AIHA University Webinar: Maximizing the Effectiveness of Hearing Protection Through Fit Testing

Earn 2 Contact Hours

Member $199 | Nonmember $225 | Student $25

Evidence points to incorrect and inconsistent use of hearing protection as one reason that noise-induced hearing loss is still such a common occupational condition. The labeled Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) does not provide any information about how much protection an individual worker will receive when wearing a particular hearing protector. Advances in technology offer a practical solution to solve this problem – hearing protection device (HPD) fit-testing. Conceptually equivalent to respirator fit-testing, HPD fit-testing ensures that workers are getting just the right amount of noise reduction and overcomes common pitfalls that lead to incorrect or inconsistent use.

In this webinar, presenters will review the history of HPD labeling regulations, explain the origin of and problems with de-rating strategies, introduce HPD fit-testing technologies, review HPD fit-testing studies in the lab and field, and explain why HPD fit testing is considered the best practice to ensure workers achieve reliable protection from HPDs. Presenters will then discuss the application of HPD fit testing in a hearing loss prevention program and provide step-by-step instructions for getting an HPD fit-testing program started - including criteria for choosing HPD fit-testing systems, procedures for conducting fit testing in the workplace, and guidelines for interpreting the test results.

Disclaimer
The findings and conclusions in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or Stephenson and Stephenson Research and Consulting, LLC (SASRAC). Mention of any company or product does not constitute endorsement by NIOSH, CDC or SASRAC.

Learning Objectives

After this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe the history of HPD fit-testing technology and the principles of different fit-testing systems.
• Contrast HPD performance in the real world with labeled values of HPD attenuation.
• Summarize evidence-based recommendations on how to ensure proper HPD attenuation through the application of HPD fit testing in a hearing loss prevention program.
• Identify key considerations in establishing HPD fit testing in a hearing conservation program

Presenters

	Wei Gong, MS, CIH, COHC, CDC/NIOSH Wei Gong has 15+ years of industrial hygiene experience. She is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and a Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist (COHC) at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Noise and Bioacoustics team. Her research interests include identifying hearing effects from co-exposures to noise and ototoxicants in the workplace, assessment of complex noise exposure, and evaluating the effectiveness of hearing protection devices using fit-testing methods.
	William J. Murphy, PhD Dr. William Murphy is a senior scientist with Stephenson and Stephenson Research and Consulting, a firm specializing in noise measurements and hearing loss prevention research. Dr. Murphy completed his Ph.D. in physics at Purdue University and joined the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 1992. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics and Master of Science in solid-state physics from Iowa State University and a Master of Engineering in acoustics from Penn State University. He accepted a commission as a Lieutenant scientist officer with the U.S. Public Health Service, Commissioned Corps in February 1993. Dr. Murphy retired as a Captain USPHS in March 2022 after 29 years of distinguished service. His research has focused on measurement and evaluation of impulse noise, testing and rating of hearing protection devices, and the development of audiometric test methods to evaluate the hearing for an occupational setting. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and government reports, more than 50 non-peer-reviewed article and proceedings papers, and more than 350 invited and contributed presentations and posters to national and international conferences. He is an active member of the National Hearing Conservation Association and the Acoustical Society of America. In 2012, he was honored to become a Fellow of the ASA. He is actively involved with the development of national and international standards on noise and bioacoustics within the American National Standards Institute and International Standards Organization. He is currently the vice-chair of the ASA Committee on Standards, chair of the ANSI S3 committee on bioacoustics, and is the convenor for the ISO TC43/SC1 working group 17 on Hearing Protection Devices. He has previously served as the chair and vice-chair for the ANSI S12 committee on noise. In 2015, he was recipient of the NHCA’s Outstanding Hearing Conservationist award and in 2024, he served as the 2024 NHCA Program Conference chair. He is technical editor of the Spectrum in Noise for the NHCA Spectrum publication.
	CAPT David Byrne, PhD, PHS, CDC/NIOSH CAPT David Byrne is an audiologist and acoustical researcher with more than 30 years of service as an officer in the US Army and the US Public Health Service. He received a BA in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Audiology from the Pennsylvania State University (with additional graduate study in acoustics), and a PhD in in Communication Science and Disorders from the University of Pittsburgh. David has been a Research Audiologist with NIOSH for the past 25 years and is currently assigned to the Robert A. Taft Laboratories in Cincinnati, Ohio. At NIOSH, his primary responsibilities include formulating and conducting both field and laboratory research involving the effects of exposure to noise. He is the Team Leader for the Noise and Bioacoustics Team of researchers. CAPT Byrne’s previous work history includes being on active duty in the U.S. Army and working at the Bio-Acoustics Division at the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency. He also has worked for an acoustical consulting firm doing industrial noise control projects. David holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and an Audiology license from the State of Ohio. He is also certified as a Course Director by the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC).
	Christa L. Themann, MA, CCC-A, CDC/NIOSH Christa Themann is a Research Audiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her research experience includes animal studies on the effects of impulse noise on hearing, new methods for assessing hearing protector attenuation, and developing effective hearing loss prevention strategies for workers with impaired hearing. Christa has also managed audiometric testing for several large epidemiologic studies including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and the Reykjavik Study of Healthy Aging for the New Millennium. She is interested in integrating hearing health into overall wellness programs (e.g., through a Total Worker Health® approach) and in translating research findings into appropriate educational materials using traditional and new media.

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