Insertion loss of personal protective clothing

The use of personal protective clothing that covers the head is a common pr actice in many industries. Such personal protective clothing will impact th e sound pressure level and the frequency content of sounds to which the wea rer will be exposed. The use of such clothing, then, may impact speech and alarm audibility. A measure of the impact of such clothing is its insertion loss. Insertion loss measurements were performed on four types of personal protective clothing which utilize cloth and plastic hood configurations to protect the head. All clothing configurations tested at least partially co ver the ears. The measurements revealed that insertion loss of the items te sted was notable at frequencies above 1000 Hz only and was a function of ma terial stiffness and acoustic flanking paths to the ear. Further, an estima te of the clothing's noise reduction rating reveals poor performance in tha t regard, even though the insertion loss of the test articles was significa nt at frequencies at and above 1000 Hz. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.