Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering (한국소음진동공학회논문집)

The Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering (한국소음진동공학회)
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Research on the Characteristics and Measures of Noise Exposure on Worker Wearing Acoustic Devices

음향도구 착용 근로자의 소음노출 실태에 관한 연구

  • 김갑배 (한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원) ;
  • 유계묵 (한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원) ;
  • 이인섭 (한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원) ;
  • 정광재 (한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원)
  • Received : 2011.03.16
  • Accepted : 2011.06.09
  • Published : 2011.07.20
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Abstract

There are hundreds of thousands call center workers wearing acoustic device. However, researches and noise exposure measurements on the noise transmitted from acoustic devices have seldom been performed due to the difficulty of measurement and to the absence of the measuring method in Korea. The aim of this study is to set up management measures to protect hearing loss on the call operator by acquiring measurement data of noise transmitted from the headset. Noise exposure measurements of 17 operators were performed in 7 call centers and head and Torso simulator method in compliance with the ISO standard 11904-2 was used for the measurement of noise transmitted from the headset. Sound pressure levels(SPL) transmitted from the headset were 73.2~86 dB(A). The operator exposed to the highest SPL set up his volume control at 9 which was the highest volume level. The volume control level, adjustable from 1 to 9, could be identified 12 out of 17 operators and the range of volume levels was 4.5~9. As a result of pearson correlation analysis, the correlation between volume level and SPL transmitted from the headset showed high relation as significance at the 0.672 level(p<0.05). To protect hearing loss of call center operators, it is more practical and effective measure to limit the volume level below the noise exposure level, i.e. 85 dB(A), rather than to carry out noise monitoring considering cost-effective aspect.

Keywords

References

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  1. Analysis of occupational noise for the healthy life according to the job characteristics vol.04, pp.10, 2012, https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2012.410137