Standards for hearing protection at work
The phrase ‘hearing protection’ has a very specific meaning in the UK’s noise legislation.
Key points on standards for hearing protection at work
Hearing protection must be certified to one of the branches of EN352.
It must carry either a CE or UKCA mark, or as you more commonly see, both. But one is OK.
It must have a certified SNR level.
If you can only see an NRR figure then that is not good enough, NRR has no application in the UK or EU and is not synonymous with SNR.
To misquote a famous line from the bad tempered human-eating big fish film, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Brexit rears its head again.
The pre-Brexit standard was EN 352 and its various sub-divisions, and all hearing protection had to be certified to EN 352 in order to be used at work, and when things comply with EN 352 they get that all-important CE mark.
Post-Brexit we developed the UKCA standard - UK Conformity Assessed but the EN standard and CE mark still exists.
The UK Government has extended the recognition of the EU markings like CE indefinitely for hearing protection. It was due to expire in 2024 and only UKCA marking would be accepted from then on but this was modified to the current indefinite recognition of CE marks. This means PPE, including hearing protection, can be marked with UKCA or CE. Sometimes both or sometimes one or the other depending on what the manufacturer prefers. Both UKCA and CE are therefore acceptable markings.
UKCA and CE marking
Having this mark means the hearing protection meets the UK standards needed and all hearing protection you buy should have this on the product or packaging.
Basically, the UK said ‘we’ll have our own certification mark as we like that kind of thing, but we’ll use the existing European standard for all the tiresome detail’. This means the actual detail of how hearing protection is certified falls under EN 352, as it always did. If something meets the EN requirements and is CE marked, it also meets the UKCA one.
This makes sense really. No hearing protection manufacturer is just going to make a product for the UK and having to then certify it here as well as in the EU wouldn’t work so the UK just said if they use the EN standards that’s fine.
EN 352 or to use the proper name, EN 352:2002
This one deals with all the detail of how hearing protection is tested and sets out what hearing protection performance is assessed against. There are three main sub-divisions within it:
EN 351-1: Covers ear muffs
EN 352-2: Covers ear plugs
EN 352-3: Covers ear muffs attached to a helmet
There are a few others as well which cover things like active ear muffs (ones where the noise protection kicks in when external noise reaches a certain level), or ones with bluetooth audio playback, etc. There are all numbers EN 352 and then 4 to 8.
There are loads of requirements within each one of those. So for ear muffs it includes things like construction materials, pressure on the head, can you set fire to them (burning ear muffs are generally considered something to avoid). For ear plugs it is much the same and for reusable plugs whether cleaning them reduces their effectiveness. Again interestingly, it specifically tests whether ear plugs can be ignited - I guess if burning ear muffs is bad then burning ear plugs is even worse.
The most important outcome of these tests though is the minimum noise reduction (attenuation) offered by the hearing protection. That’s the crucial one as we need to know how many decibels a protector reduces noise by. That includes SNR, HML and octave band data.
It is worth mentioning that the current revision of L108 references the EN standard throughout when talking about hearing protection.
What information you need on hearing protection
When choosing hearing protection you need to make sure it has:
UKCA and/or CE marking.
An SNR figure
That does mean normal noise cancelling headphones are NOT hearing protection as they are not tested and certified to EN 352. So no AirPods, Bose QuietComfort, Sony XMwatever-the-latest-number-is, and so on, none of those are certified as hearing protection.
FAQ: Standards for hearing protection
My headphones are noise cancelling, can I wear those at work instead?
If you work in a low noise environment then there is nothing stopping you wearing them. If you work in a high noise environment then no, they cannot be worn as they do not have a certified SNR figure, they do not class as hearing protection.
Apple refer to the AirPods as having a hearing protection function, are they OK for work?
Again, no. Apple’s use of ‘hearing protection’ is a little naughty as they are not certified as hearing protection. ‘Hearing protection’ as a term has a very specific meaning and AirPods do not meet this. If Apple could get the AirPods certified I am sure they would as the potential market for people to then use them at work would be huge. I am sure that will come at some point, just not yet.
Why is it OK to have ear muffs which have Bluetooth functions but not headphones?
The ear muffs (such a the ISOTunes range) are hearing protection first and foremost. They have a certified SNR and also have volume limits for the internal playback.
More information on hearing testing at work
Article last reviewed and updated 26th April 2026
