HEALTH RISKS DUE TO EXPOSURE OF LOW-FREQUENCY NOISE : HÄLSORISKER VID EXPONERING AV LÅGFREKVENT BULLER

This paper was made with an aim to prepare the risk assessment of operators’ noise exposure in Atlas Copco’s existing machines. This work is divided into three major parts: low-frequency noise, hearing protection and sound propagation in mines. Several studies, regulations and books have been examined in order to collect data of relevance to this work. The existence of man-made low-frequency noise (20-200 Hz) has been reported in many environments as a critical pollution problem. Symptoms like hearing loss, tinnitus, annoyance, disturbance of rest and sleep, fatigue, lower performance and social orientation, feeling of pressure on the eardrum and head, headache, disorientation, nausea, and balance disturbance, have among other ailments been reported by exposure to low-frequency noise