Abstract
The use of hearing protectors in various noisy workplaces is often necessary. For safety reasons, auditory information may be required to correctly localize the direction of an auditory danger signal. The purpose of this study was to verify if the selection of a specific level-dependent hearing protector may be important for the ability to localize a vehicle back-up alarm signal. The laboratory conditions reflected industrial conditions, under which an impulse noise was emitted against a background of continuous noise. A passive mode and a level-dependent mode (maximum and incomplete amplification) were considered. Four different models of level-dependent earmuffs and one model of level-dependent earplugs were included in the tests. The tests enabled differentiation between the individual hearing protectors. The use of earplugs in level-dependent mode did not significantly affect the ability to correctly localize the back-up alarm signal. For the earmuffs, the global assessment of the impact of a mode change revealed that, depending on the model of the earmuffs, the impact may be insignificant, but may also result in considerable impairment of the ability to localize the back-up alarm signal.
Highlights
Noise is a physical factor that affects the hearing of people who have to be in places where it is emitted
The purpose of this study was to verify whether the selection of a specific level-dependent hearing protector could be important for the ability to localize the auditory danger signal, represented by a back-up alarm signal, under industrial conditions where impulse noise is generated against a background of continuous noise
The tests enabled the differentiation of the level-dependent hearing protectors in terms of the ability to assess the direction of an auditory danger signal, represented by a back-up alarm signal, by the user of these protectors under industrial conditions where impulse noise is generated against a background of continuous noise
Summary
Noise is a physical factor that affects the hearing of people who have to be in places where it is emitted. Impulse noise is a dangerous type of noise due to the sudden nature of its impact [1]. This type of noise may be present during military field exercises and in industrial conditions. Noise reduction possibilities using technical means are limited [2]. Certain activities, such as metalworking, require manual handling close to the noise source so that physically separating a person’s workplace from the noise source is impossible. Level-dependent hearing protectors are gaining in popularity and are being used more frequently. Their advantage over typical passive hearing protectors is that they do not reduce the relatively quiet sounds as much as sounds with a high sound pressure level [3]
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