CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Worker Communication Technology:

solving the HIGH NOISE barrier

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

OSHA Standards for Shipyard Employment 76 FR 24702, May 2, 2011

• 1915.84(a) Except as provided in § 1915.51(c)(3) of this part, whenever an

employee is working alone, such as in a confined space or isolated location, the employer shall account for each employee

• 1915.84(a)(1) Throughout each work shift at regular intervals appropriate to the

job assignment to ensure the employee's safety and health; and

• 1915.84(a)(2) At the end of the job assignment or at the end of the workshift,

whichever occurs first.

• 1915.84(b) The employer shall account for each employee by sight or verbal

communication.

*http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=193

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Surviving at Work Without Effective Communication…

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

The Result of Inadequate Communication in HIGH NOISE and with RESPIRATORS…

Misinterpreted instructions contributing to accidents

Degraded production resulting

from poor communication

Noise Induced Hearing Loss

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

How BIG Is The Problem?

• Hearing Loss was the #2 OSHA Recordable Illness for Manufacturing in 2007. Source: National Safety Council. (2008) Injury Facts®, Itasca, Il: Author.

• Hearing Loss was the #1 OSHA Recordable Illness for Manufacturing in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011!Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics: (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/osh.pdf).

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Hearing Loss Claims In The Military

Source GA)-11-114

• Hearing Loss and Tinnitus are the two most common Compensation Claims for VA.

• 8% increase from 2007 to 2008

• 1,223,590 Hearing Loss claims in FY 2009

• ANNUAL federal expenditure of $1.1 billion in 2009

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Shipyard Risks Exposed

• Moll van Charante, AW Moulder, Study of Shipyard workers in the Netherlands.

• Risk Factors found: – Alcohol consumption– hearing loss greater than 20dB – loud noise greater than 82dB.

•Risks attributable to noise and hearing loss together accounted for 43% of the injuries.

– Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2316497

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

SCA Occupational Injury and Illness Survey No lost time cases on OSHA 300

Annual voluntary survey data accumulated by Shipbuilders Council of AmericaShipbuilders Council of America

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Why people with high frequency hearing loss have difficulty understanding speech:

VOWELS A-E-I-O-U

CONSONANTS S–F–TH–V-Z

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Without the ability to hear consonants speech isn’t complete

• High Frequency hearing loss is like reading a newspaper with holes in it:

– Our aw ih on ah twel lor.

– Did Reda rr ah warng lul?

– Ray ah lit ree daggr.

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Poor speech discrimination IS the most critical communication problem.

Our aw ih on ah twel lor.(Our office is on the twelfh floor)

Did reda rr ah warng lul?(Did Freddie hear the warning whistle?)

Ray ah lit ree daggr to ah leh.(Raise the lift three degrees to the left.)

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Speech Discrimination Studies on Radio Communication for Firefighters

• Fire Ground Speech Discrimination Scores using radios in 8 acoustic environments

1. No Noise – no mask 89%2. No Noise with mask 78%3. Mask with low air alarm 58%4. Pumper truck work panel 42%5. Two PASS alarm with mask 16%6. Hose with fog nozzle and mask 11%7. Chain saw cutting wood and mask 4%8. Rotary saw cutting metal door 2%

Source: US Dept Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Hearing Protection IS a Communication Problem

Hearing Protection and Personal Listening Devices Cause Adaptive

(induced) Hearing Loss

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Attenuation from hearing protectors affects workers’ ability to hear:

• NRR 32

Freq in Hz

125 250 500 1000 2000 3150 4000 6300 8000

Avg.Atten. in dB

41 36 41 42 41 45 44 45 48

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Making sense of it all: Hearing protection on top of hearing loss

Even AMPLIFIED sound cannot be heard!

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Radios and/or speaker mics cannot be heard due to

HIGH NOISE and use of HEARING PROTECTION

“SHUT THE

MACHINE DOWN!”

Did he say send more Grit

down?

Interesting Note: Workers claim to ignore their radios because they can’t understand them anyway

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Respirators and Blasting/Welding Hoods further complicate communication

WA, WA WA WA, WA, WA WA WA WA!

I ’m going to remove this dang thing, so he can

understand me!

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

CavCom® Technology is “Talk Through Your Ears”

We’ve miniaturized bulky components to achieve:

•Optimum comfort

•Superior hearing protection

•Safe listening levels

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

CavCom Technology: Both Microphone and Speakers are inside the hearing protection device

protected by the HPD

Ear Drum B

roadcasts

Speech

In ear mic trasmits speech to radio

NRR 32

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

RADIO GEAR™ and CAVCOM® ear sets

Ear set options with miniaturized speaker andmicrophone components:

OMNI UniversalNRR32

QUAD UniversalNRR32

Custom Fit NRR26

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Trials

Communication is possible with the most difficult jobs: Workers agreed

Note: Results were averaged from total surveys among each individual group

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

Versatility of CavCom®

• Performs in areas well over 100 dB with protection values up to NRR 34

• Integrates with any PPE, including respirators and double hearing protection

• Variety of comfortable universal or custom fitted ear sets.

• Intrinsically Safe models available

• Adapts to any 2-Way Radio

CAVCOM, Made in the U.S.A. under US Patent No. 6175633. © 2011 CavCom Inc.

LEADING THE WAY

in 2-Way Radio Communication Solutions and Hearing Protection