Use of existing standards to measure sound power levels of powered hand tools—necessary revisions

Abstract

At recent NOISE‐CON and Acoustical Society of America meetings, noise rating labeling was discussed as a way of manufacturers providing full disclosure information for their noise emitting products. The first step is to gather sound power level data from these products. Sound power level data should be gathered in accordance with existing ANSI and/or ISO standards. Some standards, such as ANSI 12.15, may not define true operational noise emissions[r1] and thus may provide inaccurate information when that information is used to choose a hearing protection device or used to make a purchasing decision. A number of standards were systematically combined by NIOSH researchers to provide the most accurate information on sound power levels of powered hand tools used in the construction industry. This presentation will detail some of the challenges of existing ANSI 12.15 (and draft ANSI 12.41) to measure sound power levels of electric (and pneumatic) powered hand tools.