Department of Vibroacoustic Hazards, Central Institute for Labour Protection⁻National Research Institute, Czerniakowska 16, 00-701 Warsaw, Poland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jan 30;16(3):394. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16030394.
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.
在各种嘈杂的工作场所中，使用听力保护器通常是必要的。出于安全原因，可能需要听觉信息来正确定位听觉危险信号的方向。本研究的目的是验证选择特定的依赖于水平的听力保护器是否对定位车辆倒车警报信号的能力很重要。实验室条件反映了工业条件，在这种条件下，脉冲噪声在连续噪声的背景下发出。考虑了被动模式和依赖于水平的模式（最大和不完全放大）。测试中包括了四种不同型号的依赖于水平的耳罩和一种依赖于水平的耳塞。测试能够区分各个听力保护器。在依赖于水平的模式下使用耳塞不会显著影响正确定位倒车警报信号的能力。对于耳罩，模式变化影响的总体评估表明，取决于耳罩的型号，影响可能不显著，但也可能导致定位倒车警报信号的能力显著下降。
