🌿 Hearing protectors — recommendations for selection, use, care and maintenance (a guidance document, not a measurement method); in accreditation scopes for the selection of hearing protectors at workplaces, together with noise measurement in octave bands and calculation of the level under the protector according to PN-EN ISO 4869-2; PN-EN 458:2026-05 (replaced PN-EN 458:2016-06)

Environment PN-EN 458

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The "Scope" field of the PKN card of the 2026 edition: "This document gives recommendations for the selection, use, care and maintenance of hearing protectors." (our translation); of the 2016 edition: "This European Standard specifies recommendations for the selection, use, care and maintenance of hearing protectors" (our translation; no full stop at the end). The description of the German edition DIN EN 458:2016-07 on the DIN Media site (in English, quoted in substance): hearing protectors are items of personal protective equipment intended to reduce the harmful effects that sound and noise may have on hearing; the standard gives recommendations for selection, use, care and maintenance and provides tools to estimate the noise exposure level when a certain hearing protector is used; hearing protectors come in two main forms — earmuffs and earplugs — with additional features and functions, each with advantages and disadvantages in terms of attenuation, comfort, ease of use, communication facilities and cost; in hearing conservation programmes noise hazard areas are identified and the personal noise exposure is assessed, and before a hearing protector is considered, priority should be given to reducing noise at source and/or the exposure time; the most important concern is for the protector to provide sufficient attenuation. We did not have the text of any edition of the standard.

STATUS (cards as of 13.10.2026). PN-EN 458:2016-06 (English version) — heading "Withdrawn and replaced by PN-EN 458:2026-05 - English version": publication 14-06-2016, "Withdrawal date: 28-05-2026", 51 pages, price group U, Health, Environment and Medicine Sector, KT 21 Personal Protective Equipment for Workers, "Adopts: EN 458:2016 [IDT]", "Replaces: PN-EN 458:2006 - Polish version", ICS 13.340.20, title ending "Guidance document" (Polish: "Dokument przewodni"). PN-EN 458:2026-05 (English version) — no "Withdrawn" heading: publication 28-05-2026, 61 pages, price group V, KT 21, "Adopts: EN 458:2025 [IDT]", "Replaces: PN-EN 458:2016-06 - English version", ICS 13.340.20, title ending "Guidance document" (Polish: "Dokument o charakterze wytycznych"). Neither edition has a Polish language version. At other publishers (read on 13.10.2026): Standard Norge — NS-EN 458:2016 "Withdrawn" on 8 January 2026, "Replaced by: NS-EN 458:2025", EU law field Directive 89/686/EEC; NS-EN 458:2025 "Published" on 8 January 2026, EU law field Regulation 2016/425; DIN Media — DIN EN 458:2016-07 "replaced by: DIN EN 458:2026-07". We do not know how the 2025 edition differs from 2016 — we did not have the text.

REGULATIONS. Regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour of 5 August 2005 on occupational safety and health in work involving exposure to noise or mechanical vibration (Journal of Laws 2005 No. 157 item 1318; status "in force" in the Sejm ELI database): individual exposure is "the actual level of exposure of a worker to noise or mechanical vibration, taking into account the attenuation obtained by using personal protective equipment" (§ 2 point 6, our translation); where the risk cannot be avoided by collective protection or work organisation, the employer makes personal hearing protection available when the action values are exceeded, and when the limit values (NDN) are reached or exceeded — makes it available and supervises its correct use (§ 6(1)); this equipment "is selected so as to eliminate the risk of hearing damage or to reduce it to the lowest level achievable under the given conditions" (§ 6(2), our translation); individual exposure must not exceed the NDN values (§ 9(1)). The annex gives the action values for noise: 80 dB for the exposure level referred to an 8-hour working day or to a working week, and 135 dB for the peak C-weighted sound level (the NDN value is adopted). The regulation names neither PN-EN 458 nor any standard on hearing protectors (read in full).

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database from the production server, refreshed on 12.10.2026). Number 458 (notation "EN 458") appears in 20 records at 9 laboratories — two records each, four at AB 940 (measurement and calculation split into separate records in the copy). In the current PCA documents (read on 12–13.10.2026; issues from 24.11.2025 — AB 870 — to 17.09.2026 — AB 940) — in 10 rows at the same 9 laboratories (AB 861 has the entry in Polish and in English); a search of all downloaded PCA documents found no laboratories outside the database copy, no row with the number is set in bold italics, and no pages are repeated in any document. Notations: "PN-EN 458:2016-06" — 7 laboratories; "PN-EN 458:2016" — AB 671, AB 752. The 2026-05 edition does not appear in any of the downloaded PCA documents. The "Laboratories" tab (search term "PN-EN 458") shows all 9 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the labcoda.pl production server on 13.10.2026.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (database copy and PCA documents). Test object: "Working environment — noise (selection of hearing protectors)" — AB 327, AB 552, AB 671, AB 861 (also in English), AB 940, AB 1695, AB 1749; "Working environment — hearing protectors" — AB 752, AB 870. Measurement: equivalent sound pressure level in octave bands 63–8000 Hz — all 9; equivalent A- and C-weighted sound levels — AB 327, AB 671, AB 861, AB 870, AB 940, AB 1749; peak C-weighted sound level (69–140 dB) — AB 861. Technique: direct measurement method. Calculation: "equivalent A-weighted sound level under hearing protectors" — AB 327, AB 752, AB 940, AB 1695, AB 1749 (at AB 861 together with the peak C-weighted sound level under hearing protectors), "effective A-weighted sound level under hearing protectors" — AB 552, AB 671, "A-weighted sound level under hearing protectors" — AB 870.

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD (the same PCA entries). PN-EN ISO 4869-2 — all 9 laboratories: the 2018 edition at 8 (at AB 940 written "PN-EN ISO 4869-2:2018-2"), the 2002 edition at AB 671 and AB 870 (AB 870 has both editions); at AB 552 and AB 1695 excluding the HML and SNR methods, at AB 1749 — the SNR method. PN-EN ISO 9612 — 7 laboratories (not AB 752 and AB 870): the 2011 edition — AB 327, AB 671, AB 861; the 2025-11 edition — AB 552, AB 940, AB 1695, AB 1749 (AB 940 still has 2011 in the database copy, and already 2025-11 in the PCA document of 17.09.2026). In-house procedure — AB 327 (ZZH-PB-05). Calculating the level under the protector according to PN-EN ISO 4869-2 and determining occupational noise exposure according to PN-EN ISO 9612 are described in separate Knowledge Base entries.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — edition: all 9 laboratories cite PN-EN 458:2016, withdrawn on 28.05.2026; the selection recommendations of the 2025 edition may differ from those of 2016 — what has changed does not follow from the cards. Second — role of the document: PN-EN 458 is a guidance document, not a measurement method — the result "under the protector" is calculated from the measured noise and the attenuation data of the protector; according to PN-EN ISO 4869-2 (a separate Knowledge Base entry) the HML and SNR methods need the C- and A-weighted sound levels, while three laboratories measure only octave bands in these entries — AB 552 and AB 1695 exclude HML and SNR from their scope, AB 752 does not exclude them. Third — assessment against the regulation: the regulation requires hearing protectors to be selected so as to eliminate the risk of hearing damage or reduce it to the lowest achievable level, and individual exposure — taking the attenuation of the protector into account — must not exceed the NDN values; the figure "under the protector" is therefore compared with the NDN and not with the action value of 80 dB, which the regulation defines without taking into account the effects of using personal protective equipment (§ 2 point 9). Fourth — the peak C-weighted sound level under hearing protectors (AB 861) stands in an entry in which PN-EN ISO 4869-2 and PN-EN ISO 9612 are cited next to PN-EN 458; the cards do not show which of these documents gives the way to calculate it.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of any edition of PN-EN 458 — we do not give the content of the selection recommendations (including the criteria for sufficient attenuation), the requirements for use and maintenance or the differences between the 2016 and 2025 editions. We did not check the NDN values for noise in the regulation on maximum admissible concentrations and intensities of harmful agents.

Method principle

A guidance document, not a measurement method: it gives recommendations for the selection, use, care and maintenance of hearing protectors (PKN card), and according to the description by the publisher DIN also tools to estimate the noise exposure level when a certain hearing protector is used. Laboratories measure noise in octave bands (63–8000 Hz) and as A- and C-weighted sound levels, and calculate the level under the protector — in accreditation scopes always together with PN-EN ISO 4869-2. WE DO NOT GIVE the content of the recommendations — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Selection of hearing protectors at workplaces — entries "selection of hearing protectors" and "hearing protectors" in the accreditation scopes of 9 laboratories
• Assessment whether individual exposure, taking the attenuation of the protector into account, does not exceed the NDN values (Journal of Laws 2005 No. 157 item 1318, § 9)
• Use, care and maintenance of hearing protectors (PKN card)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-EN 458:2026-05

Title (PL)

Ochronniki słuchu — Zalecenia dotyczące doboru, użytkowania, konserwacji codziennej i okresowej — Dokument o charakterze wytycznych

Title (EN)

Hearing protectors — Recommendations for selection, use, care and maintenance — Guidance document

Step-by-step procedure

1. Identifying exposure

   Noise hazard areas and personal exposure (DIN publisher description); priority is given to reducing noise at source and the exposure time. PN-EN 458:2026-05 current, the 2016-06 edition withdrawn on 28-05-2026.

2. Noise measurement

   In accreditation scopes: equivalent sound pressure level in octave bands 63–8000 Hz, at some laboratories A- and C-weighted sound levels, direct measurement method.

3. Calculation of the level under the protector

   "Calculated", in the scopes together with PN-EN ISO 4869-2 (a separate Knowledge Base entry); WE DO NOT GIVE the procedure of PN-EN 458.

4. Selection and assessment

   The protector is selected so as to eliminate the risk of hearing damage or reduce it to the lowest achievable level; individual exposure must not exceed the NDN (Journal of Laws 2005 No. 157 item 1318, § 6(2), § 9(1)).

Required equipment and apparatus

Health and safety (OHS)

• Noise measurements at workplaces — hearing protectors for the person measuring in noise hazard areas
• SUBJECT-MATTER NOTE: all laboratories cite the withdrawn edition PN-EN 458:2016; the current one is PN-EN 458:2026-05

Frequently asked questions