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Research & Consulting

Our Research Is Sound

SASRAC

What We Do

SASRAC offers expert research and consulting services in occupational and environmental safety and health. Some areas of expertise include establishing hearing damage risk criteria, analyzing impulsive noise levels, assessing the effectiveness of hearing protection devices, and developing wireless audiometric testing solutions.

SASRAC specializes in bioacoustic and hearing conservation research. 

  • Studies of impulsive noise risk and the development, execution, and analysis of hearing assessment protocols in studies with large samples of human subjects (e.g., the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, High School and Beyond Study, World Trade Center Health Registry, and the New York City Fire Department Longitudinal Study of First Responders to the World Trade Center Attacks).

SASRAC frequently develops study protocols…

  • designed to address environmental, occupational, and recreational noise exposures
  • measurement of impulsive noises
  • assessment of hearing protector effectiveness

SASRAC provides expert witness testimony and legal consulting for cases related to…

  • noise exposure
  • hearing loss
  • occupational and environmental noise
  • biocommunications
  • hearing protection
  • hearing conservation education and training
  • sound measurement

SASRAC possesses existing facilities and resources to support diverse auditory research and consulting efforts.

  • The SASRAC measurement, signal processing, programming, and data management/analysis functions center upon multi-processor computer workstations and high-capacity data storage systems accessible using a secure encrypted hardware VPN.
  • Measurement hardware includes instrumentation based upon National Instruments (NI) dynamic signal analysis modules using the PCI Express Extensions for Instrumentation (PXIe) standard.
  • Measurement microphones, preamplifiers, and calibrators traceable to the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology permit state-of-the-art measurements of sounds up to 191 dB SPL and the frequency range from 5 Hz to 100 kHz.
  • Acoustic test fixture testing for signals up to 173 dB SPL in the fixture ear canal can also be conducted.
  • A small anechoic chamber is available for assessing the electroacoustic characteristics of hearing aids and other devices.
  • Software resources include multiple technical computing platforms (e.g., MATLAB) and toolboxes (e.g., data acquisition, signal processing, image processing) and data analysis software (e.g., Stata), as well as the production of stand-alone software that can be executed on computers using the Windows operating system.

Why Trust Us?

SASRAC personnel have collaborated on key bioacoustic research efforts for decades.

Here are just a few examples:

  • In the 1970s and 1980s key SASRAC personnel were instrumental in the establishment of U.S. EPA and OSHA noise recommendations and regulations.
  • In the 1970s and 1980s, key SASRAC personnel developed hearing damage risk criteria for long-duration (i.e., > 8 hours) noise exposures.
  • In the 1980s, key SASRAC personnel were instrumental in the development of the Department of Defense hearing conservation standards.
  • In the 1990s, key SASRAC personnel were instrumental in the development of the NIOSH hearing damage risk criteria leading to the widespread adoption of the 3-dB exchange rate and the 85 dBA permissible exposure limit.
  • In the early 2000s SASRAC personnel were instrumental in developing the American Academy of Audiology’s position statement on preventing noise-induced hearing loss.
  • In the early 2000s, key SASRAC personnel collaborated with the National Academy of Medicine (then the Institute of Medicine) to develop guidelines for preventing hearing loss in the military.
  • In 2009 key SASRAC personnel collaborated on a large-scale (> 500 participants and 2500 lab visits) study of the reliability of hearing sensitivity, otoscopy, and middle ear test results.
  • In 2012, SASRAC scientists completed a multi-year study that quantified the typical daily non-occupational noise exposures of Americans.
  • In 2013, key SASRAC personnel were recognized by the CDC for their applied research regarding the development of new technologies and hardware for fit-testing hearing protectors.
  • In 2014, SASRAC developed practical methodologies and hardware that improved the accuracy and reliability of hearing threshold measurements between 4 kHz and 8 kHz.
  • Between 2015 and 2020, SASRAC scientists were instrumental in developing authoritative and widely adopted population-based age adjustment tables for use in occupational hearing conservation programs.
  • From 2000 to the present, SASRAC scientists have played a leading role in developing training methods and guidelines for improving hearing protector performance in the real world.
  • From 2010 to the present, SASRAC scientists have engaged in ground-breaking research leading to improved methods and technologies for measuring and assessing impulsive noise.