A Procedure for Quantifying the Benefit and Cost Effectiveness of Noise Control Methods

The benefit to an individual worker of a noise control measure is assessed by comparing their personal daily noise exposure before and after modifications. However, in complicated situations, such as factories, several workers' exposure may be reduced by the same noise control measure to differing degrees, and the overall improvement cannot be quantified so easily. In the paper a procedure is proposed in which the benefit of a noise control measure to all workers is given as a single figure rating. Proper before and after comparison of the overall improvement is then possible. This rating can also be used to quantify the cost effectiveness of various options. An example calculation is given.