Taking Advantage Of The Best Electronic Hearing Protection Available

Wondering What Electronic Hearing Protection Is Right For You?

It’s frustrating when you can’t hear things. That’s why we wear hearing protection, after all — we temporarily remove our ability to hear during some situations to preserve it for others.

When we’re wearing ear muffs, however, it’s difficult to perform tasks that require our ears. This means we lose situational awareness, we don’t receive audio feedback from tasks we perform, and we can’t talk to people around us. We’re robbed of important safety cues as well as our ability to enjoy the company of others.

Electronic hearing protection helps to mitigate this. By placing a small microphone on the outside of the ear cup and a small speaker inside, electronic earmuffs are able to take sound from outside and play it back within a zone that’s sheltered from loud sounds.

A bit of circuitry prevents sounds louder than a certain threshold from playing over the speaker. Instead, they’re ignored entirely. While these systems aren’t perfect, they’re great for talking to people while you work or shoot, and they’ll work wonders for your general awareness while wearing earmuffs.

The Howard Leight Impact Pro’s

Probably my favorite pair right now, the Howard Leight Impact Pro Earmuffs have great speaker quality while maintaining 30 dB of noise reduction. This is quite high, since once you start adding a speaker and electronics to your earmuffs, it’s harder to block out sounds.

Howard Leight has included an aux plug-in so you can use these in conjunction with your phone or mp3 player to listen to music while you work. While this will reduce your situational awareness and ability to hear, it’s great for vacuuming and other chores around the house.

The Impact Pros have plenty of padding, so you’ll be comfortable wearing them for long periods of time. They take 2 AAA batteries and have 350 hours of battery life.

You can read our detailed review of the Howard Leight Impact Pro’s right here.

 

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The Howard Leight Impact Sport

If you want something a bit lighter and less bulky, Howard Leight also offers an Impact Sport model. These ear muffs have thin, low profile cups that are designed not to interfere with a rifle stock.

While the HL Impact Sport only offer 22 dB of noise reduction, they’re still adequate for outdoor shooting and using power tools. They take the same 2 AAA’s as the Impact Pros and have the same aux plug-in for outside audio.

They’re also a bit lighter and slightly more comfortable to wear. You can read our detailed review of the Howard Leight Impact Sport here.

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Caldwell Low Profile E-Max Electronic Ear Muffs

If you want to avoid an over-the-head band, Caldwell offers a set of low profile electronic ear muffs with 21 dB of noise reduction. Like the Howard Leights, these ear muffs run on two AAA batteries and has an external jack for your phone or mp3 player.

Many users report that the Caldwell Low Profile muffs are more comfortable than traditional ear muffs because the lack of a head band prevents the cups from squeezing your ears. Caldwell also sells these muffs WITH an over-the-head band.

While they block slightly less sound than the Howard Leights, they’re certainly an acceptable option if they’re on sale for less. You can read a more detailed review of the Caldwell’s here.

 

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 Alpine Hearing Protection MusicSafe Classic Earplugs

Finally, if you want to eschew ear muffs altogether, some ear plug manufacturers are beginning to add filters to their plugs. These Alpine ear plugs offer between 14 and 22 dB of noise reduction, depending on which pair you use and how they’re set up.

While this isn’t enough reduction for indoor shooting, it’s a great start for people who shoot outdoors or people who need to reduce noise from loud machinery. They come with a handy carrying case so you won’t lose them easily.

Because of the way the filters are set up, you’ll be able to hear quiet sounds and people talking while loud noises are blocked out. If you want, you can even wear these under a set of ear muffs for more hearing protection. At their price, it’s not a bad idea to pick up a pair to carry around just in case.

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 So What Is The Best Electronic Hearing Protection For You?

At the end of the day, the best hearing protection is the kind you’ll wear. Having comfortable ear muffs that you don’t mind putting on every day is much better than having ear muffs that block more noise that you hate wearing.

Be sure to choose a set that won’t interfere with the activities you plan to use them for, whether that’s building, shooting, or sleeping. By choosing the right set, you’ll be able to protect your hearing for the future while still being able to hear the present.

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