Ear Protection Headphones

[Birken Vogt]

The older I get the less tolerant of things that may damage me somehow

I recently noticed how much quieter it was working with borrowed headphones as well as ear plugs on. Less stressful also.

Trouble is it is hot here much of the year. Minor consideration though. Any recommendations for over the head earphones?

 

[RocketScott]

I wear 3M worktunes most of the time. The pair I wear most often just has a radio, but I have another pair that has bluetooth. I can use it with my phone if I want to listen to a podcast or something

They do get hot though. Any muff that covers your whole ear is going to

The cheap foam ear pads they come with aren't great but those can be swapped for HY80 gel pads that are much more comfortable. I've changed over just about all of my muffs to those

The padding on the headband falls apart after a few years. These are a good replacement:
https://stores.octactical.com/hp2-hearing-protection-cover/

 

[Delmer]

Honeywell makes an excellent over the ear radio ear muff. More money than the work tunes, but the work tunes don't last that long with a lot of wear, the honeywell seems to be doing better, but too early to know.

 

[Acoals]

Huge pet peeve of mine, maybe too many hours when I was younger running old New Holland skid loaders with open ears.

I have tried literally all of them, the only one I can wear all day with getting a headache is the David Clarks. A big thing for me is also being able to take calls while working, so far the only brands work for that are the Honeywell Sync and the David Clarks, both with boom mic's. The DC's are a lot more expensive, but also way better made.

David Clark HBT-30 OTH Bluetooth Communication Headset

The David Clark HBT-30 headset with microphone delivers solid performance and comfort. Buy the OTH dual ear Bluetooth headset from MG Pilot Shop today!

marvgolden.com

 

[Columbo]

3M worktunes here, the Bluetooth only option. They notify me of incoming calls/texts too. I like that they are not overly expensive and I get 2-3 8hr days streaming music/podcasts from my phone.

 

[funwithfuel]

Another 3M work tunes user here. Been using mine for about 2 ½ years now. No complaints. Just wish they worked with the damn hard hat. Really hate those plastic clip-ons for them.

 

[JustinEdwards]

I use ear plugs that are made by a company called Plugfones. They are ear legitimate ear plugs with tiny speakers in the end of them. I find them to be much less cumbersome than ear muffs. Although, I often wear ear muffs over them.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I second the David Clarks, I used to be a fireman. Other brands were like putting your head in a vise but DC was comfortable.

However, I must have phrased the title wrong. I did not mean radio or phone type headphones. I guess I should have just said earmuffs. I don't care about high tech. Is there anything out there that addresses sweating? Or what are the good brands to buy.

 

[funwithfuel]

I'm still sayin 3M. The pads are decent, don't seem to promote excessive sweating. That's why I complained about the clip-ons, they're like garbage bags.
I have been toying the idea of Walker's game ears. I've heard really good things but don't have any experience with them yet.

 

[Welder Dave]

Sometimes if the earmuffs are too tight you can put them over something to stretch the headband a bit. Something like a ball or even a bowl would work. A balloon would probably work too. I've worn some earmuffs that were so tight I started getting a headache in about 5 minutes. I use Work Tunes and they aren't too bad. Those David Clark would probably cost $600+ in Canada. I couldn't justify that much for what I do/used to do.
I got some red 3M Pro grade earmuffs that were 30 NRR (the highest rating I could find) when I was in the hospital to combat CPAP noise. There weren't too bad but would have been nice to stretch the headband a bit. Howard lites have some that are pretty good too.

 

[cfherrman]

I use walker shooting muffs with 4 mics so you can tell which direction someone talks to you and of course blocks loud noises, pretty epic.

 

[Acoals]

I couldn't justify that much for what I do/used to do.

They are pricey, that's a fact, but I am a small fry . . . Owner operator, so I'm the operator and the office girl. Absolutely necessary for me. I wear them all day some days.

 

[Tinkerer]

I used to heat the plastic head bands in the exhaust of dozer running wide open.
I would soften it enough that I could bend the headband to fit perfectly.
Tight enough to get a good seal around my ears but loose enough to be comfortable.
My pet peeve was, that it seemed that the ear muffs were made for little kids.
I do not have unusually big ears, but finding ear muffs that allowed my ears to be inside the foam seal was a challenge.

 

[Acoals]

My pet peeve was, that it seemed that the ear muffs were made for little kids.

I second that. Apparently I have elephant ears. The only thing that's fits are the DC's.

 

[Welder Dave]

Sometimes it would have been nice if I could have glued or found some self stick cotton to put on vinyl pads. They get a little gross and slide around a bit when you're sweating. Having to wear glasses under earmuffs makes them a little uncomfortable too. Another reason stretching the headband helps. It would be nice if the had a little groove in the foam pads for the arms of glasses. Not nice having your glasses dig into your skull above your ears. I agree the inside of the pads could be bigger so you don't have to fold the top of your ears down to get them to fit to your head.

 

[Welder Dave]

They are pricey, that's a fact, but I am a small fry . . . Owner operator, so I'm the operator and the office girl. Absolutely necessary for me. I wear them all day some days.

I was like that when I did landscaping. A lot of times it's better to just check your messages when you have a break. I used to hate it when people called and I said I was busy but would call them back when I had a moment. They just kept talking and talking ignoring me when I said I can't talk right now. I wanted to respond as quickly as I could but sometimes I shouldn't have answered.

 

[Camshawn]

I’ve been using custom moulded silicone ear protection for 25 years. The company set us up with them and I love them. The reco is to replace them every 3 to 5 yrs. The ones I selected have a voice channel with a little filter that limits the noise. The older ones you could pull the rubber tips off a set of ear buds and plug the tip less earbud into the voice channel and your iPod or phone could be used. The newer ones are Bluetooth built in. I find the over the head hearing protectors cause my head to hurt and they don’t work so well over glasses. Cam

 

[JEVANS]

Same here, custom moulded silicone ear plugs. I can wear them all day super comfortable. Got mine moulded in two different colours to quickly identify left and right too. With a attached string to keep them together. They are always either in my chest pocket clipped to my cover alls, or hung on my A pillar handle of the work truck.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Do the custom ear plugs work for the really big noise such as working near a V12 genset with 5 foot fan at full chooch? It seems there has been some discussion of bone conduction which the earmuffs might help with covering more of the head.

 

[JEVANS]

I have no problem with being near big engines. It’s comfortable for me, granted my hearing isn’t the best so theres that.
To be “proper” you technically require double hearing protection around those really loud noises if you want the best.