Virtual and experimental acoustical comfort testers for earplugs

ORCID

Franck Sgard : 0000-0001-9608-3565

Type de document

Articles dans des actes de congrès

Année

2025

Langue

Anglais

Directeurs de la publication

D. de la Prida, J. Ramis, M. Machimbarrena

Titre des actes

Proceedings of the 11th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, Forum Acusticum / EuroNoise 2025, Málaga, Spain, June 23-26, 2025

Première page

3125

Dernière page

3132

Maison d’édition

EAA; SEA

Résumé

Earplugs are widely used to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, but discomfort can reduce their effectiveness by affecting their consistent and proper use. Earplug comfort can be described by four dimensions: physical (biomechanical and thermal interactions with the earcanal), acoustical (noise/useful sound perception), functional (usability and efficiency), and psychological (well-being and satisfaction). (Dis)comfort results from the interplay within the user/earplug/work environment triad. The components of this triad and their interactions across multiple phases, ultimately shape the comfort judgment and are defined by various physical and psychological characteristics that must be assessed to fully understand comfort. This paper targets acoustical characteristics of both disposable and reusable earplugs when inserted in the earcanal, focusing on indicators such as sound attenuation and occlusion effect. It presents a synthesis of various acoustic comfort testers developed by the authors’ research team to assess these characteristics. Virtual and physical truncated realistic artificial ears and whole head are explored. This research aims to provide manufacturers with comfort-driven design methods for earplugs. ©EAA; SEA, 2025.

Mots-clés

Protège-tympan, Earplug, Bouchon, Protection de l'ouïe, Hearing protection, Évaluation du confort, Comfort assessment, Essai du matériel, Equipment testing, Atténuation du bruit, Sound attenuation

Numéro de projet IRSST

n/a

Link to Full Text

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