The Noise Manual, 5th Edition, Now Available

To order contact: American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) at 703-849-8888 or click here.

For the past decade, the dedicated hearing conservationist has had at his or her disposal a primary reference, the AIHA Noise Manual, 4th Edition. The AIHA manual, last published in 1986, is now available in a new 5th edition. The following article highlights the new text and its value to the professional hearing conservationist.

The Noise Manual first appeared in 1958. Subsequent editions were published in 1966, 1975, 1986, and the new 5th edition, in 2000. The Noise Manual is a project of the American Industrial Hygiene Association's Noise Committee, but the actual work was planned and managed by its five editors, Elliott Berger (AIHA representative to CAOHC), Larry Royster, Julie Royster, Dennis Driscoll (former CAOHC board member), and Marty Layne. Additionally, a dozen other authors and 21 reviewers participated in the project, which yielded an 800 page text with 18 chapters and 4 appendices.

The materials of the text are grouped into four sections - I: Fundamentals of sound, vibration, and hearing; II: Elements of a hearing conservation program; III: Noise interference and annoyance; and IV: Regulations, standards, and laws. Within each section one finds extensive coverage by recognized experts in their respective fields. Appendices are provided that include the OSHA Noise Standard and Hearing Conservation Amendment, over 200 references for good practice, properties of materials and engineering conversions, and a copy of the newly released National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) guide to revision of baseline audiograms (for STS or for apparent hearing improvements). This last annex is especially noteworthy, as all program supervisors (audiologists or physicians) should implement these procedures to bring a level of uniformity and professionalism to this key practice.

Section I on fundamentals includes 5 chapters that begin with a unique call to arms for the hearing conservationist, a chapter entitled "Noise control and hearing conservation: why do it?" written by the Chief Editor, Elliott Berger. The chapter contains a broad and varied collection of information about noise and its effects, and the value, beauty, and importance of preserving our sense of hearing. The next two chapters in this section review basic sound and vibration concepts and noise measurement instrumentation. Two excellent chapters on anatomy and physiology, and auditory and nonauditory effects, conclude this section. They were written by the late renowned W. Dixon Ward, and posthumously were edited by Larry and Julie Royster.

Section II begins with an overview chapter (by Andrew Stewart, former CAOHC board member) that integrates all the elements of a hearing conservation program, and then continues with chapters on each of those elements - noise surveys, education and motivation, noise control engineering, hearing protection, audiometry, and program evaluation. The noise control, hearing protection, and audiometry chapters have been completely rewritten since the last edition and in the case of the noise control and audiometry chapters, the authors, Dennis Driscoll and Larry Royster (former chapter), and Julie Royster (latter chapter), are new as well. The materials, although covered in depth, are all practical in content and well grounded in a realistic appreciation of actual occupational applications. For example, the noise control chapter includes a unique algorithm to compute a noise control priority factor to help determine which noise problems should first be addressed, and the hearing protection chapter contains extensive discussions of the real-world performance of hearing protection devices and how to best estimate those values.

Section III on noise interference and annoyance provides materials that are all new to the manual. They address concerns that are often expressed in industry with respect to criteria for the habitability of occupied spaces (such as, "Can I use a phone in the guard station, or is it too noisy?"), communication and signal detection in noise (algorithms for predicting speech intelligibility), and the impact that an industrial plant might have on those in the surrounding communities ("Are we going to annoy our neighbors?").

Finally, Section IV begins by looking at standards and regulations, including the recently promulgated and soon-to-be-implemented Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) noise regulation. Attention is then turned to the contentious issue of how to predict the effect of noise on hearing, using as a basis, the recent ANSI standard, S3.44-1996. Finally, Section IV concludes with an update of the prior edition's workers' compensation chapter by new authors Bob Dobie (former CAOHC board member) and Susan Megerson (ASHA representative to CAOHC). The chapter contains a table summarizing the statutes in all 50 states and in Canada, based on a new survey conducted in 1998 through the fall of 1999.

For those of you who read the 4th edition, you will find the expanded and updated coverage of the 5th edition to be a welcome complement to your library. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the prior editions will, of course, benefit as well.