Hearing Degradation While Wearing Cold Weather Headgear,
Abstract
A limited study was conducted to provide an estimate of the hearing penalty incurred when wearing the Army's cold weather headgear. The expected hearing loss did occur. The hearing loss, as measured by an articulation test, is given for three different signal to noise ratios. More important, however, a disproportionately higher error rate was noted when wearing the cold weather headgear under low signal to noise conditions. That is, the difference between the error rate with the headgear on and with it off is much greater with low signal to noise ratios than with high ratios. Furthermore, the obtained disproportionate error rate is due primarily to mistakes on consonants. The deterioration of hearing while wearing the headgear with low signal to noise ratios is most pronounced with rapid consonant-like sounds. The implication is that the solider wearing the protective gear is much more likely to miss or confuse sounds that are only slightly above the existing background noise level, such as sounds of surreptitious enemy movement or orders spoken softly or at a distance, than is the solider not wearing it. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- ADA054103
Entities
People
- David R. Sennett
- James W. Dees
- Kevin J. O'reilly
Organizations
- Human Resources Research Organization