Hearing Protection Buying Guide

When you work in a noisy environment, you need the right personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect your hearing. If you don’t have the right gear, there are a few things that will happen: tinnitus, acoustic trauma, temporary hearing loss, industrial or occupational deafness and even complete hearing loss. How do you choose the right PPE to protect your hearing for your job?

Earplugs

Earplugs stop sound from getting into your ear canal. This cuts down on the sound pressure that gets to your eardrum and is the best way to protect your hearing.

Some earplugs can only be used once and then thrown away, while others can be washed and used more than once. Some earplugs come with a band, some with a cord or strap and some just in a small package. To avoid infections, it should go without saying that you don’t share used earplugs, even if they have been cleaned.

Ear Defenders

Ear defenders, work in a very different way. They cover the whole ear and stay in place with light pressure from the band that goes over the head. They kind of look like headphones. Some earplugs don’t have a full headband. Instead, they clip to the side of a hard hat, which makes them perfect for construction, groundwork and roadwork.

Earmuffs

Earmuffs muffle the sound pressure that gets into the ear canal. They can be worn over the head or clipped to the head. Because of this, you need to make sure there is a good seal between the cups and the head.

Electric Ear Protection

Electronic ear protection is a new thing that works a lot like noise-canceling headphones. Most of the time, you can adjust the amount of sound that gets into your ear, and they electronically reduce noise to below 85 decibels (dBs).

How To Pick the Right Hearing Protection for the Noise Level Where You Work

When choosing the right hearing protection for your job, you should think about how much noise needs to be blocked out and how much sound needs to be kept in. You can do this by choosing between simple earplugs and earmuffs.

Both can protect your hearing, but earplugs usually do a better job. The noise reduction rating (NRR), for earplugs, is between 22 and 33dBs, while it is between 20 and 30dBs for earmuffs. But using both will give you more protection and may be the best way to go.

Earplugs or Defenders?

Aside from NRR, earplugs, ear protectors and helmet-mounted earmuffs all have their own pros and cons. One size fits most heads, they are easy to see from a distance, they don’t get lost and you can wear them even if you have a minor ear infection.

The defenders are heavier and harder to move around with. They are also uncomfortable in humid places, hard to use in small spaces, and can get in the way of safety glasses, goggles or masks.

Earplugs that you throw away are small and light. They work well in small spaces and can be used with other hearing protection. The downsides are that they take more time to get used to, require better hygiene, might irritate the ear canal, are easy to lose and are hard to see.

Fit and Comfort

If hearing protection is comfortable to wear, employees are more likely to use it at work. It may seem obvious to wear hearing protection, but how frequently do your employees not use their PPE because it is uncomfortable?

The best way to make sure you’re comfortable is to make sure the ear protection fits well. For earplugs to work, they have to fit tightly in the ear canal. Earplugs have to fit tightly against the side of the head.

Hair and clothes shouldn’t get in the way of either way of protecting your ears. The majority of a foam-bodied earplug should be in the ear canal. To make sure that your earplugs are the right size, cup your hands over your ears. When you take them out, the sound level shouldn’t change. If the sound has changed, you need to put the ear plugs back in.

There are disposable earplugs and ones with a band that are comfortable, and many brands of earmuffs have soft ear cushions and straps that you can adjust. Most ear defenders that attach to a safety helmet have soft ear cushions and how comfortable they are will depend on how comfortable the helmet is. Try out different kinds of hearing protection to see what works best for them.

Hearing safety is important for keeping your employees safe and happy, so make sure you choose the right PPE based on what you know.

To keep yourself safe, you should make sure that the ear PPE meets safety standards. Find out what kind of hearing protection is best for your job and do your research. Call (864) 810-6238 to talk to an audiologist at Davis Audiology to find out more.