How to Choose Hearing Protection

Let’s dive in and see what’s missing in your current list bucket if you have already made one before buying the right hearing protection. Here the question is how to choose the hearing protection for shooting, lawn mowing or woodworking whatever that best fit your needs and requirements.

We are here to assist you in this regards and we believe that after reading this post, you are in a position to buy the right hearing protection that will best fit your requirements and needs either you want to use them for shooting, wood working or lawn mowing.

How to Choose Hearing Protection

1. SNR & NRR

For beginners, SNR is abbreviated for Single Number Rating and is termed by the EU countries for calculating the noise penetration the earmuffs can endure. NRR or Noise Reduction Rating is a US standard to define the permissible noise levels by the hearing protectors.

The term NRR for the United States hearing protection brands is often coined by sellers and manufacturers in displaying the noise reduction and hearing protection levels. The NRR is standardized by OSHA and EPA requirements for product response time and damping rating inside a given requirement. SNR and NRR are affected by the compactness, fluid inside the earcups, foam and liquid layering, extension/contraction, and type of headbands.

SNR is measured in laboratories for sound attenuation above certain noise levels and the listening capacity of hearing protection gadgets. The testing is done by analyzing random subjects in a lab environment. All in all, there’s a slight difference in testing between SNR and NRR techniques with the only dissimilarity in testing devices.

A few earmuffs have higher NRR rates because of their additional features. Bluetooth and AM/FM connectivity may reduce noise reduction levels. A few simplistic designs have better noise reduction ratings than a few multi-featured earmuffs. It is because of the concentrated mass and no room for electronics in the former. The simple versions are more concentrated in sound blocking and headbands are easier to tighten compared to others.

2. Headbands

Headbands are the backbone in analyzing space clearance, fitting, and sturdiness for hearing protection earmuffs. Before buying the best earmuffs for lawn mowing or shooting, prefer headbands made of stainless-steel skeleton with a plastic or foam cushioning for comfort.

Stainless-steel headbands are lightweight and durable compared to the plastic ones. The elasticity is better in polyethylene. Still, the steel is a clear winner for its self-effacing elasticity, durability, lightweight design, and better adjustment options.

3. Earcups & Coatings

Earcups are primary to the hearing protection quality and NRR. The modest versions feature solid-based single-membrane earcups with humble noise isolation and low response rates. The medium-range earmuffs feature double-shell liquid plus solid foams inside the earcups for efficient noise blockage and high response rate. The double-shell forms have response time ranging between 0.05 to 0.02 seconds.

For high-end hearing protection, buy triple-layer or multi-layered earcups. They are confined inside a leather-drawn casing. They are awesomely breathable and never let the noise leak outside or inside the earmuffs. The triple-layered earmuffs block everything from sonic jets to the textile machinery, lawn mowing, and shooting.

4. Auxiliary Features

Not all the hearing protections are equipped with auxiliary functions and electronics accessories for all the good reasons. Users may find a crude version of the same brand without the batteries, aux inputs, Bluetooth, and radio frequency modules and antennas for a lesser price range.

The electronics earmuffs are expensive than the basic versions with fully equipped electronics modules and auxiliary functions. That includes wired or cordless input ports, rechargeable or disposable AAA cell type batteries, wireless receivers, and antennas in different versions. The electronics versions are bulkier than normal.

Sundry electronic hearing protections support volume knobs, mics, and HD speakers with adequate fidelity and bass for taking or making calls, listening to the music, and connecting to media players, Smartphone, computers for Bluetooth listening. A few comprise aux inputs for unlimited music, mic controls with swiveled earcups for calls and recordings.

5. Price Range

Earmuffs with higher price tags are either highly flooded with modern features, connectivity options, and lasting battery, or they are expensive for their brand worth. An expensive model isn’t the best performing one and vice versa.

When looking for the right version to fit perfectly inside your head and ears. It is better to have a look at user reviews from Amazon buyers, compare its accessories, warranty period, and expert advice, and its asking price.

A basic earmuff costs half or lesser than half the price of an electronic one. In battery-driven hearing protection earmuffs, the ones with rechargeable batteries are a little expensive than the AAA cell-driven headphones. Look for sensitivity range and headband material, check for NRR or SNR levels, weight and size before making a final decision.

Conclusion

Hearing protections have gain utmost importance as they saves us from high clout sounds. So the choice of hearing protection means having safety for your ears. So make it sure while choosing hearing protection, keep all the above mentioned points in your mind along with basic needs and requirements.

Why you want to buy hearing protection? Where you are going to use this hearing protection? We believe that once you have answer of all these questions, you can easily choose the right hearing protection.