The major historical events in the relating of noise-induced hearing loss to noise exposure

Abstract

One event was the recognition of ‘‘boilermaker’s disease.’’ Another was some of the threshold shift studies during and after WWII that led to the BENOX report. After these developments, there were a series of key events and decisions that have led up to our current state of knowledge and procedures. How Henning von Gierke was influential in most of these and how his decisions have consistently proven to be correct will be demonstrated. For example, he contributed to the 1953 BENOX report, promoted the ‘‘equal energy concept,’’ conceived and patented the first noise dosimeter, oversaw the EPA ‘‘levels’’ and criteria documents, and was the chair of the working group that wrote the current international standard (ISO-R1999) that relates noise exposure to noise-induced hearing loss. He was also instrumental in supporting many key research issues such as fetal noise exposure, asymptotic temporary threshold shift, and the longitudinal hearing of children. Henning’s perseverance and dedication has provided society with an answer to one of his favorite questions, ‘‘how much noise is too much?’’