Survey for welders

[nocheepgas]

1) How long have you been working as a welder?
21 Years
2) Do you find yourself shouting to be heard while welding because of the noise?
Sometimes, usually "Up 10 or Down 5" or visa versa....
3) As a welder, does occupational noise bother you?
No, only stupid people.
4) Since you've started welding, have you experienced any symptoms of hearing loss, like ringing in the ear, pain or been diagnosed with any sort of heart disease by your physician?
Yes, but it may have been caused by loud rock and roll music, gunfire or heavy equipment as well.
5) At work, do you use any form of hearing protection when working to control noise?
Sometimes I wear ear plugs or other hearing protection devices.

Thank you for your responses

You're welcome.

[studacc]

Hope this helps, but i would ask a few more questions, shop work or construction? Age of the welder and family history of hearing loss.

thanks weldckr. Yes, good idea I even realized yesterday but a mistake from start to not ask about age. It would be safe to assume that people working in this field longer than 20 years will experience some related hearing loss. Some mechanics I spoke to in the automotive industry, older ones, told me theirs is age related.

Regarding getting tuned to the work, I don't understand, do you mean to feel the work? Noise can be subjective and what annoys someone else may not annoy others. The focal point of this survey is to find out/confirm that even though noise does not bother an individual, it still causes non-direct negative effects on physical and cardiovascular health. Research confirms this correlation but were the subjects bothered so much by the noise and thus caused the high stress levels they experienced? Its like being okay with that very loud noise but later on getting diagnosed with CHD or also hypertension from screaming/shouting to others in that environment. But the major thing is that loud Noise is still present in the background at the job.

This is not a super big funded survey and like I said its for my paper. Thank you all very much for your responses, I will close this thread tonight. Inputs still appreciated before midnight so I can sort information out for the paper.

[7018fiend]

1) Still in school
2) Sometimes
3) No
4) No
5) When grinding and air arcing. Sometimes for chipping slag in small areas since the sound gets amplified.

[beamwalker]

Been at it off and on for almost 30 years now, noise doesn't bother me, no physical problems yet other than major depression, s.a.d high blood pressure, neuropathy, jaundice, nympholoma, just to name a few