NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Program Noise Measurement Database

This noise database was developed to provide researchers and other interested stakeholders with noise measurement results that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has collected during health hazard evaluation (HHE) surveys from 1996 through 2013. HHEs are requested by employees or their representatives, or employers, to help learn whether health hazards are present at their workplace. The scope of HHEs varies based on the requestors’ concerns and the NIOSH project officers’ professional judgment. Only noise measurement results are included in this database; however, many HHEs include evaluation of exposures other than noise. Individual HHE reports are published on the NIOSH website. When available, the database provides a direct link to the HHE report for each of the noise measurement results. The noise database contains workplace noise measurement results from 77 HHE reports, including over 808 personal noise exposure measurements and 582 area noise measurements. It also includes the following information: U.S. state or territory; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) region; National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) sector; North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code; facility description; type of dosimeter or sound level meter used; whether a hearing conservation program was in place; whether a hearing protection was used; whether octave band data was collected; job title; noise-generating activities; location of noise measurements; start and end date for site visit; type (full-shift, partial-shift, or task-based) and duration of noise measurement; type of noise (continuous, impulsive, or intermittent); exposure to ototoxic chemicals; and results in decibels A-weighted (dBA) and percent dose according to OSHA and NIOSH noise measurement criteria. This database is an ongoing project and will be updated at least yearly to add the most recent HHE noise measurement data.