NOISE HAZARDS AND PET GROOMING

INTRODUCTION – THE PROBLEM
We all know it: grooming rooms are noisy places – barking dogs, blasting dryers, clippers buzzing, and music blaring. At first it can seem overwhelming, but we get used to it and usually consider the noise as “part of the job”. We shout over it, and turn the radio up.
News Flash: Hearing specialists tell us that “getting used to it” or “accommodation” is a serious indicator of hearing loss. There’s more. Excessive noise is a stress factor that can lead to increased blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, ulcers, headaches, and sleep disorders. Workplace studies have determined that noise stress can impair work performance and is related to increased worker accidents. Correlations have also been made between working in a noisy environment and increased annoyance and aggression.

NOISE AND HEARING LOSS
There are three things we need to note about hearing loss: it is gradual, cumulative, and irreversible. Here is a description of how hearing loss occurs:
…Noise literally wears out the ears. Sound travels as pulsating waves of air pressure. Those waves strike the ear drum and their vibrations travel through the bones of the middle ear to the inner ear, or cochlea. In the cochlea, approximately 30,000 hairlike protrusions signal the auditory nerves to the brain. These hairs can recover from infrequent, brief exposures to intense noise but if they're continually subjected to it, they break down and no longer respond to sound. The nerve fibers connected to the hair cells also degenerate, leaving the central nervous system less able to adapt to sound. The damage is cumulative and irreversible, although modern hearing aids can significantly improve hearing. (National Ag…. Safety Database, Kansas State University)

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Occupational safety experts measure the potential harmful effects of noise in terms of total exposure in an eight-hour work day. Often this is found on a scale such as this one from NIOSH, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health:

Sound Level	Exposure Limit
85 dB(A)	8 hours
88 dB (A)	4 hours
91 dB (A)	2 hours
94 dB (A)	1 hour
97 dB (A)	30 minutes
100 dB (A)	15 minutes
103 dB (A)	7.5 minutes
106 dB (A)	3.75 minutes

We should notice on this scale that when noise reaches above 85 decibels, it becomes hazardous, and only a total of 15 minutes of noise at 100 decibels is considered safe in an eight-hour workday. That’s 15 minutes for the whole day. When we subject ourselves to unsafe levels of noise, we risk hearing loss. Likewise, any prolonged noise exposure above 85 decibels is considered a significant stress factor.
How can you tell if a noise situation is too loud? According to NIOSH, there are two rules: First, if you have to raise your voice to talk to someone who is an arm’s length away, the noise is likely to be hazardous. Second, if your ears are ringing or sounds seem dull or flat after leaving a noisy place, then you probably were exposed to hazardous noise.

OUR FINDINGS
Being of a scientific nature, we decided to find out just how noisy it was in our grooming room. We purchased a sound level meter and took some measurements.
Home Office/no appliances: 36.0-41.1 dB
Grooming Shop w/swamp cooler only: 60.5-61.9 dB
Groom room (summer) w/swamp cooler, fans & Sahara Turbo: 70.0-71.0 dB
Groom room (winter) w/fans at cages, Laube Magnum Force dryer, Sahara Turbo and a whining Tibetan Terrier: 79.4-81.3 dB

NOISE AND HIGH VELOCITY DRYERS

One of the most significant sources of noise in the grooming environment is that produced by high velocity, forced air dryers.

DRYER	MOTOR NOISE	DEFLECTED AIR Large Nozzle	Flat Nozzle	Small Nozzle/Cone
K9II	Single 82-83 dB Both 85-86.5 dB	(stem only) 80-82.0 dB	N/A	101-102 dB
Double K ChallengAir	82-83 dB	87-89 dB	N/A	98-100 dB
Laube Magnum Force	89-91 dB	90-94 dB	85-90 dB	97-100 dB
Kool Dry Chris Christensen	80-82 dB	93-94 dB (diffuser)	96-97 dB	98-102 dB

NOTES ABOUT DEFLECTED NOISE
Noise is deflected when the air flow passes over an object, such as a dog. When the air from the hose of a high velocity dryer is deflected, the noise increases. The nature of the object can make a difference in the increase. For example, air from the small nozzle on the Laube Magnum Force measures 94-95 decibels, when deflected on a dog, the noise is 97-99 decibels, and on a human hand, it is 100 decibels. When waved across a grooming post, the same nozzle can create as much as 105 decibels. Hard, smooth surfaces create louder noise than softer objects. Narrow objects, such as a grooming post or dog leg create louder noise than wide objects such as the dog’s body or the table. Air that is waved across the leg of a dog creates more noise than air that is slowly moved up and down the leg.

MORE MEASUREMENTS

Here are some other common grooming shop noises

SOURCE	NOISE In dB
Large Fan	70
Shop Vac in shop Shop Vac in mobile	84 100
iVac on Hanvey canister	70
Small box fans Around crate	83
Sahara Turbo Dryer	80
Edemco Arm Dryer	78
Laube Litening Clipper	77
Laube Speed Feed	71
Wahl Tid Bit	73
Barking Bichon	102

NOISE AND PETS

It is safe to assume that canine and feline hearing is affected by noise levels much the same as with humans. The stress factors related to noise are more apparent with animals. It is important to recognize that high noise levels may be more bothersome to the animals in our care than they are to us. We are getting paid to endure the noise, they are just reacting. To cats, high noise is often perceived as threatening and unsafe, to dogs it can make them very uncomfortable. We can also safely assume that the same physiological responses to noise stress occur in animals, making an extended stay in a noisy environment unhealthy for the pets in our care. Of particular concern is the effect of perceived noise on the animals being dried with high velocity dryers. Dogs that struggle and lurch around as we try to dry them with the high velocity dryer are NOT being naughty. They are experiencing a very real stress response to the high noise level, especially around the head. The groomer is an arm’s length away from the noise source, the dog whose head is being dried is not.

A valuable option for pets is the Happy Hoodie by Zoni Pets. These elastic terry cloth tubes have been developed for groomers by groomers to help reduce the stress of high velocity drying for pets.

NOISE MANAGEMENT

It is valuable to do an environmental assessment of your grooming area and identify the sources of possible noise hazard: hard, smooth surfaces will deflect more noise than covered surfaces. Drying dogs while in the tub is likely to be noisier than putting them on the table. The mess is contained in the tub, but so is the noise. The smaller the room, the more noise created by all noise sources. Mobile vans can be extremely noisy, especially if there are no curtains or noise absorbing materials on the walls. Anti-fatigue mats and towels help to absorb some noise in a drying area. Using your hands or your tools while drying with forced air is likely to cause very high spikes in the noise level, as the powerful air is deflected. Likewise, waving the nozzle causes more noise than slowly moving the nozzle over an area.

Overall room noise can be lessened by the installation of sound absorbing materials on walls and/or ceilings. Even a few panels can reduce the noise level enough to make for a more comfortable work environment. Another thing to consider is to use sound abatement materials to create a place for barking dogs.

NOISE PROTECTION

Our noise measurements show clearly that there are unsafe noise levels in most grooming environments. Although the noise from the motors of high velocity dryers is not necessarily a problem, all of the dryers measured created hazardous noise levels from the air through the nozzles. Persons who use these dryers should always wear hearing protection. This can be in the form of noise abating headphones, or soft foam ear plugs. Working without protection is inviting hearing loss. Moreover, it is Federal law that hearing protection needs to be available in any work places where noises exceed the 85 decibel level established by OSHA. Employers should be providing some form of hearing protection in grooming shops, and insisting it being used.

What about using cotton balls? Glad you asked! Ordinary cotton balls stuffed into the ears reduce noise by only five to seven decibels, and cotton cannot block out high frequency sound, such as that produced by high velocity dryers. Also, stuffing cotton in the ears can force earwax against the eardrum.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no denying that there are hazardous levels of noise in most grooming environments. Working without protection is inviting hearing loss and stress related illness. Moreover, it is Federal law that hearing protection needs to be available in any work places where noises exceed the 85 decibel level established by OSHA. Employers should be providing some form of hearing protection in grooming shops, and insisting it being used. As Susy the Groomer put it, after using a decibel meter to measure the noise in her grooming trailer, “it's really noisy in our industry and we all should do everything we can not to end up 80yo and searching for cash to pay for our hearing aids.” Or, you could end up like me, with hearing loss AND with tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears. It’s so bad that I can’t sleep without the TV on. The roaring inside my head is too loud.

Susy also had a shift in attitude about the dogs in her care after measuring her noise levels: “I learned a lot and now I am using much more hearing protection for the dogs. Wow, I totally understand why they don't like hv drying. I always assumed it was the air vs wet, cold skin thing, but I think that it is really the noise level. The Happy Hoodies help a lot but the noise level of using the k92 with one of the cone concentrators would make drying a bit like aversion therapy. I feel bad.” I feel bad, too. One of my own dogs has gone totally deaf. Yes, the one that has been going to work with me for eight years, and hangs out in the grooming room to be near me. I feel bad that I didn’t do this study a few years ago when there might have been time to save my Gracie from this fate. It’s time to take the noise we create seriously. Please don’t “get used to it.”

HELPFUL LINKS

Best shopping for ear plugs and hearing protection: The Earplug Super Store

http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/ Don't give up on ear plugs until you try several kinds. This place has great assortment packs so you can do just that. They also have ear muffs and other stuff. Earplug Super Store

Happy Hoodies:for small quanities - www.shop.bbird.biz ; for larger quantities - http://www.happyhoodie.com/

Technical info about workplace noise and Comparison info on ear plugs vs. ear muffs: Chart

Info and help with sound proofing: acoustical surfaces

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please excuse me for the empty spaces that you had to scroll through in this article and the inconsistencies in type size. This was the best I could do for this article. I won't go into the aggravating technical difficulties I encountered. Thanks.