METHOD FOR ERGONOMIC QUALIMETRY OF EAR PROTECTORS Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC A61F11/06 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: objective characteristics are obtained from tone audiometry results and subjective characteristics are obtained by polling respondents, followed by calculation of the ergonomic factor of the ear protectors. The objective characteristics used are: effectiveness of protection from noise at octave frequency of 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, 8000 Hz. The percentage professionals for whom the use of the ear protectors did not lower the hearing threshold at said octave frequencies after replacement, is determined. The subjective characteristics used are: ringing effect - noise in the ears, pressure and strain in the ears, headache, noise and strain in the head, low working capacity, sleep disturbance, unpleasant feeding in area around ears, flushed skin in the area around ears, interference with professional activities in the ear protectors. The percentage of respondents without said subjective characteristics is determined. Also, the subjective characteristics used are: weight and size characteristics, effectiveness of the fastening system, easy usage, easy storage in unused state, quality of the head strap, safety of usage, compatibility of the ear protectors with equipment. The percentage of respondents evaluating said characteristics as "normal" and "satisfactory" is determined. The sufficiency of reducing noise is evaluated and the percentage of respondents evaluating the degree of reducing noise by the ear protectors as "sufficient" is determined. The obtained estimates are summed up and the ergonomic factor of the ear protectors is calculated. The ergonomic level of the ear protectors is evaluated as low, satisfactory, good or excellent based on the value of said factor.

EFFECT: method enables ergonomic qualimetry of any ear protectors in order to choose ear protectors by determining objective and subjective estimates of information characteristics.

3 tbl, 2 ex