Are Hearing Protection Devices Used in the Workplace Really Efficient? A Systematic Review
Work
Silva, V. A. R., Guimarães, A. C., et al. (2022).
Work, 74(2), 477-484.
This systematic review investigates the effects of hearing protection devices for workers exposed to noise.
None declared
1999-2019
Empirical studies
6
Overall, hearing protection devices are effective to attenuate noise across a variety of occupational activities (e.g., mining, metallurgy, motorized products assembly). It was not possible to determine whether any particular earplug material or molding type was superior; however, there was a risk of overprotection with custom molded earplugs seen in one study. External factors can impact the level of noise attenuation achieved with the use of earplugs; one study found the rate of proper earplug use increased after training and another showed an improvement of 10-20 dB of noise attenuation following training. Another study investigated the effects of double protection with earplugs and earmuffs; while this achieved the highest level of attenuation at 20-40 dB, it was not possible to conclude that doing so provided additional gain in protection.
