Boilermaker's Disease or Ear

A hearing impairment caused by exposure to high intensity broad band noise over long periods of time, and usually characterized by a loss of hearing to high frequencies and difficulty in understanding speech. See: Hearing Loss.

The making of boilers during the early days of the Industrial Revolution first produced this affliction among workmen in these factories, and by analogy it has come to refer to any form of industrially-induced hearing loss.

Compare: Presbycusis, Sociocusis. See also: Audiogram, Damage-Risk Criteria, Noise Pollution, Occupational Deafness, Threshold Shift.