Kurtosis measurements: implications for noise exposure criteria

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahroon WA ; Davis RI ; Hamernik RP ; Hsueh KD ; Tarrentine GA
• Description:
  Two conventional measures of an industrial noise environment are the overall sound-pressure level (SPL) and the power spectrum. While these two measures are necessary, they may not be sufficient to describe a noise environment for the purposes of evaluating the hazard to hearing. This presentation will describe the results of an experiment designed to test the hypothesis that for equal SPL and power spectrum a high-kurtosis noise exposure is more hazardous to hearing than is a low-kurtosis noise. Two groups of chinchillas, with two animals per group, were exposed continuously for 5 days, to one of two classes of noise at a 90 dB SPL. The power spectrum of both noises was identical but the noises had different values of kurtosis. The results clearly showed that there was up to a 20 dB greater permanent hearing loss for the animals exposed to the high-kurtosis noise. Detailed results of asymptotic and permanent threshold shifts and sensory cell losses will be presented. These results would appear to be a clear indication that, even for moderate levels of exposure, energy is not a sufficient variable upon which to base noise exposure standards. [Work supported by NIOSH.] [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Hearing Hearing Loss Laboratories Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety Sense Organs

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• Keywords:
  Audiofrequency Cell-damage Cellular-function Environmental-exposure Environmental-hazards Exposure-levels Hazards Hearing-acuity Hearing-level Hearing-loss Industrial-noise Laboratory-animals Noise-exposure Noise-frequencies Sensory-thresholds Sound

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• ISSN:
  0001-4966
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  86
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045143
• Citation:
  J Acoust Soc Am 1989 Sep; 86:(Suppl 1):S72
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1989
• Performing Organization:
  Plattsburgh State University, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19860301
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Supplement:
  1
• End Date:
  20130514
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:daafa64714e4c00a63c7831597ab52a8a457bfb778be6d45a6518beffa097237a2bbcb2aedca503de6c08660bb9023e2f4687a29f52b7f830420d3508604c0fb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200664/cdc_200664_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 147.62 KB ]