UNIT 5

NOISE CALCULATIONS

HPEO 408
Occupational Health Hazards
 EXCHANGE RATE

 Two common exchange rates used in industry (3 dBA and 5 dBA)

 Also called “doubling rate”, “trading ratio”, “time-intensity tradeoff”, and “equal-
energy rule”

 3 dBA exchange rate

 More conservative than 5 dBA exchange rate

 Theoretically total daily dose is more important than actual exposure levels

 Equal amounts of sound energy will produce equal amounts of hearing

impairment regardless of how it is distributed over time

 Therefore, a 3 dBA increase/decrease in noise levels equals doubling/halving of

the sound energy
 Use this to calculate permissible limits (allowable exposure times)
 PERMISSIBLE LIMITS

 The allowable time a worker can be exposed to noise

 Changes based on noise level and exchange rate

 To calculate permissible limits we can make a permissible limits table (next

slide)

 For example:
 If we start an exposure limit of 85 dBA for 8 hours, we know if we double the
exposure (i.e. 85 dBA + 3 dBA = 88 dBA)
 Then the permissible time would be halved (i.e. 8 hours/2 = 4 hours)

 Note there are more complex equations available but for this course we will
be using the tables to determine permissible limits
 PERMISSIBLE LIMITS
(3dBA EXCHANGE RATE)

Halving Doubling
Noise level Permissible Noise level Permissible
(dBA) Time (hours) (dBA) Time (hours)
61 2048 85 8
64 1024 88 4
67 512 91 2
70 256 94 1
73 128 97 0.5
76 64 100 0.25
79 32 103 0.125
82 16 106 0.0625
85 8 109 0.03125
 “NOISE LEVEL” VS. DOSE

 Noise level is the ‘loudness’ of the noise exposure

 Dose is a percentage of allowable total daily noise exposure

 Combines intensity (noise level) and exposure time

 For example:
 8 hr exposure at the exposure limit is the maximum therefore;
 8 hr @ 85 dBA = 100% dose
 DOSE CALCULATION

Where:

Cn = Duration of time exposed to noise level n

Tn = Permissible duration of exposure of noise level n

 DOSE CALCULATION EXAMPLE

 Assume a worker spends:

 6 hours on a production line with a noise level of 85 dBA
 1 hour performing cleanup with an average noise level of 88 dBA
 1 hour in the lunch room with an average noise level of 73 dBA

 Calculate daily dose

 Step 1: determine permissible exposure times for each activity (Tn) from
permissible limits table

 85 dBA = 8 hours
 88 dBA = 4 hours
 73 dBA = 128 hours
DOSE CALCULATION EXAMPLE CONT.
TWA ESTIMATION FROM DOSE?
 REFERENCES FOR NOISE CALCULATIONS

 WorkSafeBC – How to conduct noise survey’s

 http://
www.worksafebc.com/publications/health_and_safety/by_topic/assets/pdf/occup

 WorkSafeBC noise calculations

 http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/health_and_safety/by_topic/assets/pdf

 Methods for dealing with non 8-hr work shifts (i.e. Lex)
 http
://www2.worksafebc.com/publications/OHSRegulation/GuidelinePart7.asp#Sectio