We are excited to have you join us for an amazing educational line up, check out the agenda below for the 2025 Conference. Please note that this agenda is subject to change.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss is the most prevalent occupational injury in US industry, affecting more than 10 million workers. Earplugs are a ubiquitous choice to mitigate exposure, but optimal use requires training, motivation, and patience, substantially limiting their real-world performance. A shallow insertion leads to poor attenuation, high variability, and the occlusion effect. Typically rated for about 30 dB of attenuation, actual earplug performance averages less than 15 dB with variability on the order of 10 dB (95% CI). In many settings, a majority of wearers receive grossly inadequate protection. Inconvenience, discomfort, and degraded communication also lead to low worker compliance. As many as 80% of workers wear HPDs inconsistently, dramatically limiting efficacy. Last year we presented a novel dynamic toroidal earplug concept designed to address these issues, offering substantially improved ease-of-use for untrained users while providing high attenuation and low variability. This year we present a mature example of this earplug along with subject-fit attenuation data in both trained and inexperienced subjects using both Microphone In Real Ear (MIRE) and Real Ear Attenuation At Threshold (REAT) techniques. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation.
