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Is real-ear attenuation at threshold a function of hearing level?

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

|November 1, 1985

Summary

Listeners with normal hearing achieved better earplug protection, especially at high frequencies. This effect diminished with hearing loss, suggesting hearing protector performance varies with individual hearing sensitivity.

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Area of Science:

Audiology
Occupational Health
Acoustics

Background:

Real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT) measurements are crucial for evaluating hearing protection devices (HPDs).
Understanding the relationship between listener hearing level and HPD attenuation is essential for accurate performance assessment.
Previous studies have not fully explored how individual hearing sensitivity impacts HPD effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the correlation between hearing level and the attenuation provided by foam earplugs.
To test a hypothesis explaining the observed correlation in normal-hearing listeners.
To examine the impact of different levels of hearing protection on this correlation.

Main Methods:

Measured REAT of foam earplugs on 100 subjects across various frequencies (2-8 kHz).
Analyzed the relationship between hearing threshold level (HTL) and attenuation for listeners with HTL ≤ 20 dB and HTL > 20 dB.
Collected data on a second hearing protector with lower attenuation from 70 subjects to test the hypothesis.

Main Results:

A statistically significant positive correlation between attenuation and hearing level was found for normal listeners (HTL ≤ 20 dB), particularly at 6 and 8 kHz.
Attenuation appeared independent of hearing level for listeners with HTL > 20 dB.
A hearing protector with lower attenuation showed a reduced correlation between attenuation and hearing level, supporting the hypothesis.

Conclusions:

Hearing protector attenuation is influenced by the listener's hearing level, especially for normal-hearing individuals and high-frequency sounds.
The observed relationship is likely linked to the earplug's attenuation approaching bone-conduction limits.
Findings have implications for subject selection in hearing protector testing and understanding attenuation linearity.

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