Managing Occupational Impulsive Noise from Explosive Depth Hardening Operations

•A Summary of the best-practice and legislation on the assessment of hearing protection for occupational impulsive noise is presented.•Measurements of personnel exposure from Explosive Depth Hardening (EDH) operations are reported.•Acceptability of the occupational exposures according to the UK national guidelines with the current Def-Std 0027 adapted HML method are demonstrated.•However, excessive low frequency sound and multiple pressure peaks found in EDH measurement require further investigation for quantifying uncertainties in occupational exposure.