Can music headphones be used at work?
Can music headphones be used at work? Short answer: no, these can’t be worn in high noise areas or used as hearing protection, and this applies equally to over-head styles, in-ear styles and bone conduction.
If you have no noise risk then there is nothing stopping them being used - this is just where the noise assessment has identified a noise risk. Companies may choose to ban it (although personally I don’t see any reason why they should - you can easily check if people can still hear things like fire alarms when using them) but there is no law saying they can’t be used.
So, all this pertains to somewhere with a noise risk.
The law says an employer can’t permit it.
Employers have a legal duty to provide hearing protection which is certified as hearing protection under a branch of EN352, and carries a CE or UKCA mark confirming it has been assessed as hearing protection. It will have performance figures such as an SNR value.
If music playing headphones do not have this, then it is simply illegal for them to be used in a high noise workplace. Standard music headphones of any type are not certified as hearing protection therefore are not allowed to be used.
But there are other issues:
Noise reduction claims made by manufacturers for noise-cancelling headphones
Noise reduction levels in Apple Air Pods 2
Source: Apple, click to enlarge
Noise reduction levels claimed by music headphone manufacturers can seem quite good, for example this is the data for Apple Air Pods Pro 2 and with active noise cancellation they are claiming to reduce noise levels by 25 to 30 dB, which is significant.
I have some of these and some Sony XM5 over-ear ones and both do make a significant difference to background noise levels, but that is not certified under EN352.
One problem is that often with active noise cancelling, the noise cancelling is not entirely consistent depending on the external noise, so you may not always be getting the noise reduction expected. This kind of very-simplified data can be a little misleading.
There is one more wee issue here to be aware of, and this will have non-noise people shaking their heads a bit, but the standards for noise safety are different around the world.
In Apple’s data here they are using American data so have things in that table like it being OK to be in 90 dB for up to four hours. No, here in the UK and in the EU, the safe limit for four hours is considered to be 88 dB, not 90 dB, we would consider the safe time for a noise level of 90 dB to be two and a half hours, not four.
We can’t take manufacturer’s data as gospel.
Put it this way, if Apple could get their AirPods certified as hearing protection as the noise cancelling feature was so good and reliable they’d do it in a heartbeat, the sales would be huge! I am sure that will come soon - at some point Bose or Sony or Apple or someone will get their music headphones certified, but until then they simply aren’t hearing protection and can’t be used at work, no matter how good the data provided by manufacturers appears.
Noise cancelling removes noise, then the music adds it back.
People don’t tend to wear headphones quietly, nobody does. As a noise-nerd I am more aware of noise risks than most, but if I switch from my Sony XM5 or AirPod headphones to my ISOTunes hearing protection which has volume-limited music playback, the ISOTunes sounds incredibly quiet. ISOTunes are hearing protection first and foremost so the music playback is limited to below 85 dB(A) meaning they can be used at work.
There is no way I would listen to normal music headphones at that volume, nobody would.
That means if the noise-cancelling reduces external noise levels by 25dB (to use Apple’s data above) then the music playback will add that noise back in again plus a lot more, and if they are wearing them all day every day at work, their hearing will be damaged.
The employer can retain liability for hearing loss
As a follow-on, if someone has worn music headphones in a high noise area instead of hearing protection, the employer now has a liability for any music-induced hearing loss they may suffer! The employer has them working in a noise risk area and has not enforced the use of hearing protection - if that person puts a claim in for hearing loss caused by their job, the employer will be getting the cheque book out as they will more than likely lose a claim.
Air Pods Pro 2 marketed with a ‘hearing protection’ function
Apple and then journalists talking about noise-cancelling headphones in the media and press don’t help to be honest. They throw around phrases like ‘hearing protection’ or ‘protecting hearing’ in relation to noise cancelling headphones but that is just wrong. ‘Hearing protection’ is a definite and specific thing and primarily it means it is certified as hearing protection, which these music headphones are not.
Apple’s marketing and the journalists writing about using noise cancelling headphones as hearing protection are a little too free and easy with the terminology without actually understanding it.
‘Hearing protection’ is a very specific thing and the AirPods Pro 2 ‘hearing protection’ function (when finally rolled out in the UK) is not ‘hearing protection’ for the workplace. No doubt other manufacturers will follow suit pretty quickly. Safety people will need to clamp down on this in their workplaces. Feel free to point people who ask back to this page, I don’t mind being the bad guy saying ‘no’.
