Noise-induced deafness

Summary

• 215 individuals (all males) qualified as new cases of noise-induced deafness under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit scheme (IIDB) (Table IIDB02) in 2007/08. This has increased from 175 individuals in 2006/07, the first year-on-year increase since 2002/03; however, numbers remain relatively consistent with 2005/06 levels (which exhibited 210 individuals).
• In 2008/09 an estimated 17 000 individuals who worked in the last 12 months were suffering hearing problems which they believed to be work-related, according to the Labour Force Survey. (Table SWIT3W12)
• The industry groups with the highest average annual incidence rates of new cases qualifying for IIDB (based on 2006-08 figures) were extraction energy and water supply, manufacturing and construction (Table IIDB10).  
• A Medical Research Council survey in 1997-98 gave a prevalence estimate of 509 000 people in Great Britain suffering from hearing difficulties as a result of exposure to noise at work.