Award is Music to the Ears of the Acoustics Sub-Working Group

This year’s Safe-in-Sound award for innovation in hearing-loss prevention goes to the Multilateral Medical Operations Panel Acoustics Sub-Working Group for the International Space Station.

Congratulations to the Acoustics Sub-working Group. Its efforts are led by co-chairs Chris Allen, lead of the Acoustics Office, and Dr. Dick Danielson, manager for Audiology and Hearing Conservation.

The International Space Station is a unique work environment that also functions as a home to the astronauts and cosmonauts. Each crew member lives and works at the space station for about six months or more and, while there, is exposed to constant noise from equipment controlling the basic amenities (e.g., air and water supply), as well as noise from the many experiments taking place. The unfavorable acoustical environment led to concerns over sleep and communication interference, alarm audibility and permanent hearing damage. Such concerns triggered the need for the Acoustics Sub-Working Group to manage the acoustic environment aboard the station and protect the hearing of its workers.

The Acoustics Sub-Working Group won the innovation award for identifying the unique risk facing the crewmates and developing solutions for reducing noise exposure. They worked with the crew stationed on the space station to monitor noise levels, identify noisy tasks or equipment for their Noise Hazard Inventory, test equipment for noise levels before being sent up to the orbiting laboratory, and develop and implement solutions to reduce noise levels. They also recommended hearing-protection devices to reduce crew noise exposures and performed audiometric testing before, during (on orbit) and after flights.

No permanent mission-related hearing changes among American crew members have been reported in the almost 20 years of station operations. This success results from the combined efforts of acoustical engineers, audiologists, industrial hygienists and the physicians who comprise the Acoustics Sub-Working Group’s membership from NASA, the Russian Space Agency, ESA (European Space Agency), Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and  Canadian Space Agency. Through this extraordinary program, the astronauts are truly “safe in sound.”

Dick Danielson, left, and Chris Allen pose with the Safe-in-Sound award.