Thread: Suppressor effectiveness - Think about this!

ODL-

There is nothing I have read to make me support a particular dose/cumulative energy approach to specifying safe exposure to impulse noise.

The mechanism of damage is mechanical trauma to the Organ of Corti. This appears, according to the literature, to occur when the sound pressure level ( read- ~ peak acceleration) exceeds a threshold of 140SPL. I couldn't support any conclusion that this can be traded off by "shorter" peaks and/or a greater number of sub-threshold exposures. The 3dB integration rule that applies to (sub-115dB(A) ) continuous noise doesn't apply here as I read it.