Joint Service Aircrew Mask (JSAM) - Tactical Aircraft (TA) Modified A/P22P-14A (V)3: Noise Attenuation and Speech Intelligibility Performance

Noise attenuation and speech intelligibility measurements were conducted in accordance with American National Standards Institute ANSI S12.6-1997 Methods for Measuring the Real-Ear Attenuation of Hearing Protectors and ANSI S3.2-2009 Method for Measuring the Intelligibility of Speech over Communication Systems on the modified AP22P-14A V3 with the HGU-55P flight helmet. Attenuation and speech intelligibility performance measurements were also conducted with Attenuating Custom Communication Earpiece System ACCES worn in combination with the helmet and hood. The objective of these measurements was to determine if the JSAM-TA performance specification requirements were being met. When worn in combination with the HGU-55P and the modified AP22P-14A V3, ACCES increased noise attenuation across all frequencies, ranging from 125 Hz to 8000Hz, when compared to the helmethood configuration alone. Both configurations failed to meet the speech intelligibility requirement morer than or equal to 85 for low noise environments when using a torso-mounted communications unit, with scores for both configurations at 57. Speech intelligibility requirements were met or exceeded for the required high noise environments, when hardwired into an aircraft communication system, with scores ranging from 85 to 92.