Fit-testing, training, and timing - how long does it take to fit-test hearing protectors

Details

• Personal Author:
  Byrne, David C. ; Murata T ; Murphy, William J. ; Themann, Christa L.
• Description:
  Hearing protector fit-testing is a Best Practice for hearing loss prevention programs and is gaining acceptance among US employers. Fit-testing quantifies hearing protector attenuation achieved by individual workers and ensures that workers properly fit and receive adequate protection from their protectors. Employers may be reluctant to conduct fit-testing because of expenses associated with worker time away from the job, personnel to administer the testing, and acquisition of a fit-test system. During field and laboratory studies conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), timing data for the fit-test process with the NIOSH HPD Well-Fit(TM) system were analyzed. For workers completely naïve to fit-testing, the tests were completed within 15-20 minutes. Unoccluded test times were less than 4 minutes and occluded tests required less than 3 minutes. A significant learning effect was seen for the psychoacoustic method of adjustment used by HPD Well-Fit, explaining the shorter test times as subjects progressed through the unoccluded and occluded conditions. Most of the workers required about 5 minutes of training time. Test times and attenuations were tester-dependent, indicating the need to provide training to staff administering fit-tests in the workplace. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Ear Laboratories Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Sense Organs Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Adaptation Ear-protection Ear-protectors Equipment-reliability Hearing-protection Laboratory-testing Noise-control Noise-protection Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Sound-attenuation Training Workers

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• 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:
  136
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045233
• Citation:
  J Acoust Soc Am 2014 Oct; 136(4):2134
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7d51b5cc82a608d740687680766cb65cc324d00927125b1b28988b91abd643502cf7ec923fa0c7b0eca05a860db1f57733086912628135599390d7e7f95d4130
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200728/cdc_200728_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 44.03 KB ]