The Research of Safety Effects by using a Hearing Protection(Ear Plug) in the Military

Abstract

During a military service, noise has unusual characteristics, and constitutes a serious hazard to hearing of military servicemen. The purpose of this study is to understand the use of hearing protection and to assess the safety effects of hearing protection by using a ear plug in military. A total of 208(the army : 101, an air force : 107) serviceman were studied utilizing a questionnaire to know how many serviceman use the hearing protection and a total of 202(the army : 110, an air force : 92) serviceman were also studied using a ear fit validation device to assess the safety effects of hearing protection by using a ear plug. The results showed that the army have low used of hearing protection than an air force because of the low frequency of the noise exposure in the army. Personal attenuation rate was increased with 8 dB after fitting education. Therefore, it is recommended that use of proper hearing protection and fitting education was more suitable for military servicemen who were being exposed of the noise in domestic military.