, which if you don't have them is a wee problem.
There is a slight spanner in the works however in that there is also the
issue of medical confidentiality. To this end, we ask all attendees to
sign a note giving authority to release their data to their employer,
but this is only to the single person within the employer's organisation
nominated as responsible for the audiometry programme and they must not
be circulated any further. Over 95% of all attendees agree to this but
where they do not the report will just contain the fact that they attended
and no further information. If someone has witheld their result from the
employer and you choose to go to another provider in the future just let
us know and we will forward their result to the new audiometry company.
Not that you will ever want to go elsewhere!
Referrals are be slightly different. If we find a problem we may recommend
that an individual sees their GP for further examination. Where this is
the case we will let you know about it in the report and all the employer
then needs from the GP is a note whether the individual is OK to carry
on working or if the loss is such that is it imperative they are removed
from the risk. Normally the employer does not get the full detail of these
examinations and to do so would require the consent of the employee as
this is outside of the tests provided at work.
Do I need employees to sign a waiver so we can see the audiometry
results?
If employees are working in high noise risk areas (i.e. over
85dB(A)) then the employer is legally required to arrange for audiometry
and the regulations explicitly state that employees must attend. In addition,
employers are required to hold on to the audiometry results (see previous
question). We ask employees to sign a waiver to release limited information
to the employer such as the category of their result but in return the
employer must keep it confidential and not circulate it within the company.
Employees refuse to attend the audiometry - is it mandatory?
As partly covered in the previous question, employers must provide audiometry
in working hours and the regulations explicitly state that employees must
attend.
Regulation 9(1): …the employer shall ensure that employees
[who are at risk meaning exposed to noise levels above 85dB(A)] are placed
under suitable health surveillance, which shall include testing of their
hearing.
Regulation 9(5): Any employee to whom this regulation applies shall,
when required by his employer and at the cost of his employer, present
himself during his working hours for such health surveillance procedures
as may be required for the purposes of paragraph (1).
Refusal to attend without good reason should therefore be treated
as refusal to comply with any other health and safety requirement, using
the company disciplinary procedure up to and including dismissal.
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REPORTS, PRICE STRUCTURE and GENERAL GUBBINS
How long does it take to get my report back following the testing?
Once we've completed the test we aim to get your report back within around a
week. For smaller tests (up to 40 people) we often manage to
return the report to you more quickly.
What do you charge - per test or per day?
"Both" is the short (but unhelpful) answer. For larger jobs
a per-test rate is calculated but there is a minimum charge per day.
You are not based near me - will I be hit with high travel costs?
Nope. We work all over the UK and try to group audiometry jobs regionally. Therefore, if you are based in Newcastle for example, it is unlikely we would be coming to you from our Tewkesbury base but hopefully from another job in the same area or elsewhere in the North East or Yorkshire. This way we can minimise travel costs and remain competitive. Our technicians are like lost and faintly sad souls, wandering the motorways and roadside hotels of the UK, rather than heading out from the office for each job.
You use mobile studios rather than testing in an office or meeting room, why?
There is a temptation to avoid the hassle of dragging the testing studios
around and to just do the testing in a meeting room or an office using
noise-reducing headphones. However, experience has shown that this is
not a satisfactory way of conducting the tests as there inevitably is
background noise which has an impact on the results. Above all, we make
sure our results are repeatable - that if done again in 12 months time,
by us or by another company, you should get exactly the same level of
result. At the end of the day, there is no point in you as a client paying
money for a set of results which are frankly suspect as there has been
no control over the testing environment.
Our trailers have an acoustic lining, within which is the acoustic audiometry
booth, and within that we use noise-reducing audiocups on the headphones,
ensuring we cut out as much sound as possible. As a result we have successfully
tested hearing in maintenance hangars on the end of Gatwick's runway,
in busy shipyards and in small industrial estates with busy traffic routes.
Why use small single units rather than larger ones with multiple booths?
With smaller audiometry units we can undertake small
jobs very cost effectively by using only the facilities needed, while
for larger jobs we can send multiple units to allow speedy concurrent
testing.
Each hearing testing unit contains a single audiometry booth as we do not believe multiple booths within a trailer give a sufficient level of privacy for those attending. Noise when discussing one test can affect the other individual who may be sitting their test at the time. One booth per trailer means maximum privacy, minimum noise and best results.
What do you do to secure our audiometry data?
This is an issue which we take very seriously. By necessity, HSMC laptops
contain limited medical data such as the category of the individual's
audiometry result, their name and their workplace. In addition, the audiometer
stores its data as a separate file for each attendee, again with these
being kept on the laptop controlling the audiometer.
All laptops have fully encrypted hard drives, using high standard encryption
software and not just relying on a Windows login. Without the password
the data on any HSMC hard drive is unavailable no matter how hard the
bad people try. Laptops are backed up in the office and again all data
there is encrypted. There is a strong back-up system to ensure that should
a computer go belly-up we do not lose the data which may be needed for
future tests. (For the tech-minded, we use TrueCrypt's full hard drive
encryption for all this stuff).
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