Page 23 - Occupational Health & Safety, March 2017

three critical considerations when optimizing the fit of an ear plug: 1. Size. Like a cork in a bottle, an ear plug that is too large or too small will never achieve an acoustic seal. Look at the ear canal opening to determine whether a different size would be helpful. Yes, ear plugs do come in different sizes, and there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” ear plug. The results from thousands of fit tests we’ve conducted at work sites show that a minimum of four ear plug sizes and styles are required to accommodate the needs of
a workforce. These include:
■ Large foam ear plug
■ Large reusable ear plug
■ Smaller foam ear plug
■ Smaller reusable ear plug
2. Shape. In addition to different diameters, ear canals come in
different shapes. While many ear canals are round (well fitted with a pre-molded ear plug), many have a distinct oval shape (or even a slit opening) best fitted with an expandable foam ear plug.
3. Ease of Insertion. Some workers have difficulty rolling or in- serting foam ear plugs due to restricted dexterity or arthritis. For these workers, a no-roll foam or reusable ear plug is the preferred choice. Also, push-in ear plugs with a stem may be easier for some workers to insert, providing a trustworthy reliable fit. In ear plug fitting, depth of insertion is so critical to achieve adequate protec- tion levels; an eighth of an inch deeper can double the protection in many cases. So our goal is to offer a variety of styles that will allow
every worker to achieve adequate protection.
That said, in addition to size, shape, and ease of insertion, there
are many other options available in ear plugs that factor into proper selection:
■ Corded or uncorded
■ Single-use or reusable
■ Detectable ear plugs, as used in the foodservice industry
■ Uniform attenuation across frequencies affecting speech
clarity
Q: There is often some misunderstanding as to how the Noise Reduction Rating plays into the selection process, correct?
A: There certainly is. It may be surprising to some, but the published rating of an ear plug—the Noise Reduction Rating, or NRR—is simply not a good selection factor. In fact, it can be quite deceptive in selecting proper protection. The NRR is a laboratory- based estimate of the amount of protection potentially achieved when the ear plug is properly sized and properly fitted. Based upon the testing protocol behind the NRR, large foam ear plugs have quite an advantage in generating higher ratings. So if a safety manager were to select ear plugs based solely on a high NRR, they would unwisely choose large foam ear plugs for their entire work- force. The safety manager would find many workers would never be able to achieve a good fit with that large ear plug and hear com- ments like, “It keeps falling out of my ears.” It would offer little pro- tection from hazardous noise.
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MARCH 2017 | Occupational Health &
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