Trade-Off between Steady-State Broadband Noise Levels and Time of Exposure for Zero Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Abstract

In this work expressions for damage risk criteria and trade-off between the sound pressure levels and times of exposure for zero noise-induced hearing loss were derived. The expression for the damage risk criteria was used to compute the criteria risk values at octave frequencies between 250Hz and 8000Hz for males and females. The expression for the trade-off was used to compute the maximum times of exposure for sound pressure levels from 65 dBA to 112 dBA. This trade-off between noise sound pressure levels and corresponding times of exposure obtained from this work were obtained from the damage risk criteria which were determined from empirical values. Results show that workers should not be exposed to noise levels that are more than 112 for more than one second if the workers’ hearing is to be conserved. The expression supports the Equal Energy Hypothesis (EEH) and the 3dBA exchange rate.

Key Words: Trade-Off, Hearing Loss, Noise Levels, Broadband Noise, Induced noise.