The Department of Defense will soon require fit testing for hearing protection to guard against permanent hearing loss when exposed to high noise levels like firearms, explosives, and vehicle noise exposure on- or off-duty.
There are potential issues with current hearing protective device standards that fit testing can address, and current standards for selecting and issuing hearing protection are designed to ensure roughly 95% of all individuals who use a device without fit-test verification are able to obtain enough noise reduction to prevent them from exceeding their maximum allowable daily noise exposure.
