Frequently Asked Questions
General
Inadequately protecting hearing protection is more damaging to long term hearing health than people realise. Taking this test will help to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, which in turn, improves long term health.
It works with any type of in-ear hearing protection. Something for earmuff (over-ear) type protectors to follow.
The first thing to do is see if you are able to use the information in the report to get a better idea of whether your hearing protection meets your individual needs. Sometimes employers take the view that the bigger the SNR the better the product, but this isn’t always the case. It’s quite possible you have hearing protection that doesn’t meet spec but is good enough.
If your employer provides your protection show them the report if you have concerns. If you buy your own protection, then you may need to consider buying something else that better suits your needs or showing the manufacturer the report if the protection is under one year old.
There are no British or European Standards to follow so we commissioned our own research comparing our test methods with lab-based methods. If you find scatter charts fascinating the full report is on the website – if you prefer headlines, there is a report excerpt to view. If you just want an answer to the question, then it has been independently validated as fit-for-purpose by a leading UK Professor of Acoustics.
Either annually or when you feel your hearing protection isn’t as good as it was.
Hearing Protection
SNR stands for Single Number Rating and is a dB value designed to provide an indication of the level of attenuation provided by an earplug. It is an average from a lab-based measurement of sixteen people so cannot be applied to an individual.
Custom-made is the type where an impression is taken of your ears and the hearing protection is moulded to that shape. Universal fit are typically roll down or foam plugs which fit any ear.
The PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 classifies harmful noise as a Category 3 (serious) risk – which means employers are obliged to take steps to ensure employees hearing health is not damaged by exposure to excessive noise… read more
The Control of Noise at Work Act 2005 sets out when hearing protection should be made available to employees and 7.4 requires that “Any personal hearing protectors …… shall be selected by the employer so as to eliminate the risk to hearing or to reduce the risk to as low a level as is reasonably practicable”… read more
PAR stands for Personal Attenuation Rating and is directly comparable to SNR. It’s useful because it can be calculated for an individual (SNR can only be calculated as an average of 16+ people) and particularly useful as applied on this website because it provides an individual attenuation rating based on the actual user.
If your hearing protection is custom-made, it will have been despatched with a specification sheet detailing the SNR. If you use universal fit protection the SNR may be on the packaging.
Noise Exposure
85dB is considered to be the point at which noise becomes potentially harmful and employers are obliged by law to provide adequate hearing protection to employees who work in noise levels above that baseline.
Yes – it is a legal obligation. If this test indicates your hearing protection might not be good enough feel free to show them the report.
They are both important. Exposure to noise levels above 130dB are dangerous even for one second and exposure to noise above 140dB causes pain. Certain types of impact noise are therefore dangerous in themselves. The amount of time spent in a noisy environment is the other major factor in whether it is dangerous or not. Noise is described in terms of a decibel scale. In simple terms, the amount of sound doubles every 6dB and is subjectively twice as loud with every 10dB increase. Consequently, every 3db increase in sound level halves the amount of time that exposure to that level is safe.
That also means every 3dB extra protection doubles the amount of time exposure to a level is safe.
The answer to this depends on how long you are in the noise for and what level it is at. Factory machinery that creates around 100dB of noise would be ok to walk past a couple of times a day but would become dangerous if you worked using it for any more than fifteen minutes in a 24-hour period. The information on the Noise Exposure tab under “Noise Levels” and “Exposure Time” should help to clarify.
This is certainly subjectively true. I loathe heavy metal being more of a Frank Sinatra/Ella Fitzgerald fan but the fact is Frank for two hours at 110dB will be far more damaging (if exponentially more pleasurable) than Ozzy at 85dB. Impossible to comprehend but objectively true.
Hearing health
Yes – all the information on this site regarding hearing health is factual and all the more alarming because the vast majority of people ignore that which they can’t see or feel. It’s probably why legislation is required for hearing-related issues, whereas no legislation is required to ban people from staring at the sun through binoculars.
Regrettably exposure to excessive noise is thought to be the biggest contributor to tinnitus. It’s not something anybody would want – visit www.tinnitus.org for more info
Yes – exposure to too much noise is the biggest contributory factor to hearing impairment after aging and it was spending many years fitting people with hearing aids who were suffering from Noise-Induced Hearing Loss that prompted me to try to do something about it. I wouldn’t wish hearing loss on anybody and if this test helps some people to avoid it for a bit longer, I’ll be happy.
Yes – the link between hearing loss and early on-set dementia is now firmly established. Over time this will change the narrative about hearing loss and, if you’re reading this, you’re in on it early. Look after your hearing now – your mental health in later years will be better for it.
Private ones are anything from £500 to £5000 for a pair. NHS ones are free at the point of issue although funded by the taxpayer so still worth a mention in a question about cost.
Employers
The Health & Safety at Work Act obliges employers to protect their workers (and others) from getting hurt or ill through work via provision of appropriate protective clothing and equipment.
The PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 classifies harmful noise as a Category 3 (serious) risk – which means employers are obliged to take steps to ensure employees hearing health is not damaged by exposure to excessive noise… read more
The Control of Noise at Work Act 2005 sets out when hearing protection should be made available to employees and 7.4 requires that “Any personal hearing protectors …… shall be selected by the employer so as to eliminate the risk to hearing or to reduce the risk to as low a level as is reasonably practicable”… read more
There is a long report and an abridged version on the website available for download testifying to the validity of the test. We also hold BSIF certification and participate in the BSIF Registered Safety Supplier Scheme.
Yes. Call us on 01458 557775 for further details.
Making the earplug test available to your employees as part of your hearing conservation programme will, massively improve your Company safety compliance, vastly improve your employee’s health and safety and substantially mitigate your risk of future compensation claims.
It will also enable you to independently verify and monitor the quality of your workforce’s current protection, provide the evidence to seek rectification of defective product (if appropriate), set up an evidence-based replacement policy and, help employees to get the best from their hearing protection via training.
In addition it will enable you to prove you have taken steps to provide appropriate protective equipment as per (read more) and in accordance with your obligation to “eliminate the risk to hearing or to reduce the risk to as low a level as is reasonably practicable”… read more
Over protecting can be just as dangerous as under protecting (workers have been killed because of not hearing warning signs) and claims for compensation for Noise Induced Hearing Loss are now commonplace.
Yes – exposure to too much noise is the biggest contributory factor to hearing impairment after aging and it was spending many years fitting people with hearing aids who were suffering from Noise Induced Hearing Loss that prompted me to try to do something about it. Hearing loss is horrible – if this test helps some people to avoid it for a bit longer I’ll be happy.