Over-the-Ear Industrial Hearing Protectors: An Assessment of Comfort Issues

Abstract

A self-report methodology was developed for evaluating perceived comfort and related wearability issues among non-earplug hearing protection devices. Rating scale and ranking procedures were completed by fifty subjects after wearing four different noise-attenuating earmuffs and two ear canal caps. The methodology reliably distinguished among different earmuff types and earcaps on a variety of comfort-related measures, as determined by non-parametric statistical analyses. In general, over-the-pinna muffs were found to be more comfortable than over-the-ear canal earcaps, and some muff designs were preferable to others. The earmuffs were also ranked as easier to don than earcaps. It is critical that comfort be a prime consideration in hearing protection device design because it greatly influences the amount of time the device will be worn in the workplace.