Choosing The Right Hearing Protection For Your Activity

We all want to be active and have adventures. The first rule of any activity is to be safe and take care of your body to prevent injury or any kind of damage. Part of that protection is protecting your hearing. Going on rides, going to concerts, or hanging out with friends in loud places can all affect your hearing. Make sure you are not damaging your ability to hear. This is how you choose the right hearing protection for whatever activity you are planning.

Work-Related Activities

If your work activities produce a lot of noise, you may want to protect your hearing. This category usually falls into jobs like construction, carpentry, and working at the airport. For these activities, it’s great to wear earmuffs. Not the kind you wear in winter. Earmuffs look like headphones but they block out sound and do not produce it. These are great to own so that you always have them on you.

Earmuffs will muffle out the sound of sanders, chainsaws, buzzsaws, jet engines, and large equipment used to build large structures. You will need a sturdy pair to have for your everyday activities.

Concerts and Events

For concerts and events, the best protection to have is earplugs. Earplugs come in various styles, including disposable, which are a “one and done” type of protection that you can use once and then throw away, and custom, which are great for individuals that need frequent protection. They are perfect to wear when you know the noise is going to be loud, but the event does not require big bulky earmuffs to be carried around.

Earplugs fit perfectly in your pocket and they are easy to carry.

Do You Need to Communicate?

When choosing noise reducing products for your ears, you must take into account if you are going to need to communicate with other people, because you can put yourself and others at risk if you are unable to hear commands, questions, or instructions. Earmuffs can do a great job of drowning out all sound, so if you are on a job site where you need to talk to your co-workers in order to stay safe, you may want to use earplugs instead.

If you are in an environment where you don’t have to communicate for safety, drown out all the noise and save your hearing.

Get Adjustable Earmuffs

In the event that you are using earmuffs for your activity, you want to get earmuffs that are adjustable. One size fits all is not a good idea when it comes to your hearing. If the device does not fit snug on your head, it will slip off and you will be exposed to loud noises.

When purchasing your earmuffs, ensure that they can be adjusted so that they fit well and will keep your ears covered at all times. This also works well if someone else needs to borrow them like a co-worker or a child. They can adjust to the size of their head and be fully protected.

Will They Work with Other Equipment?

When you choose your hearing device, make sure that it will not interfere with you being able to use other protective equipment. For example, if you are going to wear earmuffs, will they fit over or under your hard hat? Will you be able to wear protective goggles around your ears if your earmuffs are pressing down on your ears? Choose the right equipment that is compatible with your other protective needs.

How Close is the Noise?

For this, if you know how close you are going to be to the noise, you will be able to better pick noise reducing devices that work for you. For example, if you work on the ramp of an airport, you are going to be pretty close to jet engines all day. You will want something that is going to cancel as much noise as possible. The same goes for someone who is going to a shooting range to test out or learn how to shoot a gun. The gun is close to your ears and you are going to want to wear noise-canceling headphones.

If you find that the noise is loud but further away, earplugs may be a better choice for you so that not too much sound is drowned out and you won’t be able to hear the person standing next to you. To learn more about your hearing protection options, contact one of our friendly team members at Hearing & Balance Centers of West Tennessee by calling our Jackson office at (731) 256-5973 or Memphis location at (901) 201-6761.