Years of rock concerts and noisy recreational activities are taking their toll on the hearing of the Baby Boom generation. Louise Vallee, a vice president at Chubb & Son, told a safety audience that close to 40 million Boomers are experiencing some degree of hearing loss. That's twice as many as expected.

"Gen Xers and Millennials who are constantly connected to their iPods and cell phones may also be at risk," she added. Safety engineers need to educate corporate executives about the issues, and gain support for workplace hearing conservation programs. Especially in settings like manufacturing and construction, employers should be aware of noise regulations and monitor workplace conditions.

"The rule of thumb is that if the environment requires somebody to 'speak up' in order to be heard, there is probably a need to conduct noise monitoring to ensure compliance with OSHA standards," said Vallee.

She suggests baseline audiogram hearing tests for new employees to detect preexisting hearing loss.

Also, annual hearing conservation training is an opportunity to educate employees about the risks associated with recreational noise.