Kentucky residents who work in noisy environments might experience difficulty concentrating and completing tasks. However, a new study has found that a loud workplace could also be harmful to one’s health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows that working in a noisy environment could be linked to high blood pressure and high cholesterol
Medical professionals have known that noise can affect someone’s health in various ways for some time. In addition to hearing loss, exposure to noise can decrease cognitive function, cause sleep problems and trigger migraines or increasingly painful headaches. A study in 2015 found a connection between workplace noise and heart disease, particularly in people who had already suffered high-frequency hearing loss from exposure to noise.
The new study also found that more workers are exposed to workplace noise than they were a year ago. Today, 25 percent of U.S. workers are exposed to significant work-related noise. The researchers found that 12 percent of workers have hearing difficulty, and they attributed 58 percent of those cases to workplace noise.
The authors of the study explained that noise causes a nervous system reaction, and stress hormones that are released can eventually damage blood vessels. They added that noise can cause metabolic problems and also contribute to other diseases like diabetes.
Workers’ compensation covers more than just accidents or injuries that happen at work; this benefit program also covers occupational diseases. Hearing loss or another health problem due to exposure to noise at work would be considered an occupational disease. Additionally, pre-existing conditions that are made worse because of someone’s job are covered by workers’ compensation.