Mail-In Audiometer Calibration for Wisconsin Employers

Mail-in calibration for Wisconsin employers

Foster Special Instruments calibrates audiometers at our bench at 6941 Cornell Road, Suite B, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242, near Cincinnati. You ship the unit to us, we calibrate it to ANSI S3.6, and it comes back to your Wisconsin location with a calibration certificate for your hearing conservation file.

Wisconsin packages reach Cincinnati by ground carrier, and a tracked label lets you follow the unit both ways. We calibrate most major brands whether or not you bought from us, including Benson, Tremetrics, Maico, GSI, and Welch Allyn / Hill-Rom.

Who we serve in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's paper mills, machinery and engine plants, foundries, and food and dairy processors are textbook hearing conservation employers. Health systems in Milwaukee, Madison, and the Fox Valley run occupational health clinics alongside them.

We calibrate for these programs and for school districts that test student hearing each year.

OSHA and the audiometer in Wisconsin

Private employers in Wisconsin fall under federal OSHA, so 29 CFR 1910.95 is the rule your hearing conservation program is measured against. Audiometer calibration to ANSI S3.6 is the working benchmark, and the certificate that returns with your unit is the record to keep.

In Wisconsin, as everywhere, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95(h) ties audiometric testing to audiometers that meet ANSI S3.6. The work happens in layers, and each layer has an owner.

• Daily: your staff listens to the audiometer and tests a person with stable known thresholds. This is the employer's check.
• Annually: an acoustic calibration check. Our bench covers this.
• Every two years: an exhaustive calibration. We perform this as well.

29 CFR 1910.95(h), Appendix E

Packing and shipping your audiometer

Pack the audiometer in its original case or a padded box. Send the headphones, bone vibrator, and response switch that you use with it, because they are calibrated as a set. Include the serial number, your company name, a contact person, and the return address in Wisconsin.

Use a tracked, insured label for the trip out of Wisconsin. When the unit is back on your bench, the certificate lists the results, and a reminder goes out before the next due date.

On-site visits and booth testing in Wisconsin

Southern Wisconsin is within driving range of our Blue Ash shop, so on-site calibration is possible when several instruments or sites can be batched into one trip.

A single audiometer in Wisconsin is better served by mail-in. Call the office and we will tell you which makes sense for your setup.

A booth in Wisconsin that is measured on site against ANSI S3.1 gets its result printed as the Room Acoustics Level Test section on the audiometer certificate.

Loaners and other instruments

If your audiometer needs an extensive repair, we lend you a free loaner so your testing keeps going. Programs in Wisconsin often send other instruments with the audiometer, which saves a second shipment.

• Spirometers and the 3 L syringes used to check them.
• Breath alcohol testers. We calibrate them and train technicians. Foster does not sell or perform drug or alcohol testing.
• Vision testers.
• EKG machines.

Wisconsin cities we hear from

Mail-in works from every part of Wisconsin. Cities such as Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, Appleton, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Waukesha, and Janesville are all reachable the same way, and so is any town not on this list. Call 513-891-0868 or see the main audiometer calibration page for the full service.