If these are feasible and necessary, (technical) noise abatement measures are preferable to wearing ear protection devices. In principle, the following aspects, ranked by importance, have to be considered:
- Room acoustics and use of low-noise machines and technologies
- Reducing machine noise to a minimum by means of encapsulation, silencers or vibration-insulated bearings
- Noise zones are to be delineated (i.e. by means of sound barriers), marked and separated; suitable hearing protection is to be worn inside such zones.