Over-protection is a hearing risk too

Hearing protection is specified to bring the level at the ear into a target range, not to reduce it as far as possible. The Control of Noise at Work Regulations expect protection to be adequate, and adequate has an upper bound as well as a lower one.

The target

Aim for roughly 70 to 80 dB(A) at the ear. Below about 70 dB(A) the wearer is over-protected: speech becomes hard to follow, reversing alarms and shouted warnings are missed, and the wearer feels cut off from the site.

Working it out

Take the measured noise level and subtract the SNR of the defender, then add 4 dB back as a real-world derating — laboratory attenuation is rarely achieved in practice. At 95 dB(A) with an SNR 31 defender you land near 68, which is too much. An SNR 25 would be the better choice.

Why it matters commercially

An over-protected worker takes the defenders off to hold a conversation, and does so at exactly the moment the noise is loudest. Intermittent use of a high-attenuation defender protects less than consistent use of a correctly matched one — so comfort and fit are not a luxury, they are the mechanism by which the protection actually happens.

Written for Groundwork Workwear — a demonstration store. See the AgenticEcom Suite.