progress and the latest research news and on occupational ... - Irsst

Michel Arsenault, President of <strong>the</strong> FTQ, Marie Larue, President <strong>and</strong>
CEO of <strong>the</strong> IRSST, Yves-Thomas Dorval, President of <strong>the</strong> Conseil
du patronat
A NEW LABORATORY
The Noise <strong>and</strong> Vibration field gained a state-of-<strong>the</strong>-art acoustic laboratory. Inaugurated by <strong>the</strong> members of <strong>the</strong>
IRSST’s Board of Directors in March 2011, this unique laboratory, located in Montreal, has been dubbed ICAR,
an acronym for <strong>the</strong> French description (infrastructure commune en acoustique pour la recherche) of this shared
acoustic <strong>research</strong> infrastructure.
It was built on <strong>the</strong> campus of Montréal’s École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), a partner of this project, which also benefited
from a financial contribution from Canada Economic Development. Among o<strong>the</strong>r things, ICAR includes a semi-anechoic room
connected to a reverberant room, providing all <strong>the</strong> equipment necessary for studies on <strong>the</strong> control or elimination of noise
for more effective prevention of occupational deafness <strong>and</strong> of <strong>the</strong> accident risks related to communicating in noisy work
environments.
With this infrastructure, <strong>research</strong>ers can:
J take measurements to characterize sources of noise in
terms of <strong>the</strong>ir noise emission levels
J characterize acoustic materials in terms of <strong>the</strong>ir sound
absorption capacity
J evaluate <strong>the</strong> performance of hearing protectors
J perform auditory tests on human subjects in a very
silent environment
J use <strong>the</strong> acoustic intensimetric cartography system
to characterize a structure’s capacity to reduce noise
transmission, among o<strong>the</strong>r things.
Not only will ICAR meet <strong>research</strong>ers’ needs, but it will also
benefit <strong>the</strong> entire occupational health <strong>and</strong> safety network,
as well as Québec manufacturers involved in partnership
projects or requests for expertise. In addition, this project
clearly illustrates <strong>the</strong> solid links between <strong>the</strong> IRSST <strong>and</strong> its
partner, <strong>the</strong> ÉTS.
The reverberant room of <strong>the</strong> ICAR laboratory
IRSST — 2011 ACTIVITY REPORT IRSST — 2011 ACTIVITY REPORT 15