what is the best ear muffs?

[woodchips]

im looking for the best ear muffs for shooting. Is there any with a sound reduction over 30 db?

 

[harvey13118]

When at range or with someone I use the Peltor Tactical Pro 26db I control volume with them and they knock down gun blast. I can wear ear plugs if I need and turn volume up to hear range commands. When by myself I use Peltor H10a they have a 30db rating. The cheek weld does touch the muff so not sure how much effect that has. Bottom line I wear earplugs rated at 30+db as much as possible.

 

[groundhogsniper23]

pro ears ultra passive are foam non eletronic rated to 33nrr for $36. they look a little bulky but i don't know what for shooting you are doing.

 

[fdshuster]

For really great noise reduction I use the Mine Safety Appliance squeeze foam plugs, honeycomb pack of 60 pair at Home Depot for approx. $14), with a good set of Peltor muffs. Have to be careful though, that combination is so effective, I may not hear all the range commands at a match: Silhouette, NRA Hi Power, etc. If contact between the muff and the stock breaks the seal, I still have the plugs as back-up.

 

[butchlambert]

I use custom molded plugs and Peltor Shotgun muffs as they are thin.
Butch

 

[LarryDScott]

I'll second Butchs recommendation. That setup is the most comfortable and I believe sufficiently adequate. Larry in western Ky.

 

[normmatzen]

I'm a retired hearing aid engineer with a degree in electrical engineering and masters studies in audiology. I also became the companies expert on wind noise. That coupled with my companies expertise in hearing aids and ear plugs, I think I can comment.

The BEST hearing protection you can get are the old cheapy 'yello foamies.' Disregard the NRR rating on the package. These things are usually not installed properly so OSHA requires the 'NRR' which is the actual attenuation plus any degredation due to mis-installation. Properly installed, the actual attenuation is around 40dB. This attenuation is not limited by the ear plug, but by your mastoid bone. With a properly inserted yellow foamie,or similar plug) what you hear comes through your mastoid bone.

Fancy electronic plugs or muffs will NOT protect as well as properly inserted foamies. Muffs can and will leak and at best electronic plugs approach the foamies.

So, what is 'Properly Inserted?' Roll them up between thumb and fore finger to a small rod, insert quickly into ear canal and push it in as far as possible with your little finger and hold till the plug expands fully. Now, you should be scared you will not be able to get it out! But you can, even if you have to use needle nosed pliers! Actually, enough of the plug will ooze out that you will be able to pinch it between thumb and one of your fingers and pull it out. For sure, it isn't going to get lost in your ear! Your ear canal is an inch or more deep and the foamie is only 1/2 ' or so long. Ideally, you want to get the plug deep enough to get to the boney region of your ear canal. The outer half of the canal is the cartilagenous region and the inner half the boney region. Seal to the boney region and occlusion effect goes away. Occlusion effect is the talking in a 55 gallon drum sound with ear plugs in. This is usually a problem with electronic one-size-fits-most plugs and the molded-at-the gun-show plastic plugs. These plugs usually don't go far enough in for a good seal.

If you want good, custom plugs, go to a hearing aid dispenser and ask for a solid custom earplug with an impression past the second bend. They will know what that means. I know, this plug set may cost $50-$100, but you just spent $1200 for that new see-in-the-dark scope, isn't your hearing worth $100?

 

[SooStan]

I wear the yellow foam and electric muffs over them. Probably to late as I wear hearing aids now.

 

[DukeDuke]

I'm a retired hearing aid engineer with a degree in electrical engineering and masters studies in audiology. I also became the companies expert on wind noise. That coupled with my companies expertise in hearing aids and ear plugs, I think I can comment.

The BEST hearing protection you can get are the old cheapy 'yello foamies.' Disregard the NRR rating on the package. These things are usually not installed properly so OSHA requires the 'NRR' which is the actual attenuation plus any degredation due to mis-installation. Properly installed, the actual attenuation is around 40dB. This attenuation is not limited by the ear plug, but by your mastoid bone. With a properly inserted yellow foamie,or similar plug) what you hear comes through your mastoid bone.

Fancy electronic plugs or muffs will NOT protect as well as properly inserted foamies. Muffs can and will leak and at best electronic plugs approach the foamies.

So, what is 'Properly Inserted?' Roll them up between thumb and fore finger to a small rod, insert quickly into ear canal and push it in as far as possible with your little finger and hold till the plug expands fully. Now, you should be scared you will not be able to get it out! But you can, even if you have to use needle nosed pliers! Actually, enough of the plug will ooze out that you will be able to pinch it between thumb and one of your fingers and pull it out. For sure, it isn't going to get lost in your ear! Your ear canal is an inch or more deep and the foamie is only 1/2 ' or so long. Ideally, you want to get the plug deep enough to get to the boney region of your ear canal. The outer half of the canal is the cartilagenous region and the inner half the boney region. Seal to the boney region and occlusion effect goes away. Occlusion effect is the talking in a 55 gallon drum sound with ear plugs in. This is usually a problem with electronic one-size-fits-most plugs and the molded-at-the gun-show plastic plugs. These plugs usually don't go far enough in for a good seal.

If you want good, custom plugs, go to a hearing aid dispenser and ask for a solid custom earplug with an impression past the second bend. They will know what that means. I know, this plug set may cost $50-$100, but you just spent $1200 for that new see-in-the-dark scope, isn't your hearing worth $100?[/QUOTE/]

Agree 100%!!!

 

[GermanS1]

Norm, thanks for your post, it's just the sort of information we can all use. Would you say that using muffs over the plugs as many of us do offers a worthwhile increase in protection? This is assuming the plugs are inserted as you described. Thanks.

 

[TRECustom]

I also appreciate Norm's information. I worked most of my adult life in a Boiler Shop. Only in the late 60's did the company start requiring hearing protection, though. Background noise was nearly always above 85db, requiring the yellow foam plugs. When it reached 105db for more than 30 min out of a shift, we put on muffs over the plugs. Almost everyone griped about the plugs and muffs at first, but we got used to the plugs, and quickly learned when to add the muffs without being told. Noise levels reached 113-115db in some areas of the shop doing some jobs, usually operating pneumatic hammers, chipping guns, etc.

I never had actual pain in my ears in the shop, but I have had real pain a few times when shooting without ear protection, including hours of ringing and more hours of temporary deafness.

Norm, do you know what the db level can reach from small arms fire? Or is it the instantaneous spike that hurts? I'm 70 and against all odds still have good hearing. I believe it was hearing protection that made the difference.

I regret that I never found a pair of muffs that don't interfere with the stockweld.

Thanks again, Tom

 

[normmatzen]

Small arms fire produces a nearly impulse noise signature. the noise pulse is about 2 mSec.

Shotguns produce about 155 dB, center fire rifle about 160 dB and center fire pistols about 155 dB.

When the impulse is integrated into a practical duty cycle, the effective noise is about 85 db,A), which is loud enough to produce potential hearing damage for a couple hours exposure. As we all know, even with yellow foamies, a rifle shot is still LOUD!

From a study of unknown validity, undefined passive ear plugs yielded 10-33 dB of attenuation. The number of subjects was only 10. Passive muffs produced 9-35 db of attenuation. Combined muff and ear plug produced 35-50 db attenuation. Unfortunately, the number of subjects with muffs was 4 and the combined muff and plug was only 2! If muffs fit well, are installed properly and aren't displaced by the gun stock, the residual mastoid bone transmission seems to reduce a bit to allow a total upper limit of 50 dB. I would be VERY surprised to be able to measure this in the real world. The 40 dB +/- mastoid transmission is well documented.
Again, from the one report, based on a training exercise of 72 pistol shots, 30 shotgun shots or 40 rifle shots, foam earplugs,of the type and insertion accuracy recorded in the report) protected for a peak noise impulse of 161 dB, ear muffs to 163 dB and both up to 181 dB. The difference between 161 and 163 dB is 20% and 161 to 181 dB is a factor of 10! I have a hard time believing that by using both methods together, muff and plug, that the attenuation improves that much.

If I find more data, I will report it in this forum.

Certainly, using both muffs and foamies will allow for some sloppy insertion of the plugs, but I would rather take more care with the foamies and not have to worry about the muffs getting in the way.
Incidently, the range of attenuation for the 'passive plugs shows the validity in the OSHA rating of foamies at around 33 NRR seems valid! Remember, if you get them in far enough to make it difficult to get out, you will have around 40 dB attenuation inthe higher frequencies and a bit less in the very lows.

 

[fx77]

I have worn plugs and muffs simultaneously and they work really well but I couls not hear speech around me.
Now I use MSA Sordins which are great for me.