Loss of hearing in farmers with significantly worrisome rates

Bruce Breuningner has a farm where it`s so quiet but when he powers up his front-end loader, the quiet is over. Breunigner makes the loader to operate a few hours on a daily basis but unfortunately, the exposure to extremely strong noise leads to loss of hearing in farmers. This is stated by Marjorie McCullagh, associate professor at University of Michigan School of Nursing. The research on the farm is released by her and is entitled HEAR. Her goal with this research is to convince farmers to protect their hearing and to develop interventions. Unfortunately, loss of hearing caused by noise is irreversible and even surgery is useless. There isn`t a regulation of noise exposure on farms by Occupational Safety and Health Administration. However, McCullagh states that even if farmers don`t wear hearing protection, they`re interested in more information regarding this topic. “There are no systems in place to help them”, McCullagh said. “The farmers are expected to do that on their own”. She works on this research in collaboration with Michael Cohen, clinical research coordinator. “I probably didn`t wear it as religiously as I do now”, said Breunigner, a fourth-generation farmer in Dexter. His father (80) suffers from profound hearing loss. “I do worry about my hearing, and I`ve always tried to impress upon my kids the importance of wearing hearing protection”.