Hearing protection

Noise-related hearing loss is the most common occupational disease in Europe and North America, accounting for almost one-third of all work-related illnesses. These disorders can lead to long-lasting effects causing stress, fatigue or isolation that significantly increases the risk of work-related accidents caused by other factors. Hearing loss is irreversible and often detected late, so PPE covering this risk is classified as Category III.


The ear and sound

Noise, as a vibratory phenomenon is characterized by:

  • Its intensity (in decibels [dB]) corresponds to the amplitude of the vibrations emitted by the sound source. 0 dB corresponds to the minimum sound level audible by the human ear. The pain threshold is 120 dB and the ear can be damaged from 85 dB.
  • Its frequency (in Hertz [Hz]) which will define the perceived height. The higher the frequency and the higher pitched the sound, the lower it is and the lower pitched it will be. The human ear is able to perceive sounds at frequencies between 20 Hz (very low pitch) and 20,000 Hz (very high pitch).
  • Its duration and its variation, which makes it possible to differentiate very brief sounds, of a duration in the order of a second, such as impulse noises (a shot, impacts) of sounds that have longer durations (hours, or a day) for which it is important to consider the resulting dose of noise received.
The ear and sound

The ear can be broken down into three distinct parts:

  • The outer ear consisting of the horn and the ear canal
  • The middle ear between the eardrum and the inner ear. It is filled with air and allows, using the ossicles, to transform the aerial vibrations into structure borne vibrations that can be analyzed by the inner ear.
  • The inner ear, the heart of the auditory system, consisting of a cavity filled with liquid containing the cochlea where the body of Corti is found. Within it, the vibrations of the liquid transmitted to the ossicles are picked up by the hair cells which select them by frequency. The information is then conducted by the auditory nerve to the cerebral cortex which can interpret it.
The ear and sound




The human ear has a particular sensitivity to each frequency range. At moderate sound levels, it is less sensitive to low pitched sounds. To represent this particular sensitivity,
the noise measurements and standards use a weighting of the measured sound levels called weighting A. The thus weighted decibels are denoted dB (A).


How to protect yourself?

To choose the correct product for hearing protection.

  • Determine the exposure time.


directive 2003/10/CE




Ear defenders

Ear defenders







Regulatory daily dose authorized according to the sound level

regulatory daily dose authorized according to the sound level



Attenuation values for noise

Valeur d'atténuation par niveau sonore

How do you use the attenuation values?


    • M : Attenuation of PPE at medium frequencies



Wearing rate

Taux de port

Wearing method

When hearing protection equipment can be worn in several ways (on the head and under the chin for example), it must be tested for each method of wearing.



Double protection

When wearing a single hearing protector is not enough, it is possible to combine them. The attenuation resulting from the simultaneous wearing of earplugs with a B SNR and a noise-cancelling headset with an ST SNR is calculated by the following formula: 33 × log ((0.4 × B) + (0.1 × ST))


Level of noise

Niveau sonore



Protection auditive Delta Plus