Individual Fit Testing of Hearing Protection Devices Based on Microphone in Real Ear

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on speech intelligibility in Persian work environments. Three current earmuffs and three earplugs and one of the prototypes of molded earplug were tested on 15 male subjects which were randomly selected. The noise reduction of HPDs was measured based on the Real Ear Attenuation at Threshold (REAT) method. Speech intelligibility during using HPDs was determined based on the speech discrimination score (SDS) at two signal to noise (S/N) ratios (0 and +5). Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 22.Results: The actual to nominal noise reduction rating values were from 47% to 84% for HPDs. The earmuffs showed higher ratios of actual to nominal noise reduction compared with the earplugs. At two S/N ratios, no significant differences were observed in speech intelligibility using HPDs (p >0.05). However, at S/N ratio=0, the speech intelligibility descriptively has been improved by using common earmuffs up to 9.07 %. There was a significant difference up to 21.27% in speech intelligibility for proposed molded earplugs at S/N ratio=0(p <0.05). It is concluded that, if the trend of signal to noise ratio is positive, the HPDs will reduce the ability to understand speech.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The effect of hearing protection devices on speech intelligibility of Persian employees

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

“…The current results proposed some local derating patterns for the labeled noise reduction of the common HPDs. The actual noise reduction for all studied HPDs is less than their nominal noise reduction, which is consistent with the ndings reported by Biabani et al and Norain et al [21,22]. The studied earmuffs show higher actual acoustic performance compared with the earplugs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The Effect of Hearing Protection Devices on Speech Intelligibility of Persian Employees

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

Objective This study aimed to investigate the effect of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on speech intelligibility in Persian work environments. Three current earmuffs and three earplugs and one of the prototype of molded earplug were tested on 15 male subjects which were randomly selected. The noise reduction of HPDs was measured based on the Real Ear attenuation at Threshold (REAT) method. Speech intelligibilities during using HPDs were determined based on the speech discrimination score (SDS). Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 22. Results The actual to nominal noise reduction rating values were from 47–84% for HPDs. The earmuffs show higher ratios of actual to nominal noise reduction compared with the earplugs. At two signal to noise ratios, no significant differences were observed in in speech intelligibility using HPDs (p > 0.05). However, at S/N = 0, the speech intelligibility descriptively has been improved by using common earmuffs up to 9.07%. There was a significant difference up to 21.27% in speech intelligibility for proposed molded earplugs at S/N = 0(p < 0.05). It is concluded that, if the trend of signal to noise ratio is positive, the HPDs will reduce the ability to understand speech.

“…The current results proposed some local derating patterns for the labeled noise reduction of the common HPDs. The actual noise reduction for all studied HPDs is less than their nominal noise reduction, which is consistent with the ndings reported by Biabani et al and Norain et al [21,22]. The noise protection data of the tested hearing protectors were relatively similar to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) derating patterns.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The effect of hearing protection devices on speech intelligibility of Persian employees

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on speech intelligibility in Persian work environments. Three current earmuffs and three earplugs and one of the prototypes of molded earplug were tested on 15 male subjects which were randomly selected. The noise reduction of HPDs was measured based on the Real Ear Attenuation at Threshold (REAT) method. Speech intelligibility during using HPDs was determined based on the speech discrimination score (SDS) at two signal to noise (S/N) ratios (0 and +5). Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.Results: The actual to nominal noise reduction rating values were from 47% to 84% for HPDs. At two S/N ratios, no significant differences were observed in speech intelligibility using HPDs (p >0.05). However, at S/N ratio=0, the speech intelligibility descriptively has been improved by using common earmuffs up to 9.07 %. There was a significant difference up to 21.27% in speech intelligibility for proposed molded earplugs at S/N ratio=0 (p <0.05). Increase the HPDs' noise attenuation values lead to increase interference in the speech (p <0.05). The HPDs with the minimum required noise attenuation while maintaining acceptable speech ineligibility should be worn by employees exposed to medium noise levels.