NOISE
“Noise reduction rating (NRR) is a unit of measurement
used to determine the effectiveness of hearing protection devices to decrease
sound exposure within a given working environment. Classified by their
potential to reduce noise in decibels (dB), a term used to categorize the power
or density of sound, hearing protectors must be tested and approved by the American
National Standards (ANSI) and in accordance with the Occupational safety and
Health administration (OSHA).” (Cooper Safety Supply)
Noise reduction rating measures the ability of the ear
plugs or earmuffs, ability to “block out” any noise or sound. OSHA calculates
these through decibels. Decibels is the measurement used for different ranges
of sound showing how strong or weak a noise is, which also helps to let people
know what amount of decibels is very harmful to our hearing tracts. To reduce
the most amount of noise is to wear and ear plug properly and ear muffs on top properly
to keep minimize any noise that could damage our hearing.
The standard threshold shift is a number that holds
the noise exposure that it should not go over or there could be consequences,
such as, a change in hearing or temporary loss of hearing. Sometimes people experience
temporary threshold shift. So this is a shift in the way they are hearing
things. The symptoms for this would be hearing a muffled sound after
experiencing noise exposure. People must be careful and aware when this happens
because if they keep overexposing that noise exposure, their hearing could
become much worse or worse, it become permanent.
5dB exchange rate is used when dBs go over a certain
level. OSHA uses the 5dB to help measure how much damage is done in a certain
time period which has a certain level of dB it can hit and once it goes over
that certain level, they sue the 5db exchange rate to figure out how much the
damage is really doing.
High level noise environments are not helpful to how
well we hear. If we are in these kind of environments too much it can damage
our hearing overtime if we are here continuously. Even if the high level noise
exposure In that environment is not to the max dB’s one is supposed to hear, it
still can cause damage to how well that person can hear. For example, if
someone worked in a daycare and all day long the kids screamed and yelled, when
they go home into quieter environment and someone talks to them at a normal
level they could potentially have trouble hearing them because their ears are
adjusted to loud sounds and have lost some of its hearing due to listening to
screaming and yelling all day long. Now for low level environments does not come
with many health affects except the more you are in quiet/ low level environments
the more sensitive your hearing becomes to sounds that may be normal to most
people but extremely loud to those more exposed to quiet level environments.
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