Contribution
Individual Case or a More General Problem? Investigating Altered Localization Cues with Different Level-Dependent Hearing Protection Devices Concerning Worker Safety
* Presenting author
Abstract:
The aim of level-dependent hearing protectors (HPDs) is to let through or amplify soft to medium-level sounds, while ensuring protection against damaging high-level sounds. A former study investigated the effect of two level-dependent HPDs on localization performance with two different warnings signals in noise. The performance when wearing HPDs dropped. In the most extreme cases, signals where perceived as coming from the opposite direction. Technical measurements supported the findings of the hearing test by revealing large changes of interaural level differences when wearing earmuffs compared to open ears and even reversed localization cues. To get an overview of the impact on localization performance with various devices that are typically used in the industry, other level-dependent HPDs were investigated with respect to their influence on auditory localization cues. Different target signals and background noises were used to reflect typical work scenarios. For further analysis, current localization models were run on the recordings of the previous hearing study to check the models’ performance and reliability with the tested warning signals. Apart from the analyzed interaural cues derived from the current technical measurements with different HPDs, models can help to select critical scenarios that should be tested with human listeners in further studies.