Development of a range of comfort indices for earplugs to improve hearing protection for workers Abstract In Québec, 360,000 workers are exposed daily to noise levels likely to induce hearing problems (EQCOTESST, 2011). Hearing loss is the most frequently documented occupational disease, and the number of affected workers is on the rise, as are the related compensation costs. While the most effective solution to prioritize is noise reduction at the source, the use of personal hearing protection devices is sometimes the only feasible means of prevention. Hearing protectors are chosen on the basis of their noise attenuation capability, characterized by the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) value measured in a laboratory. However, in the field, the real protection offered by hearing protectors is often less than expected because they are not worn properly or long enough, due to the discomfort experienced by workers. A previous IRSST-funded project titled Development of tools and methods for better evaluating and improving workers’ personal hearing protection, proposed tools for better objective characterization of hearing discomfort, but these tools did not provide a means of classifying the overall discomfort associated with ear plugs. In order to classify the discomforts associated with ear plugs more rigorously and to design more comfortable ear plugs, it is necessary to develop a range of indices, including the attributes of the main components of physical, auditory, functional and psychological comfort. The main aim of this project is therefore to design such a tool, called Range of indices of objectified comfort. Produced Under this Project Scientific Publications A critical review of the literature on comfort of hearing protection devices: Definition of comfort and identification of its main attributes for earplug typesDoutres O., Franck Sgard, Terroir J., Perrin N., Caroline Jolly, Chantal Gauvin, Alessia NegriniSource : (2019). International Journal of Audiology, 58(12), 824-833. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2019.1646930 An artificial ear to assess objective indicators related to the acoustical comfort dimension of earplugs: Validation of a vibro acoustic model for insertion loss and occlusion effect assessmentPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Benacchio S., Doutres O., Franck SgardSource : (2019). Proceedings of the 26th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Auburn, AL : International Institute of Acoustics & Vibration.Earplug personal attenuation rating (par) in noise-exposed workers: Evolution over a five weeks follow-upMartin L., Alessia Negrini, Gaudreau M.-A., Franck Sgard, Berbiche D., Doutres O.Source : (2019). Proceedings of the 26th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Montréal, QC : Canadian Acoustical Association.Earplug comfort: From subjective assessment on the field to objective measurement and simulation using augmented artificial headsDoutres O., Franck Sgard, Benacchio S., Terroir J., Perrin N., Trompette N., Alessia Negrini, Gaudreau M.-A., Caroline Jolly, Berry A., Gauthier P.-A., Chantal GauvinSource : (2018). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(3), 1910. doi: 10.1121/1.5036223 Vibroacoustic modeling of an in vivo human head wearing a hearing protection device using the finite element methodFranck Sgard, Benacchio S., Luan Y., Xu H., Carillo K., Doutres O., Hugues Nélisse, Wagnac É., De Guise J.Source : (2018). Proceedings of Euronoise 2018, (p. 899-906). [s.l.] : European Acoustics Association. Tiré de http://www.euronoise2018.eu/docs/papers/155_Euronoise2018.pdfNumerical modeling of the vibro-acoustic behavior of an artificial ear dedicated to the study of hearing protectorsBenacchio S., Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2020). Communication présentée à Proceedings of Forum Acusticum 2020, Lyon, France.Améliorer les bouchons d’oreilles pour protéger les travailleursPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Chun Hong Law, Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2020). Substance ÉTS. Tiré de https://substance.etsmtl.ca/ameliorer-bouchons-oreilles-proteger-les-travailleursPreserving workers’ hearing health by improving earplug efficiencyPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Chun Hong Law, Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2020). Communication présentée à Acoustics Virtually Everywhere: The 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of American, Chicago, IL. Tiré de https://acoustics.org/5ansa4-preserving-workers-hearing-health-by-improving-earplug-efficiency-bastien-poissenot-arrigoni/Towards a metatheory explaining hearing protection device use among workersDoutres O., Terroir J., Caroline Jolly, Chantal Gauvin, Martin L., Alessia NegriniSource : (2020). Communication présentée à Acoustics Virtually Everywhere: The 179th Acoustical Society of America Meeting, Chicago, IL.On the modeling of the objective occlusion effect induced by earplugs: Recent advances, challenges and perspectivesCarillo K., Franck Sgard, Xu H., Guilloteau A., Benacchio S., Poissenot-Arrigoni B., Doutres O.Source : (2021). NHCA Spectrum, 38(2), 15-22.Assessing the comfort of earplugs: Development and validation of the French version of the COPROD questionnaireTerroir J., Perrin N., Wild P., Doutres O., Franck Sgard, Chantal Gauvin, Alessia NegriniSource : (2021). Ergonomics, 64(7), 912-925. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2021.1880027Morphologic clustering of earcanals using deep learning algorithm to design artificial ears dedicated to earplugs attenuation measurementPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Law C., Berbiche D., Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2022). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 152(6), 3155-3169. doi: 10.1121/10.0015237Development and evaluation of an artificial ear for quantifying the objective occlusion effectLuan Y., Cyr-Desroches M.-O., Carillo K., Doutres O., Franck SgardSource : (2022). ICA 2022: Proceedings of the 24th International Congress on Acoustics, ICA.Influence de l’impédance tympanique sur la perte par insertion de protecteurs auditifs intra-auriculairesBenacchio S., Luan Y., Doutres O., Franck SgardSource : (2022). Communication présentée à Congrès Français d'Acoustique, Marseille, France.Task 1.2: Subjective comfort in the laboratory in QuebecEzzaf S., Berry A., Gauthier P.-A., Alessia Negrini, Valentin O., Berbiche D.Source : (2022). Communication présentée à Development of a series of comfort indices for earplugs to improve hearing protection for workers: 2nd Scientific Advisory Committee meeting, Montreal, QC.Task: 1.1 Subjective comfort in the field in QuebecDoutres O., Alessia Negrini, Berbiche D., Coupal F.-X., Chantal Gauvin, Caroline Jolly, Franck Sgard, Gaudreau M.-A., Martin L.Source : (2022). Communication présentée à Development of a series of comfort indices for earplugs to improve hearing protection for workers: 2nd Scientific Advisory Committee meeting, Montreal, QC.Étude terrain du confort multidimensionnel des protecteurs auditifs de type bouchons d’oreilleCoupal F.-X., Alessia Negrini, Berbiche D., Doutres O.Source : (2022). Communication présentée à 16e Congrès Français d’Acoustique de la Société Francophone d’Acoustique, Marseille, France.Earcanal morphology and its relations to some attributes of earplugs comfortPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Doutres O., Berbiche D., Alessia Negrini, Franck SgardSource : (2022). Communication présentée à The 28th International Congress of Sound and Vibration (ICSV), Singapour, Singapour.Towards a holistic model explaining hearing protection device use among workersDoutres O., Terroir J., Caroline Jolly, Chantal Gauvin, Martin L., Alessia NegriniSource : (2022). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9). doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095578A critical review of the literature on comfort of hearing protection devices: Analysis of the comfort measurement variabilityDoutres O., Franck Sgard, Terroir J., Perrin N., Caroline Jolly, Chantal Gauvin, Alessia NegriniSource : (2022). International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 28(1), 447-458. doi: 10.1080/10803548.2020.1772546Analysis of the physical discomfort of earplugs experienced by a population of Canadian workers and identification of the influencing variablesPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Alessia Negrini, Berbiche D., Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2023). International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 98. doi: 10.1016/j.ergon.2023.103508Functional discomfort of earplugs and its influencing variablesPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Alessia Negrini, Berbiche D., Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2023). Canadian Acoustics, 51(3), 112-113. Tiré de https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/4083Artificial eardrum for acoustical test fixtures dedicated to hearing protection assessmentBenacchio S., Luan Y., Doutres O., Franck SgardSource : (2023). Proceedings of the 29th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Prague, 2023, Auburn, AL : IIAV.Assessment of the effect of earplug type, insertion depth and background noise level on the perception of the occlusion effect in laboratory conditionSaint-Gaudens H., Hugues Nélisse, Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2023). Canadian Acoustics, 51(3), 118.Experimental investigation of the static mechanical pressure induced by roll-down foam earplugsMelo L., Dalaq A., Doutres O., Franck Sgard, Wagnac É.Source : (2023). Canadian Acoustics, 51(3), 116-117.Development of a realistic artificial ear dedicated to earplugs attenuation measurementsEzzaf S., Melo L., Poissenot-Arrigoni B., Saint-Gaudens H., Berry A., Franck Sgard, Doutres O.Source : (2023). Canadian Acoustics, 51(3), 115.Earcanal morphology and its relations to some attributes of earplugs comfortPoissenot-Arrigoni B., Doutres O., Berbiche D., Alessia Negrini, Franck SgardSource : (2022). Proceedings of the 28th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, IIAV. Tiré de https://iiav.org/content/archives_icsv_last/2022_icsv28/content/papers/papers/full_paper_494_20220406204134337.pdfHearing protectors’ comfort evaluation in the laboratoryEzzaf S., Valentin O., Berry A., Gauthier P.-A., Alessia Negrini, Berbiche D.Source : (2022). Communication présentée à Acoustics Week in Canada (AWC2022), St. John’s, 27-30.09.2022., Saint-Jean, Terre-Neuve et Labrador. Other Project(s) You May be Interested in Development of tools and methods for better evaluating and improving workers’ personal hearing protection Additional Information Type: Project Number: 2015-0014 Status: Ongoing Research Field: Mechanical and Physical Risk Prevention Team: Franck Sgard (IRSST)Olivier Doutres (École de technologie supérieure)Alain Berry (Université de Sherbrooke)Jérémie Voix (École de technologie supérieure)Nicolas Trompette (Institut national de recherche scientifique)Éric Wagnac (École de technologie supérieure)Alessia Negrini (IRSST)Matt Carre (University of Sheffield)Roger Lewis (University of Sheffield)Steven Matcher (University of Sheffield)