The sound attenuation characteristics of two military helmets were measured using an acoustic manikin as the test apparatus. The manikin results are compared to the results of attenuation measurements made on human subjects wearing identical helmets. The testing room and instrumentation were the same for both the manikin and human subjects. Procedures in ANSI S3.19‐1974 were used in the real‐ear attentuation at threshold (REAT) part of this study. The results are encouraging as they suggest that the manikin may be used in place of a panel of human subjects to evaluate the hearing protection characteristics of military head gear.