Are you wearing too much Hearing Protection?

What is considered a noisy work environment? Constant loud sounds? An occasional loud explosion of noise?

A common solution for workers in a noisy industry is wearing hearing protection devices (HPDs). It protects an individual against hazardous noise levels by protecting their hearing. The downside is the negative impact on affecting a worker’s ability to hear.

In 2018, two US metal manufacturing facilities were studied, and it has been concluded that over 4 in 5 people were overprotected (3M, 2019).

Overprotection happens when an individual wears too much HPD, and it starts to become more challenging for them to detect sounds and crucial communication.

What if your coworker tells you to “watch out” for a truck backing up, and you can’t hear either your coworker yell or the truck backing up? What would happen? Overprotection is a severe imminent threat.

As an unintentional consequence, your productivity may be lowered. If you can’t hear your coworkers talking, important machine sounds or signals. How can you expect to perform your best?

Workers in noisy industries can use hearing protection to guard against long-term hearing loss. But how much protection is enough? Is there such a thing as too much protection? Hearing safety equipment can be compared using a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR), which effectively reduces noise levels measured in decibels. The higher the NRR, the more significant noise reduction. Ideally, the NRR should be selected to reduce noise levels to 85 decibels.

Workers with too much sound protection may find themselves removing their ear protection to speak with others, an action that can lead to long-term hearing loss if repeated often enough (Leudtke & Gaworksi, 2015). Have you ever seen your coworkers removing their hearing protection to talk with others?

picoTera products help remove the temptation (or need) to remove ear protection to talk with coworkers. Our picoLink uses noise cancellation to dampen background noise while still letting voice communication through. So, you can hear what someone is saying, even in a noisy environment. Push-to-talk technology is built-in, meaning you don’t have to remove your hearing protection to listen to communication.

In addition, picoTera products have situational awareness. This allows you to hear your surrounding environment. There is now no need to take off your hearing protection. You also have the option to use noise cancellation and remove background sounds, as well as stay protected with impulse noise cancellation from any sudden loud sounds.

At picoTera, we’re replacing over-protection with smart protection. 

Check out our solution: https://www.picotera.co/products/picolink

• 3M . (2019, November 20). 3M. Retrieved from Reducing the Risks of Hearing Overprotection: 
  https://workersafety.3m.com/reducing-the-risks-of-hearing-overprotection/
• Luedtke, T., & Gaworksi, A. (2015, January 5). Too much hearing protection can put workers at risk. Retrieved from ISHN: https://www.ishn.com/articles/100373-too-much-hearing-protection-can-put-workers-at-risk