Hi all, thanks for posting replies and I&#;ll be following up! I tend to be slow but don&#;t feel like I give up on you all.
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@Raudrive I do have ear mold with my HA. The ear mold I have is like one of these - link.
However due to what I was told by the safety guy at work, they claimed that with HA and ear mold the sound will pass through and still cause hearing damage. I don&#;t think that&#;s right, myself but however I&#;ll point out something like if I&#;m several feet away from the machines I&#;m running from, I can&#;t tell if they are running or not so I have to keep looking at it just to be sure they are still running. Now that I&#;m without the HA, I don&#;t ear much at all of them.
Another thing that they mentioned was the area that I&#;m working in is like 84.5 or near 85 dBA, and working in that area for 12 hours even though I have three 15 mins breaks, one of the 30 min lunch, so I&#;m not always exposed to that area when I leave out of it, I&#;m still required.
These are the ear plug that we&#;re required to wear as work provide them: Honeywell Laser Lites
Even though since I don&#;t hear everything from a machine when I&#;m away, they don&#;t want to get fined by OSHA just for wearing a HA and a particular ear mold somehow because they keep telling me it&#;s unacceptable for what I have, and strictly tell me to wear earplug/earmuff. I don&#;t think they and OSHA is aware of such, that&#;s why I&#;m here.
@jim_lewis I&#;ll be sure to send efigalaxie a PM, more likely in reference to this post. I&#;d also want to answer any question if possible so his questions would possibly be answered here. I&#;ll also check out his posts too.
And yes, OSHA still want hearing protection regardless of how much hard of hearing I am. They will not allow anyone to sign a wavier to reduce the need of equipment and increased difficulty of hearing. I&#;ll explain what&#;s difficult when wearing the ear plugs: I&#;m not able to hear conversations very well with just my CI alone, and not able to hear well of the machines from the CI too. At least with the CI I can hear forklift beeps and other safety warning beeps, but when it comes to performance wise I&#;m not able to go up to par. [I&#;ve been having hearing loss since I was a kid, so the loss was already there before I started working at this manufacturing job which was 1 year ago.]
@Raudrive If I&#;m not clear, I&#;m sorry. I&#;m trying my best. While I do wear a CI and HA on a regular basic, OSHA/Work will not let me wear both at work in certain of area in the building due to loud noise for a 12 hour job. I&#;ve already talked with Work and Audiologist about finding a solution, Work was trying to give me just the earmuff and I can&#;t work with that. The Audiologist told me to wear the ear plugs and just the CI and that&#;s what I&#;m doing now. I&#;m having difficulty performing well at work with just that because a lot of things are sound-dependent especially in communications and only like 2 people I know of can do sign language, and no one else write things down for me to read and respond back.
I&#;ll take a look at the PDF file, this one is new to me. [Edit: Actually, I saw Jim mentioning that it doesn&#;t block all sounds especially high frequencies&#;]
So for the OSHA Approved HA&#;s, somehow the words are getting around between work and my audiologist saying OSHA do not approve how HA operate and deny them like they do not protect the hearing. I&#;m wanting to find ways to have HA available that works with OSHA standards, which OSHA do not provide already because there are none it seem.
@jim_lewis I can&#;t wear headphones because my ears are really sensitive. For example, I have a very lightweight headphone at home for use, and I can&#;t use it for any longer than 1 hour without it hurting my ear. I&#;ve tried many different kinds of headphones through amazon and other places and I never found one that works for me. The earmuff work was trying to provide for me not only fit just the ear, but it sit on top of the HA and CI so it&#;ll squeeze those onto my head making me sore. With that muting the CI, I can&#;t hear anything that I need to hear in relation to safety. The HA will just squeal the feedback nonstop. It&#;s worse than just wearing the earplug with CI and no HA. So even if the headphone stream sound directly to my ear, I don&#;t think it&#;s much different than wearing a earplug in my left ear since that ear is housed by my CI and HA on my right even if my HA is set up correctly to fit OSHA&#;s sound reduction.
When I asked audiologists about the 27% NRR for the HA, they told me they cannot provide it because OSHA did not tell them how. So with the app on the that you mentioned, how can we tell if OSHA will approve that?
Regarding the Starkley&#;s ear mold, I think someone mentioned that to me on a facebook group but I didn&#;t get the link to the page. I was wondering if the such earplug type of earmold that can be OSHA approved to use? Like the sound tube that go into the earplug, so the HA is delivering the limited sound just toward the ear.
Meanwhile my HA is old school, it doesn&#;t have bluetooth. I&#;m in the process of getting a new Phonax HA too.
But I still have the question just looming around. Why does OSHA not provide info of how HA can have noise reduction approval? Is there something limited in app that compare the volume differences? Why does turning down the volume of my HA isn&#;t acceptable to OSHA?
These days it seems like more and more companies are pushing for proper fit testing for hearing protection devices (HPD&#;s). But what does fit testing mean? And what are the benefits? Fit testing is a good way to ensure your employees hearing is actually being protected when wearing headsets, earmuffs, or earplugs.
In this article, we&#;ll explain.
For more Custom Hearing Protection Solutioninformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
Hearing protector fit testing measures the true attenuation of a hearing protection device while they&#;re being worn by the individual. Attenuation is the measurement of noise reduction a hearing protection device provides, expressed as a number or rating. The higher the value, the greater the amount of noise reduction. The most common methods for expressing attenuation are NRR (noise reduction rating) or SNR (single number rating).
The purpose of fit testing is to validate the actual attenuation of a hearing protection device and if it can be successfully used in their work environment.
Many companies who manufacture hearing protection devices like headsets, earmuffs, and earplugs, are urging customers to properly fit test their HPD&#;s to ensure their health and safety.
There are four types of Fit Testing methods to measure attenuation.
Most fit testing validation systems use Microphone In Real-Ear (M-IRE) where a test earplug is worn under the hearing protection device and a loud noise is sampled from a computer. Software then calculates a Personal Attenuation Rating.
Personal Attenuation Rating or PAR, is generated. PAR tells us the actual level of attenuation of a hearing protection device for an individual, while it&#;s fitted on their ear. The PAR is a more accurate calculation of noise reduction than the general lab testing rating. It&#;s important to remember that each system may use a different approach to calculating PAR and therefore results may not be comparable across systems.
With Real Ear Attenuation At (1) and Above the Threshold (2), test signals are presented with and without earplugs at or above a threshold. The difference in rating while wearing the earplugs and without wearing the earplugs will give you your PAR.
Lastly, with In-Ear Dosimetry, a probe microphone is inserted into modified earplugs and monitor the actual noise exposure under a hearing protection device.
In some systems, tests can be completed in a couple of minutes. This way you are able to test and retest all employees until the desired protection is reached.
Attenuation ratings like NRR, SNR, and SLC, are numbers that represent the amount of sound reduction provided by a hearing protection device. Attenuation ratings are determined in laboratory conditions and use group statistics that predict how an individual might wear the hearing protector in the field. With that comes a lot of inconsistencies.
The problem with this approach is that as an individual you can actually be receiving less attenuation than what the general attenuation rating of the HPD states. This is why it&#;s important to do personal fit testing to understand the actual amount of attenuation you&#;ll be receiving.
The goal of personal fit testing in a hearing protection device is to provide individuals with feedback on the proper fit and that it will give them enough hearing protection in the environment they are in.
While Fit Testing is not required by OSHA, it is strongly recommended. It&#;s important to note though that as an employer, according to OSHA&#;s Noise Standard, it is a requirement to provide training on the use and care of hearing protection devices and ensure proper initial fit as well as supervise their correct use.
While employers are allowed to use any means they find suitable during this training, personal fit testing is an acceptable way to achieve this requirement.
Remember, you only have one set of ears. Once you lose your hearing, it&#;s not coming back. Wearing hearing protection devices like earmuffs can help protect your hearing but just wearing them might not be enough. Fit testing will help you learn the proper fit and the actual amount of hearing protection provided so you can be confident you&#;re giving your ears the best protection possible.
First Source Wireless has helped personnel in all sorts of industries find the best hearing protection device that fits their needs. We understand the importance of protecting your hearing in loud environments. Let us help you find the right solution for you and your team. Shop now or contact us with questions!
For more information, please visit Zh Tech Hearing Protection.