European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 21, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes Friday october 21, 1977 those decibels Willet you if you Don t watch Outi m sorb glad it s by Judith Cummings new York times he huh that s the message some ear specialists and government officials Are giving to makers of household appliances As the american Home becomes noisier and noisier. The same mechanical helpers you acquire to make your lives More comfortable can produce enough noise especially when added to a noisy shop or office and a noisy outdoors to eventually damage your hearing. An electric food blender for example which produces from 90 to 100 decibels of sound can be noisier than a subway train passing 20 feet away at about 90 decibels. A vacuum cleaner at up to 85 Deci Bels tops a pneumatic Drill from 50 feet away slugging out 83 decibels. And Power mowers and Chain saws real noise powerhouses can Register anywhere from 90 to 100, according to ratings from government and professional sources. The environmental Protection Agency says noise around the Home is reaching Levels that not Only can cause annoyances and emotional stress but can also gradually bring permanent hearing loss. As a general yardstick continuous exposure for eight hours Over a number of years to noise Levels above approximately 80 decibels can produce damage the . Says. But some hearing specialists such As or. Maurice h. Miller chief of audiology at new York s Lenox Hill Hospital and professor at new York University say any sound Over 85 even for a Brief time should be considered hazardous. Many appliances in the Home Are producing noise Levels in a Range considered potentially Haz ardous to the auditory system said or. Miller. To demonstrate he used a meter to measure one elec tric Shaver his own at 90 decibels and another his wife sat 107. The difference Between the two although both fall in his hazardous zone is significant in terms of possible effects on hearing. One of the problems is that Many people seem to think that the noisier an appliance is the better it s working the Way that some people prefer the roaring engine of a sports car compared to the Tamer sounds of old Betsy. In fact Kenneth Feith the . Official in charge of household noise tells a tale of an unnamed vacuum cleaner manufacturer that five or six years ago test marketed a quieter Model which promptly proved a bomb. Feith claimed it was mostly unenlightened salesmen who did t appreciate the significance of a quieter product and were just interested in Selling who were responsible for scuttling the company s efforts to promote a quieter machine. " listen to that Power they d say to the customer Feith said. The . Is now considering setting rules for appliance noise. Industry spokesmen say that no reliable uniform method of measuring product sound is yet available and that they Are working on one now. Edward Streamas &6ut hours a Cali wats of. T work Ork n0t$� pay at noise All my Hiir. Cgll5 by noise. A twp Yod me to go prag head of the vacuum cleaner noise committee of the american society of testing materials said the objective was to establish a rating yardstick that could be used by manufacturers on a voluntary basis. At present the Consumers Union publisher of consumer reports is the Only major organization involved in rating products by noise and then Only very selectively. Noise is a Factor in its ratings of food blenders vacuum cleaners refrigerator Freez ers and meat Grinders. But it s handled in a rudimentary Way using Subjec Tive descriptions like relatively noisy and relatively quiet because the Union feels that noise has to be consid ered a minor Factor from its Point of View. To give it greater weight might distort the performance assess ment according to Ira Furman a spokesman for the Consumers Union who said ours is a value judgment about How annoying it is rather than How  con Sumers Union experts Don t believe even the noisiest appliances Are operated for Long enough periods to cause injury he said. That s where ear specialists tend to disagree. Accord ing to or. Miller surprisingly Brief exposure to intense noise can damage hearing depending on the susceptibility of the individual and on the other noise he endures during the Day. Or. Mark Cramer an Industrial audiologist with noise and hearing consultants of America Points to University studies indicating that sound sensitive hair cells within the ear Are destroyed by excess noise. This he says can predispose a person to damage from later exposures even Brief ones. If you spend an hour each Way on the subway and work in a noisy place and then come Home to a House that s noisy you could probably end up with some damage he said. Most people Aren t aware of hearing loss the specialists said because it s painless. It is just too expensive and inconvenient for the aver age person to pick up a noise level meter to find out which appliances might be making offending noises and which Are benign. But or. Miller offers three warning signs to watch for when using the ice Crusher or another device if after use you experience ringing in the ears if speech sounds muffled or if while it s on it interferes with Normal conversation you should seek professional advice he said. And the specialists say you should invest in Muff like ear protectors or at least in a pair of Good rubber ear plugs. Cotton in the ears is fooling yourself. Fek a am  by Erma Bombeck at wits end mothers of America you have been Given one More Chance to be fashion pacesetters. White anklets Are Back they be been seen throughout Europe being worn with High heeled shoes. I know it is Only a matter of time before Princess Grace Queen Elizabeth Jackie Onassis and bar Bara Walters Are schlepping around in them. Before you shake your head and say no it la never work let me assure you i went through the same humiliation route with White anklets that you went through Back in the 40s and 50s. I too was maligned by my family. My sons self destructed before my very eyes once when i appeared in White anklets on the playground. My husband said they made my legs look like tree stumps and one Day when a Friend of my daughter s came to the House to play she said what team does your Mother play for we let them shame us into giving up our White socks. And what did we get in return pantyhose. Just ask Joe Namath. I personally never put on a pair of pantyhose without thinking i got a pair that was hatched prematurely and needed another few months in the egg. A the Good old Days of White anklets. They never sprung a run. Never Cut off circulation when you crossed your legs. White socks went with everything Winter and summer. And you never had cracked heels. Remember the warm fuzzy feeling you had in White socks critics Are the first to Point out How ridiculous they looked. Sour grapes. Have you Ever seen yourself standing in front of the Mirror in a pair of knee highs and a pair of glasses the trouble with mothers is they Are never the pacesetters of any thing. They borrow a few to shirts and jeans from their sons Klutzy shoes and Funky blouses from their daughters sweat ers from their husbands and a few dresses from their mothers. But they do not have one style that is exclusive unique an theirs alone. The White socks could do it for us. It could establish mothers As trendsetters. What have you got to lose except you rankles. Have you got the guts c 1977 Field enterprises. Inc