Spotlight on CAOHC, with Terry Tyson

Talking Ears

This special episode of Talking Ears is a spotlight edit of episode 22 which focuses on the work of CAOHC, the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation. Now in its 50th year in the current form, the organization’s history is inspiring and carries a heavy responsibility. With its roots in interdisciplinary education and advocacy reaching back to 1965, CAOHC’s mission is to “advance best practices in occupational hearing conservation worldwide through credentialing, standards, education, and advocacy.” The Council’s vision is, “a world without occupational hearing loss.”

Terry Tyson is an architectural acoustician and guitar player in the southern rock tribute band, High Noon. He also serves on the CAOHC council representing INCE (The Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA) a non-profit professional organization with the mission to “promote engineering solutions to environmental, product, machinery, industrial and other noise problems”. In this episode, Terry describes hearing loss prevention as, “... a subject that is near and dear to my heart”, a sentiment we certainly share as musicians and audiologists. This appreciation of hearing and sound seamlessly sets his role up as a member of the heads up the Noise Committee on the CAOHC council. We discuss his early career in chemical engineering within industrial settings where he experienced first-hand the potential of injury from noise exposure. Terry’s perspective focuses on the health of hearing and well-being of every person, going above and beyond that of regulations.

We invite you to listen to the full episode of Talking Ears featuring Terry Tyson to hear more about his musical life, thoughts on acoustic architectural design, and which guitar from his extensive collection is his favorite (hint, it isn’t one of the ones he regularly plays one stage).

As Audiologists, this mission resonates with Talking Ear’s co-hosts, Frank and Juan. Noise-induced hearing loss and associated disorders are considered 100% preventable, however we are inundated with cases and outcomes which could have been avoided with the right combination of education, motivation, and intervention. In an effort to put the horse in front of the cart, so to speak, we both serve as course directors for the namesake Occupational Hearing Conservationist (OHC) credentialing programs - training clinicians on the best practices in this vital field. Additionally, Frank recently joined the council as a representative of the American Academy of Audiology.

As CAOHC course directors, the opportunity to collaborate with others working in various fields of occupational health adds strength to the message of hearing loss prevention worldwide. There is great value in interdisciplinary clinical training to address hearing loss prevention. With such a wide range of occupational settings, each with their own challenges and opportunities, the best defense is a well-informed and motivated OHC. Earmark Hearing Conservation hosts 30 - 40 courses which train ~500 OHCs annually. When we zoom out to consider the hundreds to thousands of workers each OHC is directly serving, the full scope of our impact is both an awe-inspiring privilege and a weighty responsibility. For this reason, creating and delivering a high quality and uncompromising educational experience is our first priority.