Hearing Protection

**deepsplinter** · 09-07-2012, 11:43 AM

I need some new headphones. The following is a response that I got from another forum....

In '08 I met Tools Editor Bob Hunter at the University of Iowa's hearing center and we spent several hours in a sound proof booth with an audiologist. We tested my hearing as a baseline, and then for the next couple of hours we tested the response of many different sets of hearing protectors.

The hands-down winner was the roll up and stuff in your ear-type foam inserts. But the rub is that you need to really cram 'em into your ears - probably a bit farther in than most people want. This was the best strategy of all of the options out there.

A second low-cost choice are THESE. In my other life as a musician I've been wearing these for going on two decades. Our lab tests showed that they were a very close second to the expanding foam type. Here the good thing is that you can easily insert and remove them. And due to the physics of their design what they do is to tame the big sounds - yet you can still hear a person talking next to you. I've got two sets of these and use them when I attend concerts or when I'm mixing sounds for other bands.

For the over-the-ear type of muffs, the very best hearing protection I've found are Noise Busters. No, they're not cheap. But this is your hearing - you don't get a second chance to get your hearing back. So IMHO, they're worth every single penny.

These are active noise-cancelling muffs. When not turned on yet, just acting as passive muffs, they attenuate the sound by 26dB. This means that they'll take that 115dB biscuit jointer and make it 89dB at your ear drums. That's safe.

For really big sounds you push the button and engage the noise cancelling feature. That engages a FURTHER 20dB of sound protection in the range where our ears are the most sensitive. What the muffs do is to digitally sample the ambient sound in the room and send a copy to your ear that's 180° out of phase with the original sound. And that, I'm sure, sounds confusing.

I'll keep the technobabble to a dead minimum here. What do you get when you add -5 to 5? You get zero. Likewise -100 to 100. Zero again. When you take an inverted wave form and add it to the original the math and the physics say that what you get at your ear drums is a sound that's.... well, not quite zero. You've still got sound leaking in from the edges and (and this is real!) you have bone conduction of the sound through your cranium and into your ears.

But what it does - and I have a set and use them in this exact application - when you're using a planer and are hogging off wood from a big board what you get is the sound as if the work was going on in the garage of the guy next door to you. That's due to the nearly 40dB of sound protection you're netting in the 1K to 3.1K frequency range - the part of the frequency spectrum that our ears are most sensitive to.

Turn the button off and the sound instantly gets louder and more present in your ears. Turn them on again and the sound becomes a tiny thing and you can comfortably use the planer for hours on end without hearing damage - or even hearing fatigue.

Additionally - I use them at the shooting range, too. They're wonderful for taming the bark of the big guns.

If you're looking for a replacement set, these are the ones to get.

This are what he's talking about http://noisebuster.net/over-the-head-features.html

I went to a garage sale this morning. An old codger was selling some of his tools. We (me and a couple other customers) had to yell so he could hear us. I heard him explain to one of the guys that he had been a machinist and woodworker all his life, and (his words) "I wish that I would have worn better hearing protection"

I've been on the fence about shelling out $150 for the Noise Busters, until this morning. They're on there way.

**FrankC** · 09-07-2012, 12:38 PM

I can vouch for the foam inserts, I have worked in factory settings most of my life and had yearly hearing tests during the last 10 or so years, after each one was advised to just keep up what I was doing.

With good hearing protection it is actually easier to hear how the machine you are working with is performing as the background noises are filtered out.

Learned from a musician friend that they also work great in a bar if you want to hear the band.

**deepsplinter** · 09-08-2012, 07:48 AM

I've heard it said that the best hearing protection is the one that you will actually use.

Expensive ear muffs won't do a bit of good if you don't wear them.

Same thing with safety glasses.

**Valkyrie** · 09-08-2012, 08:39 AM

The combination of ear muffs and safety glasses is completely uncomfortable for me, so I am more likely to not use them. I haven't used the roll up plugs, but should give them a try.

I've put my eyes and ears through way too much asbuse over the years.

**Jerry M** · 09-08-2012, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by deepsplinter

Same thing with safety glasses.

Wait. You mean the safety glasses that I keep in a drawer won't protect me?? Who knew??

**Jerry M** · 09-08-2012, 11:18 AM

But seriously, we all should be taking eye and ear protection seriously. After 20-some years in construction I NOW (after losing half my hearing) wear foam earplugs every day. Wish I had started sooner.

I'm not very good about eye protection. I hate the dust that accumulates on the glasses. Thanks for the reminder, though. Maybe if I get kicked a few more times I'll start using them.

**FrankC** · 09-08-2012, 12:40 PM

"A second low-cost choice are THESE. In my other life as a musician I've been wearing these for going on two decades. Our lab tests showed that they were a very close second to the expanding foam type. Here the good thing is that you can easily insert and remove them. And due to the physics of their design what they do is to tame the big sounds - yet you can still hear a person talking next to you. I've got two sets of these and use them when I attend concerts or when I'm mixing sounds for other bands."

The above paragraph is a perfect example of one of my pet peavies about posting, obviously there was a link attached to "THESE" but we will never know what the OP is referring to as it was lost somewhere along the line.
Second reason I don't like them is that I prefer to know where I am being sent before clicking on a link.

End of rant.

**deepsplinter** · 09-09-2012, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by FrankC

"A second low-cost choice are THESE. In my other life as a musician I've been wearing these for going on two decades. Our lab tests showed that they were a very close second to the expanding foam type. Here the good thing is that you can easily insert and remove them. And due to the physics of their design what they do is to tame the big sounds - yet you can still hear a person talking next to you. I've got two sets of these and use them when I attend concerts or when I'm mixing sounds for other bands."

The above paragraph is a perfect example of one of my pet peavies about posting, obviously there was a link attached to "THESE" but we will never know what the OP is referring to as it was lost somewhere along the line.
Second reason I don't like them is that I prefer to know where I am being sent before clicking on a link.

End of rant.

This is the "these", Frank

http://www.earplugstore.com/hehinasoearp.html

They're just another type of the inexpensive "in your ear" plugs.

I like to have a clue as to what I'm clicking on, too.

**finzona** · 09-25-2012, 05:19 PM

I have used a set of head phones that block any sound over 80-85 decibels and has a volume control to listen to the radio and the tool I'm using. Don't know where I got them or how much they cost.

**john.s** · 01-28-2013, 09:12 PM

I know that our sense of hearing cannot be replaced and so when I started woodworking I already equipped myself with safety gadgets before I can even complete my wood turning tools.

As for recommendation, I heard a lot of good things about Peltor so I went for that choice. So far I am still loving the one that I bought which is Peltor H10A. It has NRR 30. It is very comfortable to wear as well as very effective in noise elimination.