The Pulsar Instruments plc (UK) "Assessor" is renowned as the simplest approved noise meter available for Industrial Health and Safety. Indeed, with only four buttons and a display that gives the user full data on all the parameters the European Directive and HSE require, it is hard to beat for simplicity. It is truly a "point and shoot" meter where in a single measurement all the data is gathered to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.
However, the Assessor was never intended to be used as a diagnostic tool to determine the choice of personal hearing protection. Indeed, conventional wisdom has always been that "simple to use" and "diagnostic" were mutually incompatible. A new version of the Assessor changes this and allows even the biggest technophobe to make quick and accurate measurements to select the appropriate hearing protection for a wide range of noises and in many different areas.
The new addition to the Assessor range has only one extra button, making a total of five, so compared with one competing instrument that has 21 buttons needed to operate it, the Assessor is truly a revolution in measurement simplicity. Assessor uses the HML or High-Medium-Low selection method well described in the HSE official web site and in many scientific papers. On the HSE site, a simple spreadsheet is available to use the data given by the Assessor to allow a proper choice of hearing protection or PPE.
In use, the meter is simply turned ON and the reading allowed to settle, when the instrument totally automatically measures all the legally required parameters AND also gives the "C minus A" metric more correctly called [LCeq - LAeq] and this is used with the HSE spreadsheet available at www.hse.gov.uk/noise/hearingcalc.xls.
The new Assessor is available in two variants, both completely complying with the latest International standard IEC 61672; model 81 at Laboratory Precision Class 1 level, while the lower cost model 82 complies with Class 2 industrial accuracy. As usual with Pulsar Instruments, they are normally supplied was a full measuring kit with everything needed to make the measurements - including of course a comprehensive manual of operation.
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