This investigation had two goals: first was the evaluation of noise annoyance in seven control rooms based on listening tests and psychoacoustical parameters; second was the comparison of four hearing protective devices in terms of noise annoyance while exposed to loud sounds from a steel plant. Binaural recording technique was used for recording and playback of the sound signals. A total of 48 subjects participated in the first experiment and 8 subjects participated in the second experiment. They evaluated noise annoyance on an 11 point scale. In the second experiment four hearing protective devices were tested: two types of ear cups, slow-recovery foam ear plugs and custom modeled ear plugs. Loudness and roughness were the most significant contributors to noise annoyance in control rooms. Interaction between loudness, sharpness, roughness, and tonality were statistically significant. Noise annoyance with ear cups was lower than with ear plugs. However, this effect was dependent on gender. Ear cups reduced noise annoyance for male subjects more, than for female subjects