Improved Hearing Protection for Aviation Personnel
Abstract
Hearing loss has long been associated with the operation of aircraft. Some of the first hearing protectors were developed for use around military aircraft. Today s high performance military aircraft generate noises which typically range from 110 dB to 150 dB. Normally, the source of the noise cannot be quieted without loss in performance. Therefore hearing protection is the primary tool to mitigate aviation personnel noise exposures during operations of aircraft. This paper describes a joint U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy approach to improve hearing protection and reduce hearing loss risk. The approach included research and development to improve hearing protection as well as technologies to allow personnel to be moved from high noise work areas; recommendations for administrative controls; and investigation of hearing protective pharmaceuticals. The development of improved passive and active hearing protection technologies employed a three phased approach with attenuation performance goals for near-term (35-40 dB), mid-term (40-45 dB), and long-term (45-50+ dB) solutions. The technologies which have been developed to achieve the first two hearing protection goals will be described along with their attenuation performance characteristics. Ongoing research to achieve the long term (45-50+ dB) goal will be described with
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA454480
Entities
People
- John A. Hall
- Richard L. McKinley
- Valerie S. Bjorn
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory