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Voice damage
[ch 8: page 142]A different but equally serious risk associated with workplace noise is that of voice damage. In 2010, 50-year-old teacher Joyce Walters was awarded an out-of-court settlement of £156,000 after suffering permanent damage to her vocal chords through being forced to raise her voice to be heard above high levels of noise and disruption outside her classroom in Hillingdon, North West London. She developed nodules on her vocal chords, but instead of moving her to a different classroom, her managers told her that “vocal chord nodules are considered an occupational hazard for all teachers”.
Research highlights risk of voice damage in call centres
Research commissioned by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in 2012 found that one in four call centre workers suffer voice problems because managers fail to protect their health properly. Sixty per cent complained of problems with making themselves heard against background noise and 41% said they could not be heard by the customer at the end of the phone. New starters, especially female, are particularly at risk.