It has been often reported that despite efforts to reduce risk of noise induced hearing loss in the workplace, it is sometimes individual workers, themselves, who pose the biggest threat by self-inflicted hearing damage. It is too often observed that ear defenders are not being worn correctly for fear of being unable to hear machinery operating or instructions and warnings from colleagues and supervisors.

However, a solution to the persistent problem is about to be tested towards the end of 2010, which will enable a workforce who operate in excessively noisy environments to both protect themselves from the increased dangers of industrial deafness and be able to communicate easily with each other.

The new protective device is fitted with a microphone on the outside of the earplug to pick up ambient sounds. The sound, which can be adjusted, is then digitally processed to filter out unwanted loud noises before the required sound only is sent to a speaker inside the earplug.

This means that wearers of the device do not need to have a microphone in front of their mouth to communicate and the key advantage of a microphone placed inside the ear is the screening out of background noise, which a microphone in front of the mouth cannot do.

The hearing protection and communication device was originally developed for military use by a Norwegian company and first tested in 2009 on the helicopter landing pad of a Petroleum industry company. Some 600 cases of noise-induced hearing loss are reported by the Norwegian petroleum industry every year, and four years research was conducted to develop an existing, combined hearing protection and communication product for use on offshore platforms.

The new hearing protection device will enable employees to preserve energy by not having to strain to hear what is being said, and the noise reduction system in the earplug means that the level of sound is adapted to the surrounding environment. The earplug also has a built-in noise level meter that emits a warning signal to alert the user if it is not inserted into the ear correctly and before any damage to hearing has occurred.

This makes it possible to withdraw from a hazardous noise area before the possibility of being exposed to dangerous noise levels. The new earplug is also explosion-proof.