Improving Communication In Noise When Wearing Hearing Protection

摘要 研究一再证明，许多暴露在噪音中的工人不愿意穿 听力保护，因为害怕听不懂讲话或听到警告声。期间 在过去的十年中，专门的听力保护器（HPD）已经开发出来，以解决问题 与噪音和交流过度保护有关。大多数采用电子调制 通过HPD的声音传输，并且为此目的在设备外部包括麦克风， 处理电子设备，以及位于耳朵中或靠近耳朵的微型耳机扬声器（即， 在HPD下），以将声音从环境传输到用户。在许多情况下， 使用HPD、语音或警告声音（例如，备用警报，火灾警报），将不足以 支持面对面的对话或警报检测。这里提出的方法是 旨在改善这种情况下的沟通。 最近的一项研究报告了一种在试图进行面部交流时减少噪音的方法- 在嘈杂的环境中面对面（Lezzoum等人，2016）。它首先要将 声音的频谱（即，语音+噪声）分解成窄频带（“子带”）。的 然后，使用每个子带中的强度调制的瞬时幅度来调节 瞬时增益应用于信号。在这项建议的初步工作中，我们已经扩大了这一点， 在噪声中提高语音清晰度和警报声音可听度的方法， 在职业环境中出现的不利信噪比（SNR）。因此我们建议 进行严格的研究，以找到并优化最合适的基于调制的方法， 使用声音改善面对面交谈期间的语音理解和警报感知 在工业、机房和建筑地盘均录得。演讲，警报， 职业噪声将由计算机离线处理。这些声音随后将 在心理声学测试中以不同的SNR呈现给受试者，以比较当 使用经过处理和未经处理的声音。确认成功的方法将使 开发改进的电子HPD，以解决 听力保护在美国，大约有450万工人不愿意使用HPD， 目前，有理由期待从公共和职业健康的重大利益， 建议对可能发生听力损失的所有NIOSH部门计划进行研究（农业， 林业、建筑业、制造业、采矿业、石油和天然气开采业以及运输业）。作为 建议，该项目的重点是NIOSH的r2 P倡议，福尔斯属于听力损失 预防，个人防护技术，并通过设计跨部门计划预防。

Abstract Studies have repeatedly documented that many workers exposed to noise are unwilling to wear hearing protection because of fear of failing to understand speech or hear warning sounds. During the last decade, specialized hearing protectors (HPDs) have been developed to address issues related to overprotection from noise and communication. Most employ electronically-modulated sound transmission through the HPD and for this purpose include a microphone outside the device, processing electronics, and a miniature earphone loudspeaker located in or close to the ear (i.e., under the HPD), to transmit sounds from the environment to the user. In many situations requiring the use of HPDs, speech or warning sounds (e.g., back-up alarm, fire alarm), will not be sufficiently loud to support face-to-face conversation or alarm detection. The methods proposed here are intended to improve communication in these circumstances. A recent study has reported a method for reducing noise when attempting to communicate face- to-face in a noisy environment (Lezzoum et al., 2016). It involved first dividing the frequency spectrum of the sounds (i.e., speech + noise) into narrow bands of frequencies ("sub-bands"). The instantaneous magnitudes of the intensity modulations in each sub-band were then used to adjust the instantaneous gain applied to the signal. In preliminary work for this proposal, we have extended this approach to improve the intelligibility of speech, and the audibility of warning sounds, in noise at the adverse signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) occurring in occupational environments. We therefore propose to undertake a rigorous study to find and optimize the most suitable modulation-based method for improving speech understanding during face-to-face conversation and alarm perception using sounds recorded in industry, machinery rooms and on construction sites. The speech, alarms and occupational noises will be processed by computer off-line. The sounds will subsequently be presented at different SNRs to subjects in psychoacoustic tests to compare the performance when using processed and unprocessed sounds. Confirmation of a successful method would enable the development of improved electronic HPDs to address the most common complaints of users of hearing protection. With approximately 4.5 million workers in the U.S. unwilling to use HPDs at present, there is reason to expect substantial benefits to public and occupational health from the proposed research for all of NIOSH's Sector Programs in which hearing loss may occur (Agriculture, Forestry, Construction, Manufacturing, Mining, Oil and Gas Extraction, and Transportation). As proposed, the project is focused on NIOSH'S r2P initiative, and falls within the Hearing Loss Prevention, Personal Protective Technology, and Prevention through Design Cross-Sector Programs.