"In rapidly changing environments and high noise, workers must strike a balance between achieving an acceptable level of hearing protection, the ability to remain aware of their total environment, and clearly communicating with co-workers in person or by radio," according to Renee S. Bessette, COHC, global brand manager for Howard Leight/Honeywell Safety Products. "The ability for workers to identify, process, and comprehend critical information while communicating clearly is essential to the safety of the entire work team."
HONEYWELL SAFETY PRODUCTS introduced a new system that it indicated delivers “life-critical communication and smart, verifiable hearing protection for workers in high-noise environments.” The QuietPro QP100Ex was developed jointly with a global energy company and based on technology deployed to U.S. and NATO forces. Honeywell claims the system is unique in delivering “smart” personal hearing protection, verifiable personal noise exposure monitoring, and fully adaptive situational awareness, as well as providing the clearest in-ear communication throughout a full range of noise environments. The QuietPro QP100Ex provides real-time personal exposure noise monitoring to protect workers against the risk of hearing loss. Through patented, in-ear dosimetry, microphones inside each eartip measure every sound that reaches the user's ear, supplying continuous monitoring of personal noise exposure. Audible and visual signals alert workers when they are approaching or have met their daily noise dose. This enables safety managers and workers to address the potential of noise-induced hearing loss in real time. Not only can this information prevent further occupational hearing loss, it can improve productivity by streamlining worker deployment, matching shift hours with permissible exposures more efficiently.
The system’s patented automatic fit check at startup performs a quick calibration check to detect proper fit, and to validate adequate hearing protection and clear communication in each ear. Users are alerted if a minimum level of protection is not achieved and a refit is required.
Worker's two-way communication and speech intelligibility, especially in high noise are improved thanks to QuietPro QP100Ex’s patented digital Active Noise Reduction (ANR) technology that monitors ambient sound continuously to reduce the levels of noise across the spectrum of frequencies to acceptable levels in real time. This allows workers to hear ambient sounds at safe levels (even in intermittent and impact noise) and provides increasing low-frequency attenuation for clear, intelligible communications.
Connected to two-way com radios, QuietPro QP100Ex allows users to hear communication without compromising listening quality, even in high-noise situations. Through its in-ear headset, QUIETPRO QP100Ex captures voice transmission inside the ear canal via air conduction, enabling users to speak at a normal level and be heard by the person on the other radio without picking up environmental noises - compressors or pumps in engine rooms, steel forging equipment, or draglines in surface mines - or compromising speech intelligibility.
Honeywell Safety Products is a family of personal protection products with brands that include Honeywell, Uvex, North, Miller, Fibre-Metal, Howard Leight, and Servus. Visit www.honeywellsafetyproducts.com.