Measurement of employee noise exposure—Sound level meter procedures

Even in this era of sophisticated digital instrumentation, the simple hand‐held sound level meter continues to hold its place as a workhorse in the measurement of employee noise exposure. The history of the sound level meter for such measurements is briefly reviewed and a summary is given of the major advantages and disadvantages of using a sound level meter for occupational noise exposure measurements. Some of the problems, perils, and pitfalls of conducting such measurements are highlighted. A brief review is given of accuracy requirements and calibration procedures. Spatial sampling problems are briefly discussed. The remainder of the talk concentrates on temporal sampling procedures for determination of employee noise exposure associated with time‐varying noise; a simple procedure is described for accurate measurement of noise dose using a hand‐held sound level meter.