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Occupational Health & Safety Resource Kit. Proudly brought to you by CEPU: NSW Telcommunications & Services Division |
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faults, incorrectly dialled fax machines or in some cases where irate customers have blown whistles directly into the telephone. Other sources may be from alarm signals, signalling tones or feedback oscillation.
Call centre operators are particularly prone to acoustic shock due to the amount of time they spend on a telephone and due to headset use. The National Acoustic Laboratory reports that the exact source of an individual acoustic shock is usually unknown, but various sources are possible, such as alarm signals, signalling tones, or feedback oscillation (such as the high-pitched tone or squeal that occurs when a cordless phone is brought too close to its base station whilst the base station has its hands-free loudspeaker on). This occurs in much the same way that a public address system shrieks when the amplifi cation is increased too much. Although these high-pitched tones can affect anyone, people using a regular hand-held telephone can quickly move the phone away from their ear, thus limiting their sound exposure to a fraction of a second. Call-centre operators, however, usually use a head-set, which takes considerably longer to remove from the ear were an intense sound to occur. They thus receive a greater noise exposure than for people using hand-held phones. The problem may be exacerbated if call centres are so noisy that the operators need to have the volume controls turned up higher than would be necessary in a quieter place. 
The effects: Unexpected high-level sounds have been reported to cause a variety of symptoms. Symptoms that have been reported during the exposure include discomfort and pain. Symptoms that have been reported in the few minutes after the exposure include shock and nausea. Symptoms that have been reported to continue for some time after the exposure include headaches, nausea, tenseness, and hypersensitivity (discomfort) to loud sounds that would previously have caused no problems. |
In some cases, these symptoms are reported to continue for many days or weeks after the incident, although more commonly the symptoms are shortlived. Some operators who experience an acoustic shock may feel apprehensive about using the phone or about loud sounds in general.
The damage: The mechanism causing the adverse symptoms is not known with certainty. It seems highly likely, however, that the sound exposure elicits an acoustic startle refl ex. When startle occurs, numerous muscles in the upper limbs, shoulders, neck, eye and ear (the stapedius muscle and the tensor tympani muscle) are activated. If the noise exposure is loud, or if the person is in an aroused state (e.g. anxious, fearful) prior to the startle, the magnitude of the muscular response is heightened. It seems likely that the ongoing symptoms are the after-effects on the muscles and ligaments caused by the muscles being tensed to an unusual degree. Background Noise: The workplace itself can expose call centre employees to additional noise, apart from the noise produced from their headsets. Common to call centres is the open floor office layout, which is partitioned to house individual workstations. Call centre operators must compete with tones from ringing phones, constant chatter from fellow operators also attending to calls and other background noise from conversations with fellow workers as well as the noise from office equipment. Excessive background noise can also compel call centre operators to increase their concentration and listen more attentively to customers whilst they are attending to calls. As a result call centre operators may be prone to mental fatigue and increased muscle tension. What are the danger signals?
If your answer is YES to some of these questions, then noise in your workplace could be dangerously high. |