Two case studies for fit testing hearing protector devices

Details

• Personal Author:
  Byrne, David C. ; Murphy, William J. ; Stephenson, Mark R. ; Themann, Christa L.
• Description:
  Hearing protection devices (HPDs) are typically selected based upon the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) and, until recently, were rarely tested for attenuation in real-world environments. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has developed a fittesting system (HPD Well-FitTM) that performs attenuation tests with a large circumaural earmuff, a portable computer and a computer mouse with a scroll wheel. HPD Well-Fit was used to estimate the attenuation of employees working in two different settings: inspectors for off-shore drilling rigs and sandblasters at a hydroelectric facility. The highest exposure levels for the inspectors and sandblasters were estimated to be 110 and 130 dBA, respectively. Fit testing and training were used to achieve a 25-dB Personal Attenuation Rating (PAR) for the inspectors. Fit testing before and after the sandblaster work shift demonstrated PARs of 30 to 42 dB using HPD Well-Fit. The average time to complete the fit tests was 10 minutes. If retraining was necessary, then an additional 3 to 6 minutes were required. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Acoustics Exposure-levels Hearing-protection Noise-exposure Noise-levels Noise-measurement Sound Testing-equipment Workers
• ISSN:
  0001-4966
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  132
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041660
• Citation:
  J Acoust Soc Am 2012 Sep; 132(3)(Pt. 2):2013
• Contact Point Address:
  William J. Murphy, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Mailstop C-27, Cincinnati, OH 45226-1998
• Email:
  wjm4@cdec.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Part Number:
  2
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:768d3843a5900cc675a1ec5532b12af617dd025062280a5f1878d9127aa08c229632b1405e98136d03641b82e9f390e8e2d20f0f9b7542e096a0b6bf49003aed
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194159/cdc_194159_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 36.35 KB ]