Going wireless and booth-less for hearing testing in industry.
Deanna K Meinke, Jesse A Norris, Brendan P Flynn and 1 others
PMID 27976975WHAT IT FOUND
In brewery workers tested in ordinary rooms by untrained operators, the wireless headset gave repeatable hearing thresholds close to those from a mobile sound booth.
The rooms did not meet stricter ambient noise standards.
Key findings
01Repeat testing with the wireless headset averaged across 2, 3 and 4 kHz showed differences of -0.4 dB with a standard deviation of 2.2 dB.
02Compared with the mobile trailer sound booth, wireless headset thresholds were 1.3 dB lower on average, with a standard deviation of 4.9 dB.
03The conference rooms exceeded the OSHA ambient noise limit at 500 Hz, and all test environments exceeded stricter ANSI and ISO limits at frequencies at or below 2000 Hz.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Only 20 listeners were tested, all from one craft brewery, so the results may not apply to other workplaces or hearing populations. The listeners were not part of the plant hearing conservation program, so the study did not test the workers most likely to need serial audiograms. The ordinary rooms exceeded stricter ANSI and ISO ambient noise limits at frequencies at or below 2000 Hz, and the comparison trailer booth met only OSHA limits. The wireless headset reference threshold calibration was based on one study population, so absolute thresholds may be slightly biased. The study outcomes were threshold repeatability and differences between two automated systems, not diagnostic accuracy or ability to detect noise-induced hearing loss. At 8 kHz, the wireless and trailer thresholds showed the largest disagreement, with a standard deviation of 6.0 dB.
Declared interests
The supplied article metadata indicates NIH extramural research support. The text provided does not include a conflict-of-interest or funding declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that hearing testing can now be done in any workplace room to regulatory standards. The rooms exceeded stricter ANSI and ISO ambient noise limits at lower frequencies, and the study did not assess diagnostic accuracy or detection of hearing loss.