Combining IoT and AI technologies to improve safety in noisy industrial environments

Industry 4.0 requires new safety standards, especially for hearing protection, as prolonged exposure to industrial noise can cause irreversible damage. This highlights the need for innovative hearing protection. With the advent of the Smart Factory, enabling technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are being integrated to enhance worker safety and well-being. This work presents the design and development of a smart hearing protection system incorporating noise-cancelling headphones that dynamically filter harmful noise while allowing essential acoustic signals, such as alarms and voice alerts, to pass through for safety. The system is designed to send safety notifications directly to workers’ headphones using MQTT and indoor positioning via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. This ensures that alerts reach workers at risk, such as those near malfunctioning machinery. The developed prototype demonstrator allowed the validation of the proposed solution in a controlled environment.