Construction Site Noise Exposure Assessment Using Binaural Measurements and Analysis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Best V ; Esmaeili B ; Hammond C ; Karatas A ; Samardzic N ; Sarsam H
• Description:
  Acoustic measures of construction site noise are important for hearing loss prevention and safety. This work examines noise exposure assessment using binaural measurements to pave the way for more accurate noise characterization and hearing loss prevention in loud workplaces. Recordings were made over three days on a construction site, and noise exposure was estimated using state-of-the-art methods (a shoulder-worn dosimeter) and binaural measurements (microphones at each ear). For the binaural assessment, noise exposure was quantified at each ear to identify the higher- and lower-exposure ears, and the assessment incorporated kurtosis, a statistical measure that quantifies impulsiveness of the noise. The impulsiveness of the noise of four construction tools was also assessed. For this set of measurements, traditional hearing loss risk assessment consistently underestimated the noise exposure relative to binaural assessment. Moreover, the binaural measurement method exposed multiple cases of asymmetric noise exposure that are not detectable using the traditional method. Overall, there are clear benefits to assessing risk using binaural measurements and more detailed analysis methods. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Hearing Loss Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Acoustic Measurement Author Keywords: Noise Exposure Assessment Binaural Measurement And Analysis Construction Industry Exposure Assessment Hearing Loss Prevention Impulse Noise Kurtosis Noise Exposure Sound Impulsiveness
• ISSN:
  2313-576X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Boston Region [OSHA] ; Chicago Region [OSHA] ; Illinois ; Indiana ; Maryland ; Massachusetts ; Michigan ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  92
• Volume:
  10
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070311
• Citation:
  Safety 2024 Dec; 10(4):92
• Contact Point Address:
  Nikolina Samardzic, Department of Engineering Technology, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI 48075, USA
• Email:
  nsamardzi@ltu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  Center for Construction Research and Training
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20240901
• Source Full Name:
  Safety
• End Date:
  20290831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bec7af75571b1baa75bc6305387fd2cc572f43d4738f829a58e81e67fd441d0664622d17ae00e47a6a50a3f3b4ce148ab69b3b71a79fc2c589193c2959a0d371
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208549/cdc_208549_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.15 MB ]