Influence of a wearer's voice on noise dosimeter measurements
Journal article, 2012

In recent years, interest in personal noise exposure has expanded beyond a workplace safety measure to become an effective means of investigating physiological effects of the acoustic environment on an individual. This work investigates the effects of the wearer's voice as a possible dominant sound source on body-mounted noise dosimeters and develops methods to improve the application of dosimeter measurements in medium-level noise environments. Subjects experienced a controlled set of acoustic conditions while wearing a dosimeter. In each condition, sound pressure levels were recorded with and without the subject speaking controlled phrases. Three experimental variables were considered-room type, noise type, and noise level. All three variables had a statistically significant effect upon the contribution of speech to a dosimeter measurement; for example, noise level was shown to cause a change in speech contribution by as much as 5.5 dB between sequential levels. Based upon the analysis, a method of predicting the decibel contribution of a wearer's voice was developed. The results of this study can be used to estimate the effect of a wearer's voice on dosimeter measurements in medium-level noise environments.

speech production

hearing

Author

Steven R. Ryherd

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Applied Acoustics

Mendel Kleiner

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Applied Acoustics

Kerstin Persson Waye

University of Gothenburg

E. E. Ryherd

The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

0001-4966 (ISSN) 1520-8524 (eISSN)

Vol. 131 2 1183-1193

Subject Categories

Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics

Environmental Health and Occupational Health

DOI

10.1121/1.3675941

More information

Created

10/6/2017