03.03.2020, 13:35
Conserving Employee’s Hearing with Smart Tech
Smart technology company Eave has developed a unique hearing conservation system to protect construction workers against hazardous noise.
The digital headset monitors and maps noise exposure, displaying it via a cloud based software platform – with data analysed automatically to produce accurate information about each worker’s noise exposure across a workplace or site.
Smart technology is also used to accurately measure and pinpoint noise on construction sites, and provide employers with transparency in addressing health risks on site – with ‘hear through’ technology also allowing wearers to continue to hear environmental sound and improve worker safety.
Eave CEO and founder, Dr David Greenberg (a former NHS audiologist with a PhD degree in auditory neuroscience), was selected for a MIT Technology Review ‘Innovators Under 35’ award earlier this year, with the panel of judges praising the high level of innovation in the technology’s ability to “reduce loud background noise while improving conversations, allowing easy communication without overriding important audible signals such as alarms or sirens.”
Explaining why he focused attention on the construction industry, Greenberg says:
“All aspects of construction, including demolition, building, refurbishment and roadworks, present risks beyond most other industry workplaces. Whilst no workplace has zero risk, there is an obvious and major difference between the risks presented at a construction worker’s place of work and more conventional office based places of work.
“One of the key risks relates to noise exposure as employers have a legal duty to protect the hearing of operatives under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, yet it remains an ongoing challenge as noise induced hearing loss is still the most commonly reported occupational disease in the EU.”
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