George Wallace said:
It has nothing to do with Cooks being remusters from the Cbt Arms, but a lot to do with the environment that they work in. They work in the kitchens where there is a constant amount of noise, most of it coming from the high pressure gas and steam lines.
The reason soldiers respond by saying “SEEN” is because they can’t hear. From an H3, here.
I find it difficult to believe that CF kitchen facilities are so loud that they pose an industrial hazard to hearing and have done so for decades without any action to correct the problem. But my personal experience with noise while working in kitchens was limited to the sound made while walloping pots for “ 7 days…. not to exceed 4 hours per day”. As so said the man who got to keep his hat on. CF kitchens should not be that much different than similar civilian premises, especially since the majority of workers in them are civilians and would be covered under WCB regulations. While work related hearing loss claims to WCB are significant, in comparison to other occupations, kitchen and food service workers are
not at an extraordinary level of exposure to noise hazard.
http://www2.worksafebc.com/pdfs/hearing/Noise_Survey_Project2.pdf
Noise Measurement http://www2.worksafebc.com/pdfs/hearing/sound_advice1.pdf
Perhaps there is a Sanitary Sam (PMED Tech, HYG Tech or whatever they are calling themselves these days) on this means who may have some recent first hand knowledge of this. I recall our Base PMED in Edmonton doing noise surveys in the kitchens, however that was many years ago and I don’t remember the specific results.
Well the hearing deficit of army cooks et al was mentioned on this means before. http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/1542/post-192263.html#msg192263
Hearing loss in the military (and the study thereof) is common. A few links as example:
"Prevention of noise-induced hearing loss in the Canadian military"
http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/8537985
"Hearing loss in military aviation and other trades: investigation of prevalence and risk factors"
http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/16370263
“Hearing endangered among Singapore conscripts” http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?page=565
But hearing loss is not always related to military service or work. George, (from your profile) we are about the same vintage. One of my memories of living in the shack in the 70s was the constant “stereo wars” to determine who could get the
biggest, loudest system and crank her up. A similar louder is better philosophy applied to car stereos and bars frequented. Nowadays, it’s probably the
smallest, loudest system with the largest digital capacity and cranked up directly via earphone into their tiny brains. This may be a contributing factor to hearing loss for some current soldiers regardless of their exposure to sudden loud noises or prolonged travel in metal boxes. Unfortunately it is impossible to differentiate the cause once the damage is already done.
“Many people suffer from hearing loss before they start working” http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?page=453
As this may be straying from the question posed by the OP, my comment/suggestion to him is: Everyday life is loud, Army life is louder. If your number one concern is to maintain a peaceful, quiet lifestyle, have you considered librarian as an career? If you still want to soldier, regardless of occupation, be prepared to be exposed to noise. Can you take precautions against hearing damage? Sure, but sometimes they are inconvenient, inadequate or unavailable, plus sometimes one just gets too damn lazy.
