Effect of Hearing and Head Protection on the Localization of Tonal and Broadband Reverse Alarms.

Objective: This study explored the effects of hearing protection devices (HPDs) and head protection on the ability of normal-hearing individuals to localize reverse alarms in background noise.

Background: Among factors potentially contributing to accidents involving heavy vehicles, reverse alarms can be difficult to localize in space, leading to errors in identifying the source of danger. Previous studies have shown that traditional tonal alarms are more difficult to localize than broadband alarms.