NOTE 1 The principle of measuring the influence of a hearing protector on the hearing threshold is used in ISO 4869-1 and in this Technical Specification. The method described in ISO 4869-1 yields the sound attenuation of the hearing protector under test. The result of the measurement is a pure physical characteristic of the hearing protector. The method described in this Technical Specification yields the performance of the system as a whole, i.e. the influence of hearing protector, test subjects, fitting and instruction.
This test method yields data that are collected at low sound pressure levels (close to the threshold of hearing), but which are also representative of the noise reduction values of hearing protectors at higher sound pressure levels. This Technical Specification is inapplicable for level-dependent hearing protectors for sound pressure levels above the point at which their level-dependent characteristics become effective.NOTE 2 At frequencies below 500 Hz, real-ear noise reduction data measured according to this Technical Specification may be spuriously high by a few decibels, with the error increasing as the frequency decreases. The error results from masking of the occluded-ear threshold by physiological noise during testing.
