A noise exposure assessment was made for 45 test subjects using person
al cassette players (PCP) and earphones. New information about the rel
ation of background noise level and the listening level was found in f
ield and laboratory studies with test subjects. An acoustic coupler wa
s designed for earphone sound level measurements and the maximum conti
nuous sound levers from 12 PCPs were measured. The highest sound level
s at maximum volume settings of the PCPs ranged from 90 dB to 104 dB.
Comfortable music levels in the quiet ranged from 52 dB to 88 dB, the
average being 69 dB. In the laboratory with background noise the music
levels ranged from 69 dB to 95 dB. In the field study the average lis
tening level was 82 dB and the average calculated weekly exposure (L(E
P,w)) 75 dB. The weekly noise exposure of 15% of the test subjects exc
eeded 85 dB in the field study. All the PCPs examined were able to pro
duce high sound levels but the typical listening levels chosen by PCP
users were not alarming. The music level was on average set to exceed
85 dB when the background noise level was 72 dB. Some hearing ross ris
k would be expected when PCPs are used in noisy conditions at work or
among traffic.