o! Just Me

Till today, I never had the luxury of visiting any Call Centers here in India but have heard all stories, good and bad, relating to the same. Well, I’ve interacted with many Call Center people though and I think I’ve learnt something, they tend to speak soft but louder and presume that everybody is hard on hearing. I have to bear the burnt of many Call Center people while they call me for market something or the other on phone and of course, I have contacted some on business matters. I have few friends who are working happily and prosperously at Call Centers.

They talked of Good Food (read pizzas, burgers and other fast food range of snacks), good environment (well kept garden, walking lanes for the employees to relax), et al. Well, the food already is a good sign of bad bad on their way and is a long term health hazard waiting to crash. No, I will not be talking about Food, Cigarettes (oh, that is one thing most of them smoke every time they take a break) but let me talk a bit about Hearing Impairments that is waiting to happen for most Call Center Workers.

Just like how UK did a research and found that two thirds of UK call centers fail to protect their workers against hearing damage from noise, India is definitely affected by such and in a big way. Here in India, more and more injuries and illness are expected to be caused by Audio Shock and other Noise related hazards. Outside India, they have compensation packages for such illness. I am pretty sure in India, there are far none. The free health insurance for the whole family would not even come close to Rs. 5000 per year and that will never include such compensations. In fact, such cheap expense for the workers on the overall are one reason why they are available at very cheap price here in India.

Here is an excerpt concerning Acoustic Shock

Acoustic shocks are defined as any temporary or permanent disturbance of the functioning of the ear, or of the nervous system, which may be caused to the user of a telephone earphone by a sudden sharp rise in the acoustic pressure produced by it. The sound could be a whistle, a bleep - or any unexpected noise. Experts suggest there are many more people who have experienced acoustic shock but do not realise it. It has been said that, “It can be a debilitating occurrence for a call centre worker. They can develop permanent damage to their hearing.” Acoustic shock is not the same as noise-induced hearing loss and is believed to occur at sound pressure levels below those which present an immediate risk to hearing damage.

Well, so don’t be surprised to see Call Center Worker Couples in future with techno-geek-like hearing aids. Yes, they make good couples amongst themselves as they spend all night together most of the weekdays (oh! including weekends). Call Centers are talking of Health Care, Environment Friendly Work Place, I bet they missed out on this topic of Acoustic Shocks and they may not even know about it at all.