What’s the Best Hearing Protection for Me?
One of the worst things that can happen to musicians and music lovers is hearing damage, which may be caused when you’re on stage, in the audience at a festival or simply when you’re in a club or in the rehearsal room with your band. Fortunately, proper hearing protection can prevent hearing damage. In this Buyer’s Guide, we answer the most important questions about hearing protection gear. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us.
1. When Do I Need Hearing Protection?
Hearing damage is caused by exposure to extreme volume (high decibels). This includes short, loud sounds as well long-term exposure to sound levels exceeding 80 dB, which is often the case during concerts, raves and band rehearsals. But the sound produced by acoustic instruments such as brass instruments and drums can easily go over this limit as well. If you frequently attend concerts or make music yourself, hearing protection is definitely recommended. Even if you only visit one or two one-day festivals or gigs per year, it’s advisable to take your hearing into consideration. Once it’s damaged, your hearing will never fully recover again, and if you go for good-quality hearing protection, that certainly doesn’t mean it has to be uncomfortable or limit what you can hear.
2. What Kind of Hearing Protection Is There?
There are three kinds of hearing protection: foam earplugs, reusable earplugs and earmuffs. Foam plugs are twisted into the ears and are the cheapest option since they’re designed for one-time use only. Reusable earplugs, on the other hand, can be used multiple times and often feature special filters, which makes them a little more expensive. Earmuffs are placed over the ears and cover them fully. These can be used time and time again but aren’t as ‘low-profile’ as earplugs.
Foam Earplugs
Reusable Earplugs
Earmuffs
All Hearing Protection
3. How Does Hearing Protection Work?
To prevent hearing damage, hearing protection is designed to reduce the volume of any sound that enters your ears. Foam earplugs and earmuffs dampen the total sound by simply blocking off the ear canals. In most cases, reusable earplugs are equipped with an artificial ear canal fitted with a filter that dampens specific frequencies in different ways in order to retain as much of the original sound as possible.
Foam Earplugs
Reusable Earplugs
Earmuffs
All Hearing Protection
4. Am I Still Able to Hear Everything Clearly When Using Hearing Protection?
The extent to which hearing protection dampens sound differs depending on what you use. It’s safe to say that protection against loud sounds requires the highest degree of damping possible. Exactly how much volume damping any hearing protection is capable of is listed in the product specifications.
It’s worth noting that earplugs with a built-in filter dampen sound in such a way that you’re protected against loud music, while still being able to have a conversation and enjoy natural sounding music. Foam earplugs and earmuffs dampen the total sound without taking the difference between low and high frequencies into consideration, which may result in duller sound. These are a great choice if you simply want to reduce noise or don’t care as much for maximum sound quality.
Foam Earplugs
Reusable Earplugs
Earmuffs
All Hearing Protection
5. What’s the Right Size Hearing Protection for Me?
Since not everyone’s ears are the same size and the size of the ear canals are different for each of us, most hearing protection is made for universal use, meaning that the material used is flexible enough to adapt to the ears of the end-user for a comfortable and secure fit.
In addition, hearing protection is often available in various sizes and there are also smaller models specifically designed for children. If you’re not sure which size fits you, go for some universal hearing protection or a set that comes with various sizes.
Earmuffs generally have an adjustable headband for a custom fit. By default, models specially designed for children have a shorter headband.
Foam Earplugs
Reusable Earplugs
Earmuffs
All Hearing Protection
6. Is There Hearing Protection for Children?
There are various hearing protection solutions available for children. This includes earplugs designed to fit tighter ear canals, as well as lightweight and comfortable earmuffs designed for kids or even babies. The headbands of these earmuffs are made for smaller heads and can be adjusted in most cases so you’re able to use them for some time to come. In addition, hearing protection for children is increasingly used in classrooms to counter concentration problems.
Earplugs for Kids
Earmuffs for Kids
All Hearing Protection for Kids
7. What Are Earplugs with Removable Filters?
Earplugs with an integrated filter dampen low and high frequencies in different ways to allow for optimally balanced and natural sound. Some of these models even include multiple filters that can be swapped depending on the situation. Here, each filter offers a different degree of volume reduction. As such, when listening to extremely loud music, you can use the filter with the highest volume damping level.
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