reported
by: Kenn Delbridge
On a quiet
Friday, 12 AES members and guests descended on the Lecture
Room, Level 1, Training Centre, Changi General Hospital to listen
to noted ENT specialist Dr. Eng Soh Ping's presentation on a
subject that all audio professionals have to take seriously,
their hearing. Whether
recording string orchestras in a concert hall or doing
DSP research in a lab
environment, audio professionals know their most important
asset is their hearing, adn Dr. Eng covered the current known
medical facts as related to hearing loss.
Starting at 8:30pm, Dr. Eng welcomed his audience with an overview
of the biology behind the mechanism of hearing. While age-related
hearing loss is still the most prevalent (and treatable
only through
electronic aids to amplify the sound received by the ear), he noted
that audio professionals are the only category that has little
choice but to expose themselves to higher SPLs than other non-industrial
workers, and as such, the AES audience was unique.
Various hearing loss events were discussed, including tinitus
(permanent ringing in the ears), temporary threshold shift (short-term
reduction of hearing as experienced after a few hours in a music
club or pop concert hall) and permanent hearing loss from excessive
SPLs.
Dr. Eng didn't mince words: audio professionals have to protect
their hearing, as science and medicine offer no solutions to the
effects of permanent hearing loss. As would be expected, the Q&A
session was very lively, a sparkling mixture of anecdotes and technical
discussions of workplace SPLs.
The AES would
like to thank Dr. Eng for his time and the Changi General Hospital
for the use of their lecture hall.
|
