Since 1974, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has used the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) as its yardstick to measure
hearing protector effectiveness in reducing noise levels.
To make it easier to meet the protection requirement, every mortar crewmember is now authorized an "earmuff'
hearing protector headset, NSN 4240-01-538-7970, for $16.95.
Mean elevation errors were subjected to a similar analysis, revealing a significant main effect of
hearing protector, F(2, 10) = 74.20, p [less than] .05.
One being looked at is a combination hard-hat, face protector,
hearing protector and communications package for fire fighters and mine workers.
Each system comes with a projector, cart, tablet, camera, gaming software and one Peltor Sport Tactical 500 electronic Bluetooth
hearing protector.
OTIS TECHNOLOGY HAS A NEW
HEARING PROTECTOR CALLED THE EAR SHIELD.
The ideal
hearing protector should not block all sound (overprotection), but rather reduce hazardous noise levels while still allowing a worker to hear the sounds that are critical to the job: coworkers, warning signals and equipment maintenance sounds.
Effectiveness of
hearing protector devices in impulse noise verified with transiently evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions.
There are two basic approaches to protect product from stray
hearing protectors: the first is to keep the
hearing protector from falling into the product in the first place; and the second is to make it easily detectable if it does.
Three
hearing protector conditions (unoccluded, earplugs, and earmuffs) were combined factorially with three source elevation conditions (upper hemisphere, pen-horizontal region, and lower hemisphere) for a total of nine experimental conditions.
Tying this all together, if you're working with a circular saw screaming at 110 db, you need a
hearing protector rated at 25 NRR or more to bring your ears into the safe range (110 db minus 25 db equals 85 db).
The folks at Peltor have designed some great hearing savers and one of the best is the Peltor Sport Tactical 500 Electronic
Hearing Protector. Rated for 26 NRR, these
hearing protectors feature proprietary 3M SMART technology which suppresses damaging noise above 82 decibels--such as gunshots--while amplifying low-level sounds.