Ear Protection- Beware and Be Sure

JohnnyG

JohnnyG

Honorary Lifetime CEO
Staff member
Having just acquired a set of Isotunes-Pro, noise cancelling bluetooth headphones, I was doing some research and found the following. One video mentioned 27 Decibel NRR rated earphones will actually be about, 27 minus 7 or 20, divided by 2 equals 10 NRR in practice. Do some Google searching and see what you find. I was quite shocked. Know what you are buying.

NRR Ratings
The performance of earplugs and earmuffs varies between brands and styles. One way to choose a hearing protector is to compare Noise Reduction Ratings. The Noise Reduction Rating, or NRR, measures the muff's or plug's ability to block out noise or "attenuate"; sound. This measurement is stated in decibels; a plug with an NRR of 26 blocks out a maximum of 26 decibels of noise. The NRR listed is the maximum protection that could be achieved if the plug fit the wearer perfectly and was inserted correctly. In most work situations attenuation is half of the listed NRR. For example, if the NRR is 30 the hearing protector most likely blocks out 15 decibels of noise.

All of the earplugs and muffs we stock have been tested by an accredited laboratory that assigned an NRR rating. As you look through our selection, look for the NRR rating by each style of protection.

Also peruse the following article. Yiu young guys still have a chance to protect yourselves, while we old birds suffer with the confusing information.

Earplug & Noise Reduction Ratings Explained

Cooper Safety Supply is committed to providing ANSI & OSHA Certified ear plugs, ear muffs & noise reduction products for industrial & commercial applications.
www.coopersafety.com www.coopersafety.com
 
It’s funny because when you purchase plugs and muffs for weapons use, the numbers and accountability of the manufacturers is very clear. As soon as it’s a “music” thing, then you get these disclaimers. Almost like they don’t want to get sued for it not performing as advertised.

so this means the only headphones worth your money are the GK Ultraphones, since those are installed into Peltor shooters muffs. Don’t play around with your hearing. Save up and buy once.
 
I've always used hearing protection of some sort (earplugs or industrial defenders) throughout my many years as a drummer. Nothing is perfect, however, and we still need to be able to hear the music we're playing, so reducing all sound to a whisper isn't much of an option. Thus, even with top-notch products that have maximum decibel ratings, some degree of exposure to harmful frequencies is probably inevitable. Drumming inherently places our ears at risk, regardless of the mitigations we implement. It's not unlike taking measures to avoid a shark attack. You can employ every possible precaution while immersed in the ocean, but the only way to ensure that you'll never be devoured is to stay out of the water completely.
 
The article also mentioned wearing ear plugs under shooting muffs or the like, that you can't just add the two db ratings together. 25db earplugs and 25 db muffs do not equal 50 db of protection. It's tricky and I am only warning to do your homework so you know where your are. Peace.
Bo Eder said:
It’s funny because when you purchase plugs and muffs for weapons use, the numbers and accountability of the manufacturers is very clear. As soon as it’s a “music” thing, then you get these disclaimers. Almost like they don’t want to get sued for it not performing as advertised.

so this means the only headphones worth your money are the GK Ultraphones, since those are installed into Peltor shooters muffs. Don’t play around with your hearing. Save up and buy once.
Click to expand...
The GK phones are listed at 29 db of passive sound protection, which means they will do about 12 to 15 db worth of noise cancelling and only if you don't turn the musical phones up too loud. The whole thing reminds me of gas mileage ratings for autos. good luck getting 30 mile per gallon.
 
GruntersDad said:
The NRR listed is the maximum protection that could be achieved if the plug fit the wearer perfectly and was inserted correctly. In most work situations attenuation is half of the listed NRR. For example, if the NRR is 30 the hearing protector most likely blocks out 15 decibels of noise.
Click to expand...

Correct. The only way you’ll get close is if you get fitted/molded plugs that go deep into your ear.
 
GruntersDad said:
The article also mentioned wearing ear plugs under shooting muffs or the like, that you can't just add the two db ratings together. 25db earplugs and 25 db muffs do not equal 50 db of protection. It's tricky and I am only warning to do your homework so you know where your are. Peace.

The GK phones are listed at 29 db of passive sound protection, which means they will do about 12 to 15 db worth of noise cancelling and only if you don't turn the musical phones up too loud. The whole thing reminds me of gas mileage ratings for autos. good luck getting 30 mile per gallon.
Click to expand...

I've never tried doubling my defenses (plugs plus muffs), not only for the reasons you've cited, which would make the effort pointless, but because maintaining dynamic awareness is just too important. Some protection is certainly better than none, but all protection is likely inadequate when cymbals are crashing only a foot from your head. Being alive means acquiring some scars, I suppose.
 
GruntersDad said:
The article also mentioned wearing ear plugs under shooting muffs or the like, that you can't just add the two db ratings together. 25db earplugs and 25 db muffs do not equal 50 db of protection. It's tricky and I am only warning to do your homework so you know where your are. Peace.

The GK phones are listed at 29 db of passive sound protection, which means they will do about 12 to 15 db worth of noise cancelling and only if you don't turn the musical phones up too loud. The whole thing reminds me of gas mileage ratings for autos. good luck getting 30 mile per gallon.
Click to expand...
True. So this means save up more pennies and avoid the muffs, and just get in-ear monitors. Spending $500 once seems a better investment than buying cheap, only to upgrade later, several times.
 
C.M. Jones said:
It's not unlike taking measures to avoid a shark attack. You can employ every possible precaution while immersed in the ocean, but the only way to ensure that you'll never be devoured is to stay out of the water completely.
Click to expand...

Yea well what if you were in a submarine? No shark is getting you in there.
 
I own in ears and the Ultraphones, and I can absolutely say there is a clear cut winner. The Ultraphones offer significantly better hearing protection. The in-ears are great for gigging, simply from an aesthetic standpoint, but they don’t come close to offering the full sonic spectrum and hearing protection of the Ultraphones.
 
Chunkaway said:
I own in ears and the Ultraphones, and I can absolutely say there is a clear cut winner. The Ultraphones offer significantly better hearing protection. The in-ears are great for gigging, simply from an aesthetic standpoint, but they don’t come close to offering the full sonic spectrum and hearing protection of the Ultraphones.
Click to expand...
I have both as well. I think the hearing protection is adequate with the IEMs, but I don’t know cool fidelity because I’m not spending $1800 on my pair for the 75 driver versions ?. But just to hear the click, track, and voices so I know I’m in tune, I’m ok with that. I’d wear the GK’s all the time if I could get away with it.
 
Another thing to consider with IEMs (as opposed to just hearing protection) is that they are virtually useless as hearing protection if you have their volumes up too high........and it's easy to get carried away with that.
 
EhhSoCheap said:
Yea well what if you were in a submarine? No shark is getting you in there.
Click to expand...

Not initially, at least, but once the vessel malfunctions and you evacuate it on the open sea, you'll be a floating entrée at a Great White restaurant until a rescue team arrives, presuming you had ample time to issue a distress signal.

Note that my natural approach toward contingencies is rather fatalistic. :)
 
Bo Eder said:
I have both as well. I think the hearing protection is adequate with the IEMs, but I don’t know cool fidelity because I’m not spending $1800 on my pair for the 75 driver versions ?. But just to hear the click, track, and voices so I know I’m in tune, I’m ok with that. I’d wear the GK’s all the time if I could get away with it.
Click to expand...

Yep, I agree, Bo.
 
I've tried them all over the years. For the practice room, I had shooting muffs that worked really well, but the problem I had was when I took them off, everything sounded extremely brittle and bright for a good while until my ears re-acclimated to normal sound. Anyone else annoyed by that?

I also have specially molded inserts by a hearing specialist with inserts that can be interchanged. I went with the smallest DB suppression. If I wear those during a rehearsal, I have real trouble hearing the bass player and others, which is extremely frustrating.

I am very lucky though. I'm in my late 50's and my hearing is excellent, even for a 20 year old. Occasional ringing after rehearsals, but it always goes away. I do wear the plugs at concerts if I know it'll be loud.
 
C.M. Jones said:
Not initially, at least, but once the vessel malfunctions and you evacuate it on the open sea, you'll be a floating entrée at a Great White restaurant until a rescue team arrives, presuming you had ample time to issue a distress signal.

Note that my natural approach toward contingencies is rather fatalistic. :)
Click to expand...
Subs look like giant sharks. The fish respect that!

My uncle was the XO on a fast attack sub. He took my family on a personal, all inclusive tour of an ICBM sub while his ship was docked for service. It was the coolest thing ever.

Oh yeah, ear plugs, ear muffs, IEMs, whatever, just protect your ears. Cigarette butts work in an emergency.
 
single-ply said:
I've tried them all over the years. For the practice room, I had shooting muffs that worked really well, but the problem I had was when I took them off, everything sounded extremely brittle and bright for a good while until my ears re-acclimated to normal sound. Anyone else annoyed by that?
Click to expand...

Slightly annoyed by that, yes. But I'm actually more assured and relieved to know that the muffs were doing their job. I use muffs with microphones in them that cut the db's down when they reach a certain level. It annoys me more if I have to play without them.
 
When it comes to hearing protection for drums/guitar, I've always been of the philosophy that wearing anything is consequentially better than wearing nothing. I tend to favor something that takes the top 9db off. I'm not looking for silence, I just want enough attenuation to remove-the-stupid.

When it comes to hearing protection for marksmanship, I want near silence. They should let just enough through that I can hear someone yell "Hey/Stop/HOLD!".
 
My girlfriend was bitching at me and I put in my earplugs. Wow was that ever a mistake! But I couldn't hear a word that she said.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top