Abstract
There is a risk of immediate damage to hearing from short duration, high-level impulsive sounds that are typically perceived as “bangs”. These sounds may arise from impact action tools, weaponry, and explosive events. The risk is normally associated with the instantaneous peak sound pressure level. Reliable measurement of these high-peak sound pressure levels can be challenging, particularly when special low-sensitivity microphones or transducers are required. It is also important that the health and safety practitioner is aware of the limitations of their instrumentation and the limitations of various types of measurement and analysis when sound is impulsive. Included here are tips from the author’s practical experience of testing the performance of noise measurement instrumentation and hearing protection in impulsive noise, and notes of standard methods to estimate the attenuation provided by hearing protection.
Highlights
Excessive noise exposure is known to cause hearing loss that is in addition to the normal loss due to aging
Hearing damage can be caused immediately by sudden, extremely loud noises. These noises are typically perceived as “bangs” and may arise from heavy impactive tools, weaponry, and explosive events. This risk is normally determined by the instantaneous peak sound pressure level at the ear
In Great Britain, regulation of noise exposure at work comes under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations [1]
Summary
Excessive noise exposure is known to cause hearing loss that is in addition to the normal loss due to aging. Hearing damage can be caused immediately by sudden, extremely loud noises. These noises are typically perceived as “bangs” and may arise from heavy impactive tools, weaponry, and explosive events. This risk is normally determined by the instantaneous peak sound pressure level at the ear. This risk is in addition to the contribution of the sound to the overall A-weighted noise exposure.
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