Damage to hearing from telephones

Employers are required to protect their workers from exposure to excessive noise. We can readily understand that this applies to drills, chainsaws, hammering, pneumatic impact tools, aircraft and other engines. But, surely office workers are in a safe environment. Not so. If your job involves time spent on the telephone you may be exposed to dangerous sound levels. Angry customers raising their voices are often in excess of the safety standard of 85 db. Interference on the phone can be over 110 db, and someone slamming down the phone can cause a really damaging peak sound to the listener. Our instinctive solution is to hold the earpiece away from our ear as someone begins to rage. However, this is less easy with an earphone system which leaves the hands free.
There is a solution - a device between the phone connection and the headpiece which measures the incoming sound level and limits it to safe levels. One such device may be seen on the website of a company called sennheisercommunications. Look for the Ul 700 series of devices. A set costs in the region of 8000 Baht. Expensive? So is the sense of hearing which cannot be replaced if damaged.

Quiet Bangkok - The Next Stage in Visual Pollution

Day by day, billboards are springing up in Bangkok, 25 to 50 meter giants to catch the eye of motorists, more modest models at every 50 meters along footpaths to engage pedestrians.
This is the expressive stage where our attention is caught by attractive design. A new stage is coming. As you pass a billboard your mobile telephone will ring to tell you of a new film, the nearest time and place of showing to your location. If you are attracted and go there, another call arrives, suggesting where you may eat in the time available before the film starts, and offering a discount. Meanwhile other electronic eyes are watching your movements, scanning your eye image to identify you, and searching their database to see what commercial product is most appropriate to offer. This system will be in place within the next few years, driven by developments in optoelectronics, IT, the advertising industry, and under the driving force of marketing commercialism.
Can we restrain the monster before it consumes our lives?