It is likely that millions of employees throughout the world are exposed to excessive levels of noise in the workplace with many people already suffering work-related hearing loss and other related medical conditions. It is not surprising that employers are placing increasing importance on providing the right hearing protection and are demanding a wider range of protectors with better performance. SATRA’s test facility can help you ensure your products are meeting this demand.

To ensure hearing protection is fit for purpose, products for sale in Europe must meet the EN 352 series of European standards. To meet these standards, rigorous testing and review must be carried out in the following areas (subject to product type): materials and construction; sizing and adjustability; cup rotation; headband force; cushion pressure; resistance to damage when dropped; change in headband force; insertion loss; resistance to leakage; ignitability; minimum attenuation; marking; information supplied by the manufacturer.

For hearing protection products destined for the US market, manufacturers should refer to the standard ANSI/ASA S12.6-2008, and for Australia and New Zealand, AS/NZS 1270:2002.

We can also test sound power and emission sound pressure according to the requirements of several European directives. The most notable of these are the Machinery Directive (Directive 2006/42/EC), the Energy Labelling Directive (Directive 2010/30/EU) and the Environmental Noise Emission Directive (Directive 2000/14/EC). For a variety of reasons these requirements are often misinterpreted, however, to fully comply with the directives an accurate and repeatable acoustic assessment must be undertaken. SATRA tests to a number of European and international standards to ensure that products comply with the requirements including EN ISO 3744, EN ISO 3745, EN ISO 3746, EN ISO 11201, EN ISO 11202, EN ISO 11204, EN ISO 11546-1, EN ISO 8253-2