An investigation of the effects of hearing protectors on vocal communication in noise

✍ Scribed by K. Howell; A.M. Martin

• Book ID: 104153807
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 946 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-460x(75)80096-4

✦ Synopsis

Previous research has indicated that the wearing of hearing protectors in noise above about 85 dB does not reduce speech intelligibility compared to the open ear condition. However, in spite of this it is still reported by many industrial workers t.hat verbal communication is impeded by such devices being worn in the working environment. Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of both earplugs and earmuffs on speech intelligibility for the listener and on the voice level of the talker in the presence of broadband masking noise.

It was found that hearing protectors do not degrade speech intelligibility for the listener and may even effect a slight improvement. However, if worn by the talker, his speech is reduced in level and quality to such an extent that intelligibility for the listener is also reduced. When hearing protectors are worn by both talker and listener, the composite effect is an overall reduction in speech intelligibility compared to the open ear condition.