Another quiz

My sphere is Guardian (Person of great Love and Altruism), and my class is Defender (Peaceful, yet Potent). I am a Warden. To be a Warden is to be the ultimate Guardian. Whether a physical Guardian or an essential Guardian, is up to you. You may be both. To be a physical Guardian is to be a living, breathing testament to the love you carry for a person, or people, whose lives you will always defend if you possibly can. To be an essential Guardian is to be a living, breathing testament to the security that your wards seek, and will look to you for your always kind, always nurturing support. What kind of Warrior are you?

There's a name for what happened to me at work...

Well, it seems what has happened to me at FNORD is not a unique experience!

It is called Acoustic Shock Injury (ASI), and causes what is known as Acoustic Shock Syndrome.

Acoustic Shock Injury

"...occurring as a result of exposure to a sudden unexpected loud sound, has been observed to cause a specific and consistent pattern of neurophysiological and psychological symptoms."
- Acoustic shock injury (ASI) in Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum, by M. Westcott,2006 Dec;(556):54-8

"Acoustic shock is a recently recognised clinical entity: following an abrupt, intense and unanticipated acoustic stimulus, usually delivered by a telephone handset or headset..."
- Acoustic shock in The Journal of laryngology and otology, by D.J. McFerran, and D.M. Baguley.

Acoustic Shock Syndrome

"...some individuals report a symptom cluster that includes otalgia, altered hearing, aural fullness, imbalance, tinnitus, dislike or even fear of loud noises, and anxiety and/or depression."
- Acoustic shock in The Journal of laryngology and otology, by D.J. McFerran, and D.M. Baguley,2007 Apr;121(4):301-5. Epub 2007 Feb 19.

"...has been observed to cause a specific and consistent pattern of neurophysiological and psychological symptoms. These include aural pain, tinnitus, hyperacusis/phonophobia, vertigo and other unusual symptoms such as numbness or burning sensations around the ear. A range of emotional reactions including trauma, anxiety and depression can develop."
- Acoustic shock injury (ASI) in Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum, by M. Westcott,2006 Dec;(556):54-8

Notes

It seems that Australia and England have been at the forfront of this problem. In England, British Telecom has already paid one settlement of £90,000, and over 83 other BT workers have filed similar suits. One report says that Unions have brought forward 700 acoustic shock cases securing more than £2million in out of court settlements for workers.

The root of the problem is the nature of the call center. It is an enviroment where the workers use headphones to conduct business, and because of this, they can be exposed much longer to excessively high volume events than normal office workers who use handsets. With a handset, you can quickly move it away from your ear when you hear a loud noise, while it can take much, much longer to reach up and remove the headphones.

Common results of this type of shock are tinnitus and/or hearing loss...but it can also cause pyschological problems as well. Here is a couple of paragraphs from the Australian Government's National Acoustic Laboratories:

"The damage mechanism

The mechanism causing the adverse symptoms is not known with certainty. It seems highly likely, however, that the sound exposure elicits an acoustic startle reflex. (The same startle reflex can also be elicited by an unexpected touch or puff of air to the eyes). 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 (Patuzzi, 2001).

It is well established that the emotional state of a person affects the startle response (Butler et al., 1990; Cook et al., 1991, Grillon et al., 1993). A fearful state, for instance, lowers the threshold of sound at which the startle reflex occurs, and increases the magnitude of the response when it does occur (Cook et al., 1992). It thus seems possible that call-centre operators who fear that they will be injured by an acoustic shock may truly be at greater risk of injury than those who are not apprehensive about the likelihood of an incident. If this is true, then incidents are more likely to occur in call centres in which incidents have previously occurred than in call centres in which there have been no previous incidents. Operators in a call centre in which there had been a high incidence of acoustic shock were found to report an abnormally rapid growth of loudness as the physical levels of test tones were increased (unpublished NAL study)."

http://www.nal.gov.au/Info%20for%20consumers/HD%20-%20acoustic_shock-%20main.htm

As I mentioned before, I am rapidly running out of money, so there is a possiblity that I am going to have to go on Welfare again...so I am not happy about this. I *did not* instigate this claim, it was what FNORD Canada wanted me to do. Much as I would like to believe that FNORD did this in good faith, I am not sure. But the amount of medical information comming out, as evidenced by the above information leads me to believe that I may have a good chance of getting a decent settlement out of this.

ttyl

Replacement for Nash in FM?