Inter-laboratory comparison of three earplug fit-test systems.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) sponsored tests of three earplug fit-test systems (NIOSH HPD Well-Fit, Michael & Associates FitCheck, and Honeywell Safety Products VeriPRO). Each system was compared to laboratory-based real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT) measur...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Occupational & Environmental Hygiene Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 294 - 306
Autores principales: Byrne, David C., Murphy, William J., Krieg, Edward F., Ghent, Robert M., Michael, Kevin L., Stefanson, Earl W., Ahroon, William A.
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Apr2017
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=121612059&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 121612059
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        15459624
        V1L
      jtl: Journal of Occupational & Environmental Hygiene
      issn: 15459624
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Apr2017
      vid: 14
      iid: 4
      pid: 377
      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    artinfo:
      ui:
        121612059
        121612059
        121612059
        10.1080/15459624.2016.1250002
        121612059
      ppf: 294
      ppct: 12
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
      tig:
        atl: Inter-laboratory comparison of three earplug fit-test systems.
      aug:
        au:
          Byrne, David C.
          Murphy, William J.
          Krieg, Edward F.
          Ghent, Robert M.
          Michael, Kevin L.
          Stefanson, Earl W.
          Ahroon, William A.
        affil: NIOSH - Robert A. Taft Laboratories, Cincinnati, Ohio
      sug:
        subj:
          Ear Protective Devices
          Human
          Laboratories United States
          Research Personnel
          Psychometrics
          Sound
          United States
          National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
          Descriptive Statistics
          American National Standards Institute
      ab: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) sponsored tests of three earplug fit-test systems (NIOSH HPD Well-Fit, Michael & Associates FitCheck, and Honeywell Safety Products VeriPRO). Each system was compared to laboratory-based real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT) measurements in a sound field according to ANSI/ASA S12.6-2008 at the NIOSH, Honeywell Safety Products, and Michael & Associates testing laboratories. An identical study was conducted independently at the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL), which provided their data for inclusion in this article. The Howard Leight Airsoft premolded earplug was tested with twenty subjects at each of the four participating laboratories. The occluded fit of the earplug was maintained during testing with a soundfield-based laboratory REAT system as well as all three headphone-based fit-test systems. The Michael & Associates lab had the highest average A-weighted attenuations and smallest standard deviations. The NIOSH lab had the lowest average attenuations and the largest standard deviations. Differences in octave-band attenuations between each fit-test system and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sound field method were calculated (Attenfit-test- AttenANSI). A-weighted attenuations measured with FitCheck and HPD Well-Fit systems demonstrated approximately ±2 dB agreement with the ANSI sound field method, but A-weighted attenuations measured with the VeriPRO system underestimated the ANSI laboratory attenuations. For each of the fit-test systems, the average A-weighted attenuation across the four laboratories was not significantly greater than the average of the ANSI sound field method. Standard deviations for residual attenuation differences were about ±2 dB for FitCheck and HPD Well-Fit compared to ±4 dB for VeriPRO. Individual labs exhibited a range of agreement from less than a dB to as much as 9.4 dB difference with ANSI and REAT estimates. Factors such as the experience of study participants and test administrators, and the fit-test psychometric tasks are suggested as possible contributors to the observed results.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N