{"id":6496,"date":"2013-07-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-journals.internal\/?p=6496"},"modified":"2017-02-24T16:31:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:31:56","slug":"is-blu-tack-as-effective-at-attenuating-sound-as-over-the-counter-ear-plugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/is-blu-tack-as-effective-at-attenuating-sound-as-over-the-counter-ear-plugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Blu-tack as effective at attenuating sound as over-the-counter ear plugs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new study has revealed that using Blu-tack to protect the ears can be as effective as inserting custom-made, shop-bought earplugs from Boots and Aearo.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University Hospital of South Manchester and the Withington Community Hospital have reported their findings in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology<\/i>. They conclude that Blu-tack \u2013 a non-toxic adhesive putty produced by Bostik since the 1970s \u2013 is a \u2018comfortable alternative to over-the-counter ear plugs for the attenuation of everyday sound.\u2019<\/p>\n

Numerous means of hearing protection are available to prevent the negative physiological and psychological effects that can be caused by the noise we are exposed to on a daily basis. Designed to be \u2018affordable, comfortable, and disposable\u2019, they aim to attenuate mid to high frequency sounds by 20-30 dB. They are usually made from foam, putty, wax, and silicone polymers and can be purchased at most pharmacies. Blu-tack can now be counted as an additional option when it comes to defending against noise.<\/p>\n

The idea for the investigation came from main author G J Watson who, when using Blu-tack to prevent water from entering the ears following the insertion of ventilation tubes, noticed that it attenuated sound.<\/p>\n

Nineteen volunteers participated in the study. They were provided with E-A-Rsoft disposable yellow foam plugs (Aearo), Boots Muffles wax ear plugs, Boots Flight ear plugs, and Blu-tack. Their hearing thresholds were assessed before and after the insertion of the ear plugs at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 kHz. The results were compared with hearing thresholds after the insertion of Blu-tack.<\/p>\n

Volunteers were also asked to assess how easy to insert the ear plugs and Blu-tack were, how comfortable they were, and how much peace of mind they offered.<\/p>\n

Blu-tack was not as effective as the ear plugs at attenuating sound at low frequencies, but performed as well as the ear plugs at frequencies over 3 kHz. And, perhaps surprisingly, Blu-tack was rated as significantly more comfortable to wear. Participants found that Blu-tack was as easy to insert as the ear-plugs, and offered them the same peace of mind.<\/p>\n

The authors conclude that Blu-tack is\u00a0as effective as over-the-counter ear plugs at attenuating frequencies above 3 kHz. It was considered comfortable and safe to use and could therefore be regarded as an alternative option when wishing to attenuate everyday sound.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The full paper is available free for a limited time\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

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A new study has revealed that using Blu-tack to protect the ears can be as effective as inserting custom-made, shop-bought earplugs from Boots and Aearo. Researchers from the University Hospital of South Manchester and the Withington Community Hospital have reported their findings in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology. They conclude that Blu-tack \u2013 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2255,9],"tags":[613,614,377,615,10],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicine-health-science","category-science-technology","tag-blu-tack","tag-hearing","tag-jlo","tag-journal-of-laryngology-otology","tag-medicine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6496"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}