بررسی کارایی ایرماف و ایرپلاگ با استفاده از مدل گوش مصنوعی

Introduction: Noise can be defined in a broad manner as sounds that prevent individuals performance in their maximum ability and efficiency in the work places. Using of appropriate and standard earmuffs and earplugs is one of the solutions for this issue. The aim of this study was to determine the noise attenuation of earmuff and earplug with using of an artificial human ear model.Materials&Methods: In this study a pink noise with sound pressure level of 85 dBA as a noise source was used. Earmuff and earplug efficiency, at one-third octave bands from 20 Hz to 8000 Hz before and after using of these hearing protectors on the artificial human ear model, was measured. In the artificial human ear model a microphone connected to a data acquisition card was used as tympanic membraneResults: The results show that the protective effect of earplug in compare to the earmuff is rather more in low frequencies. Although sound pressure level with using of the earplug at 60 and 80 Hz frequencies was 5 and 7 dB higher than earmuff, respectively. On the other hand, the protective effect of the earmuff covers a wider range of higher frequencies(160-800Hz). In the frequencies higher than 1000 Hz, the protective effect of the earmuff was 14 dB more than the earplug.Conclusion: So it seems that for low frequencies, earplugs, and for higher frequencies, earmuffs are better to use for the hearing loss prevention. Also it seems that because of changes in the distribution of energy within the ear canal and resonating of some frequencies after using of hearing protectors, further studies is need to be done about this issue.

کلیدواژه ها:

Earmuff ، Earplug ، Artificial Human Ear Model