Hearing Protetcion Review

[MooreToolsPlease]

Afternoon all,
Just thought I would post a quick review of the hearing protection I have been using for the past 6 months or so.
Up until then I had been using the usual over ear types of ear defenders and was never happy as they are very cumbersome, and when wearing safety glasses and dust mask, it all gets in the way of each other.
I do this for a living, so I had been looking at custom in ear hearing protection.
The answer came from Advanced Communications Solutions.
They are a custom in ear hearing protector with filters mounted in them.
Here is a pic:

The filters allow normal conversation to be heard, whilst cutting down the noise from the machinery. The machinery is still heard, but alot quieter then normal.
They cost £125 and this includes the moulds that are taken of each ear.
I paid another £15 to have them in 7 days, other wise it is a 6-8 week wait.
Overall they are fantastic, I keep them in my pocket so when I come to use a machine I have them with me.
They don't interfere with safety glasses and dust masks and do exactly what they are supposed to.
Anyone who does alot of wood working should definitely own a pair.
[/url]

 

[Mike.C]

Nice review Matt thank you.

Cheers

Mike

 

[DaveL]

Matt,

Interesting, never thought of custom made ear plugs, but we have custom made glasses so why not. I never got on very well with the standard plugs and so bought the best pair of on ear defenders I could find locally, Optime III they work well but probably not as good as your solution.

But they do keep my ears warm in the winter. :roll:

 

[DomValente]

Thanks Matt, interesting.

Dom

 

[Waka]

Matt

Good review, I have used these in a past life and will say that they are very comfortable and do the job excellently.

The only thing I'd like to mention is the need to keep these clean, its very easy for these to get muck/dust etc on them, you could then end up with an ear infection, so the key here is that they must be kept clean.

 

[keithhickson]

It may have little or no relevance as I have no idea what frequency the noise generated by big power tools is however the custom fitted earplugs were all the rave when I was into competitive pistol shooting about 18 years or so ago. They do block out the noise BUT the sonic vibrations caused by the weapons discharge were not. These were affecting the inner ear via, for want of a more precise medical term, the gap twixt jaw and skull behind the ear, this research was done both sides of the water and most shooters ended up wearing the earplugs for general use around the range but using ear muffs when on the firing line.
As I stated I have no idea whether the tools would generate this sort of sonics problem but it may be worth researching.