new tech helps workers hear through the noise

For workers in refineries, offshore platforms and other noisy environments, donning personal protective equipment like hard hats and ear plugs is routine. But this protection can impede an essential safety tool: the ability to communicate.

To address this challenge, Chevron is teaming up with Mobilus Labs to deploy their mobiWAN technology, a wearable device that allows workers in noisy and windy environments to “hear” through their bones and talk with each other.

If you’ve ever tried to have a phone conversation while outside in the wind, you know how hard it can be to hear. Likewise, workers who use walkie-talkies, headphones or earbuds while in windy environments or amid the thrum of machinery can have a hard time hearing important communications. Miscommunication can lead to accidents and injuries.

“Most of the time, field workers have to run back inside or find other communication alternatives,” said Miranda Palmisano of the Chevron Technical Center and whose team helped test the technology. “So enabling clear, two-way communication at all times is huge for everybody in high-noise environments.”

Here’s how the technology works:

• The mobiWAN device attaches to the back of a hard hat and rests against a worker’s head.
• The device connects wirelessly to an app on a phone or tablet.
• When the worker takes a call, the sound travels through the mobiWAN device into the bones in the worker’s head.
• The sound then goes to the worker’s inner ear, similar to hearing, but without ears.
• Better yet, the device has coordinating communication software. When the worker speaks, the sound waves travel through the jaw and skull to mobiWAN’s microphone and on to the person or group at the other end of the line.

Not having extra equipment for their ears or in their hands means workers can keep their ear protection on and still communicate safely and clearly in noisy spaces.

Some tweaks are necessary to tailor the technology to Chevron’s needs. We tested it at one of our U.S. facilities and offered feedback to Mobilus, such as requesting battery life that matches workers’ shift length and improved audio quality.

“The ability to use the setting and get feedback from us so they can make tweaks that improve the process – that’s where the relationship with us adds significant value,” said Esteban Montero, who helps scout out new technologies for Chevron to trial and deploy.

Mobilus certified the technology for use in hazardous areas to help Chevron broadly deploy mobiWAN technology, which is helpful to the oil and gas industry as well. Chevron has plans to use the device at facilities such as chemical plants, refineries, terminals and offshore platforms.

“Chevron’s highest priority is the personal safety of our workforce,” said Lillian Moy, a technology deployment and adoption manager for Chevron. “Mobilus’ invention is a tool that can help our workers communicate safely without compromising hearing protection.”