Hearing Protectors: Topicality and Research Needs

• Autorzy: Canetto P.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Occupational noise specialists do not generally recommend hearing protection devices (HPDs) as a preferred solution to noise risk prevention. Nevertheless, these devices are widely used and are in fact often necessary. Selection of an HPD should take into account comfort and the capacity for perceiving external signals, when they are worn. Current European regulations require that HPD attenuation be considered, when comparing noise exposure to limit values. However, HPD attenuation is effectively unknown under real-world conditions. Some methods are designed to give approximate attenuation values and these provide results within a wide statistical range. Field measurement methods and current standards have been developed to deal with this situation. The specific characteristic of impulse noise requires establishment of dedicated criteria and tools for HPD selection and testing. This paper introduces a number of avenues for research, which could be of assistance in improving HPD selection, qualification and design.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

occupational noise; hearing protectors; human behaviour; attenuation; real world; derating; subject-fit; comfort; research

• Wydawca: Taylor & Francis
• Czasopismo: International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics
• Rocznik: 2009
• Tom: Vol. 15, No. 2
• Strony: 141--153
• Opis fizyczny: Bibliogr. 56 poz., rys., wykr.

Twórcy

autor

Canetto P.

• Institut National de Recherche et de Securite, Vandoeuvre, France

Bibliografia

• 1.Toppila E, Pyykko I, Paakkonen R. Evaluation of the increased accident risk from workplace noise. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):155–62.
• 2.Liedtke M. German criteria for selection of hearing protectors in the interest of good signal audibility. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):163–74.
• 3.Williams W. Is it reasonable to expect individuals to wear hearing protectors for extended periods? International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):175–81.
• 4.Arezes P, Geraldes J. Assessing differences in methodologies for effective noise exposure calculation. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):183–91.
• 5.Kotarbińska E, Kozłowski E. Measurement of effective noise exposure of workers wearing ear-muffs. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):193–200.
• 6.Lenzuni P. An educated guess on the workplace attenuation variability of ear muffs. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):201–210.
• 7.Voix J, Hager L. Individual fit testing of hearing protection devices. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):211–19.
• 8.Hearing protectors “real-world” performance and the European Directive 2003/10/EC. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):221–6.
• 9.Buck K. Performance of different types of hearing protectors undergoing high-level impulse noise. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2009;15(2):227–40.
• 10.European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Noise in figures. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/6905723.
• 11.Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 February 2003 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (noise). OJ. 2003;L42:38–44.
• 12.Lazarus H. The new EC Noise Directive to protect employees at the workplace. Appl Acoust. 2003;64:1103–12.
• 13.Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. OJ. 1989;L183:1–8.
• 14.Canetto P. Noise control solutions: don’t choose by chance! In: 19th conference New Trends in Safety and Health, Stara Lesna, Slovak Republic; 2006.
• 15.Canetto P. Occupational noise reduction practices: the need for a methodology. In: 1st European Forum on Effective Solution for Managing Occupational Noise Risks [CD-ROM]; 2007. p. 289–301.
• 16.Council Directive 89/656/EEC of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace. OJ; 1989:L393:18–28.
• 17.Council Directive of 21 December 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to personal protective equipment (89/686/EEC). OJ. 1989;L399:18–38.
• 18.Jacques J. Noise and standardization, focusing on machinery and workplace domains. In: Proceedings of the Joint Baltic-Nordic Acoustics Meeting 2004, Mariehamn; 2004.
• 19.Korhonen E. European standardization of hearing protectors. Noise Health. 2005;26(7):55–8.
• 20.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Hearing protectors—recommendations for selection, use, care and maintenance—guidance document (Standard No. EN 458:2004). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2004.
• 21.Arezes P, Miguel AS. Hearing protection use in industry: the role of risk perception. Saf Sci. 2005;43:253–67.
• 22.Gyekye SA, Salminen S. Workplace safety perceptions and perceived organizational support: do supportive perceptions influence safety perceptions? International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2007;13(2):189–200.
• 23.Renard C. Contraintes d’adaptation des equipements de protection individuelle contre le bruit [Adaptation constraints of individual hearing protectors]. Acoustique et Techniques. 2007:49:37–45.
• 24.Kotarbińska E, Kozłowski E. Speech intelligibility in noise when hearing protectors are used. Noise at Work. 2005;(8):29–31.
• 25.Davis RR, Sieber WK. Hearing protector use in noise-exposed workers: a retrospective look at 1983. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 2002:63:199–204.
• 26.Irle H, Rosenthal C, Strasser H. Influence of a reduced wearing time on the attenuation of hearing protectors assessed via temporary threshold shifts. Int J Ind Ergon. 1999;23:573–84.
• 27.Witt B. Involving employees in their own hearing conservation. In: 1st European Forum on Effective Solution for Managing Occupational Noise Risks [CD-ROM]; 2007. p. 377–82.
• 28.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Acoustics—determination of sound emission from sound sources placed close to the ear—part 1: technique using a microphone in a real ear (MIRE technique) (Standard No. EN ISO 11904-1:2002). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2002.
• 29.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Acoustics—determination of sound emission from sound sources placed close to the ear—part 2: technique using a manikin (Standard No. EN ISO 11904-2:2004). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2004.
• 30.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Acoustics—hearing protectors—subjective method for the measurement of sound attenuation (Standard No. EN 24869-1:1992). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 1992.
• 31.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Acoustics—hearing protectors—part 2: estimation of effective A-weighted sound pressure levels when hearing protectors are worn (Standard No. EN ISO 4869-2:1994). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 1994.
• 32.National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Criteria for a recommended standard. Occupational noise exposure. Revised criteria 1998 (NIOSH Publication No. 98-126). Cincinnati, OH, USA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIOSH; 1998. Retrieved May 15, 2009, from: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-126/default.html.
• 33.Berger EH, Franks JR, Lindgren F. International review of field studies of hearing protector attenuation. In: Axelsson A, Borchgrevink H, Hamernik RP, Hellstrom P, Henderson D, Salvi RJ, editors. Scientific basis of noise-induced hearing loss. New York, NY, USA: Thieme Medical Publishers; 1996. p. 361–77.
• 34.Kotarbińska E, Canetto P. Hearing protector “real world” attenuation, let’s not mix up the problems. In: First International Conference on Industrial Risk Engineering, CIRI [CD-ROM]; 2007. p. 96–108.
• 35.Kotarbińska E. The influence of aging on the noise attenuation of ear-muffs. Noise Health. 2005;7(26):39–45.
• 36.Kotarbińska E, Kozłowski E, Młyński R. Objective tests and the assessment of the acoustic properties of ear-plugs. Arch Acoust. 2006;31(4):275–80.
• 37.Sickert P. German solution for managing the requirements of the exposure limit values of the 2003/10/EC with regards to the sound attenuation of HPDs. In: 1st European Forum on Effective Solution for Managing Occupational Noise Risks [CDROM]; 2007. p. 1303–9.
• 38.American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Methods for measuring the real-ear attenuation of hearing protectors (Standard No. ANSI S12.6-1997). New York, NY, USA: ANSI; 1997.
• 39.American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Methods for measuring the real-ear attenuation of hearing protectors (Standard No. ANSI/ASA S12.6-2008). New York, NY, USA: ANSI; 2008.
• 40.Berger EH, Franks JR, Behar A, Casali JG, Dixon-Ernst C, Kieper RW, Merry CJ, et al. Development of a new standard laboratory protocol for estimating the field attenuation of hearing protection devices. Part III. The validity of using subject-fit data. J Acoust Soc Am. 1998:103(2):665–72.
• 41.International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Acoustics—hearing protectors—part 5: method for estimation of noise reduction using fitting by inexperienced test subjects (ISO/TS 4869-5:2006). Geneva, Switzerland: ISO; 2006.
• 42.Canetto P, Trompette N. “Real world” noise exposure beneath hearing protectors: a scattered international practise [abstract]. J Acoust Soc Am. 2008;123(5):3528.
• 43.Kozłowski E, Kotarbińska E, Lipowczan A. Real world efficiency of ear-muffs: measurements at noisy work-stands. In: Proceedings Inter-Noise 2004, Prague, Czech Republic [CD-ROM]; 2004.
• 44.Berger EH. Exploring procedures for field testing the fit of earplugs. In: Proceedings, Industrial Hearing Conservation Conference. Lexington, KY, USA: University of Kentucky; 1989. p. 7–10.
• 45.Kusy A, Damongeot A. Mesure des performances acoustiques des bouchons d’oreille: essai d’application de la technique MIRE [Measurement of acoustic performance of earplugs: implementation of the MIRE method] (INRS Document No. ND 2023); 1996. Retrieved May 15, 2009, from: http://www.inrs.fr/inrs-pub/inrs01.nsf/IntranetObject-accesParReference/HST_ND%202023/$File/nd2023.pdf.
• 46.Paakonnen R. Practical noise attenuation of hearing protectors according to noise directive 2003/10/EC. Acoustique et Techniques. 2007;(49):33–6.
• 47.Hager LD. Field evaluation of hearing protectors: a case study. In: First International Conference on Industrial Risk Engineering, Montreal, Canada, December 2007.
• 48.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Hearing protectors (EN 352 series of standards, parts 1–8). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2001–2008.
• 49.American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Methods for estimating effective A-weighted sound pressure levels when hearing protectors are worn (Standard No. ANSI/ASA S12.68-2007). New York, NY, USA: ANSI; 2007.
• 50.Murphy WJ. How to assess hearing protection effectiveness: what is new in ANSI/ASA S12.68. Acoustics Today. 2008;4(2):40–2.
• 51.Berger EH. Preferred methods for measuring hearing protector attenuation. In: Proceedings of the 2005 Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, Internoise; 2005. Retrieved May 15, 2009, from: http://www.e-a-r.com/pdf/hearingcons/T05-01_I-NOISEMeth.pdf.
• 52.Bockstael A, Keppler H, Dhooge I, D’Haenens W, Maes L, Philips B, Vinck B. Effectiveness of hearing protector devices in impulse noise verified with transiently evoked and distorsion product otoacoustic emissions. Int J Audiol. 2008;47:119–33.
• 53.Żera J, Kochanek K, A. Piłka A, Młyński R. Attenuation of hearing protectors assessed by auditory brainstem response. In: 1st European Forum on Effective Solution for Managing Occupational Noise Risks [CDROM];2007. p. 1247–51.
• 54.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Hearing protectors—testing—part 2: acoustic test methods (Standard No. EN 13819-2:2002). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2002.
• 55.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Hearing protectors—testing—part 1: physical test methods (Standard No. EN 13819-1:2002). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2002.
• 56.European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Acoustics—hearing protectors—part 3: measurement of insertion loss of ear-muff type protectors using an acoustic test fixture (Standard No. EN ISO 4869-3:2007). Brussels, Belgium: CEN; 2007.