Acoustic shock recognised as call centre hazard
An interesting article on how "acoustic shock" may be underestimated (and under diagnosed) in our call centers. Something to consider when you listen to the ambient noise in your center.
"Increasing numbers of workers in busy and large open office workplaces, especially in the call centre industry, are reporting cases of acoustic shock, a condition that if not treated effectively has the potential to ruin sufferers' lives. Acoustic shock is caused by medium-intensity but sudden and unexpected noises, typically on a phone line. It can be caused by equipment problems, the weather, or by callers making sudden noises. According to Baguley and McFerran, the duration of exposure necessary to cause acoustic shock is difficult to estimate because the natural response of the call centre worker to sudden noise is to remove their headset from the head or handset from the ear. Because removing a headset takes longer than moving a handset, it seems likely that wearing a headset carries more risk of injury being suffered.
Background noise also appears to be a key factor because it leads call centre workers to set their receivers to high volume. "You need at least 15 decibels above the background to be able to understand speech," consultant occupational physician, Dr Andrew Graham-Cumming, told the meeting. "Some people need a much higher level of sound. Many workplaces have a background sound level of 60 or 65 decibels. So workers have to listen to phones at 75 or 80 decibels to understand callers. Phones shouldn't be higher than 80 decibels, but surveys have found some phones in noisy call centres set as high as 88 decibels."
To learn more: http://www.isvr.co.uk/reprints/ac_shock.pdf
Citing above from: Anonymous, . Acoustic shock recognised as call centre hazard. (2009). Occupational Health, 61(6), 29-30.
"Increasing numbers of workers in busy and large open office workplaces, especially in the call centre industry, are reporting cases of acoustic shock, a condition that if not treated effectively has the potential to ruin sufferers' lives. Acoustic shock is caused by medium-intensity but sudden and unexpected noises, typically on a phone line. It can be caused by equipment problems, the weather, or by callers making sudden noises. According to Baguley and McFerran, the duration of exposure necessary to cause acoustic shock is difficult to estimate because the natural response of the call centre worker to sudden noise is to remove their headset from the head or handset from the ear. Because removing a headset takes longer than moving a handset, it seems likely that wearing a headset carries more risk of injury being suffered.
Background noise also appears to be a key factor because it leads call centre workers to set their receivers to high volume. "You need at least 15 decibels above the background to be able to understand speech," consultant occupational physician, Dr Andrew Graham-Cumming, told the meeting. "Some people need a much higher level of sound. Many workplaces have a background sound level of 60 or 65 decibels. So workers have to listen to phones at 75 or 80 decibels to understand callers. Phones shouldn't be higher than 80 decibels, but surveys have found some phones in noisy call centres set as high as 88 decibels."
To learn more: http://www.isvr.co.uk/reprints/ac_shock.pdf
Citing above from: Anonymous, . Acoustic shock recognised as call centre hazard. (2009). Occupational Health, 61(6), 29-30.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sara Diaz on -
This makes choosing the right headset for your call center even more important. Here is some information regarding Jabra's PeakStop technology. I hope you'll find it to be helpful!
http://uswww03.gnnetcom.com/jabra/cc_stream/white/safe_sound_and_su...
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Permalink Reply by Richard Kenny on -
A lot of the cutting edge thinking on this comes from Europe. Over here, companies that value the wellbeing of their employees are moving to advanced second generation solutions that go beyond just limiting sounds that are extremely loud. The real benefit is removing sounds that are unexpected, loud or potentially harmful whilst keeping the sound quality high for the majority of calls that need no intervention. You can only really do this through a DSP based solution such as that outlined below.
http://www.plantronics.com/europe_union/en_GB/products/contact-cent...
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