Zangari Shelby, Mirowsky Jaime E
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Noise Health. 2019 May-Jun;21(100):108-115. doi: 10.4103/nah.NAH_52_19.
There are several ways to assess the noise reducing efficiency of earmuffs, but they usually involve using human participants and/or specialized equipment.
The current study was designed to develop a less labor-intensive, cost-effective, participant-free first-pass method for measuring the efficiency of earmuffs.
We evaluated the noise-cancelling ability of five different types of earmuffs (3M: Optime 98, Optime 105; iDEA USA V201; Tronsmart Encore S6; Bose QuietComfort 35) under laboratory and field conditions. We compared our results to the microphone-in-real-ear (MIRE) method. Lastly, a survey of college-aged students was also conducted to determine which earmuffs were the most comfortable and provided the best fit.
Of the five earmuffs studied, the Optime 98 and Bose earmuffs were most effective at reducing noise levels in both the laboratory and field. These earmuffs also received the highest scores for comfort, fit, and perceived ability to reduce noise, with Bose being slightly more preferred than Optime 98. The MIRE method provided the same overall results as the laboratory and field tests.
Our method for evaluating the noise-canceling ability of earmuffs could be used to supplement more complicated testing procedures as a first-pass method.
有几种方法可以评估耳罩的降噪效率，但通常都需要使用人类参与者和/或专业设备。
本研究旨在开发一种劳动强度较低、成本效益高、无需参与者的初步方法来测量耳罩的效率。
我们在实验室和现场条件下评估了五种不同类型耳罩（3M：Optime 98、Optime 105；iDEA USA V201；Tronsmart Encore S6；Bose QuietComfort 35）的降噪能力。我们将结果与真耳内麦克风（MIRE）方法进行了比较。最后，还对大学生进行了一项调查，以确定哪种耳罩最舒适且贴合度最佳。
在所研究的五种耳罩中，Optime 98和Bose耳罩在实验室和现场环境中降低噪音水平的效果最为显著。这些耳罩在舒适度、贴合度和感知降噪能力方面也获得了最高分，其中Bose比Optime 98略受青睐。MIRE方法得出的总体结果与实验室和现场测试相同。
我们评估耳罩降噪能力的方法可作为一种初步方法，用于补充更复杂的测试程序。
