Towards a practical methodology for assessment of the objective occlusion effect induced by earplugs

Type de document

Études primaires

Année de publication

2022

Langue

Anglais

Titre de la revue

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Première page

4086

Dernière page

4100

Résumé

The occlusion effect (OE) occurs when the earcanal becomes occluded by an in-ear device, sometimes leading to discomforts experienced by the users due to the augmented perception of physiological noises, or to a distorted perception of one's own voice. The OE can be assessed objectively by measuring the amplification of the low-frequency sound pressure level (SPL) in the earcanal using in-ear microphones. However, as revealed by methodological discrepancies found in past studies, the measurement of this objective occlusion effect (OEobj) is not standardized. With the goal of proposing a robust yet simple methodology adapted for field assessment, three experimental aspects are investigated: (i) stimulation source and the stimulus's characteristics to induce the phenomenon, (ii) measurement method of the SPL in earcanal, (iii) indicator to quantify the OEobj. To do so, OEobj is measured on human participants in laboratory conditions. Results obtained with a specific insert device suggest using the participant's own voice combined with simultaneous measurements of the SPLs based on the noise reduction method and using a single value indicator leads to a simple yet robust methodology to assess OEobj. Further research is necessary to validate the results with other devices and to generalize the methodology for field assessment.

Mots-clés

Protection de l'ouïe, Hearing protection, Propagation du son, Sound propagation, Protège-tympan, Earplug, Atténuation du bruit, Sound attenuation, Évaluation du confort, Comfort assessment, Méthodologie, Methodology

Numéro de projet IRSST

2017-0032

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