Muffs

[paul aubin]

OK Do not ask me how but "i" destroyed my ear muffs over the weekend
(3 year old was playing with them and they ended up under the car tire )

So i am in the market few a new set or sets. I am looking for opinions on the active vs passive types (my old were passive) I like the idea of a microphone so i can hear normal sounds with them on. A radio would be OK as i do wear them when i mow the lawn and weedwack. I also plan to buy a second pair for when i have guest in the shop

Thoughts on how the work comfort with and without glasses on.

TIA Paul

to bad my BOSE qcII are not rated for this as they are great on long plane rides

[Jim Becker]

Paul, I have used my QC-II headphones in the shop for long-distance sanding, etc. You are correct that they are not good for a screaming planer, but they can be quite enjoyable for a lot of other work. (I use a band with soft ear-inserts from AO Safety for the loud stuff)

[Pete Brown]

I've always been curious as to just how helpful active hearing protection really is. It decreases the amplitude of the sound, but the pressure is still there, even more with the additional negative sound the earphones are producing.

I'm not a doctor, a physicist or an expert on the subject.

Pete

[J.R. Rutter]

I use Peltor - the black and red twin cups. Highly recommended. They are comfortable (I wear glasses), have replaceable pads, and have the highest attenuation I've seen. At one time, I put earphones inside them with a miniplug on the end of the cord. Used it with my iPod for years. Now I've got other people in the shop with me (all with the Peltors), so no more music :-(

[paul aubin]

Pete

We must be close as i am in Annapolis on Whitehall Creek

Paul

[Pete Brown]

We must be close as i am in Annapolis on Whitehall Creek

Looks that way. You're close to the bay bridge, about 20-25 minutes from me (except on a Friday evening, but you know that <g>)

I'm close to the intersection of 424 and 450, just behind Crofton.

Pete

[paul aubin]

Last exit before the bridge You get real good with the back and frontage roads

[Lee Schierer]

I tried a pair of the electronic muffs that Rockler sells with the built in microphone that is supposed cut out at loud noise levels. What I found is that it did indeed cut out noises above a certain level, but the annoying part was that it also amplified the sounds that were below that level and everything sounded sort of tinny. When I would run my hand drill it would amplify the sound so the hand drill was actually louder with the headphones that it was without them. There was control of the sound amplification level, but if you turned it up enough to hear your music in the background, it also amplified sounds that were closer to you. The cut out level was fixed so you couldn't adjust it to a lower level. I also found that the microphone was very directional and you had to have your head pointed toward the radio to hear it, like wise if someone was talking to you you had to look at them to really hear what they were saying.

I returned them for a refund after a very short period of use.

[Richard Keller]

OK Do not ask me how but "i" destroyed my ear muffs over the weekend
(3 year old was playing with them and they ended up under the car tire )

So i am in the market few a new set or sets. I am looking for opinions on the active vs passive types (my old were passive) I like the idea of a microphone so i can hear normal sounds with them on. A radio would be OK as i do wear them when i mow the lawn and weedwack. I also plan to buy a second pair for when i have guest in the shop

Thoughts on how the work comfort with and without glasses on.

TIA Paul

to bad my BOSE qcII are not rated for this as they are great on long plane rides

I find that once you put glasses on, things are noticeably louder with muffs. I have switched to ear plugs. If you buy decent ones, they don't hurt, and it works with glasses on. I've done this because I'm trying to make a point of wearing safety glasses all the time now too... :)

Richard.

[Rennie Heuer]

I use the Work Tunes with the AM-FM radio and I love them. In fact, I find myself forgetting to take them off once the machines are off! The 'company' of the music/talk keeps my mind occupied during long sanding ordeals, lawn mowing, etc. I would never go back to feeling isolated in regular muffs.

[Jim Fox]

I am actually looking at the Peltor Ear Protection with AM/FM radio and hook up for MP3 player. I spend almost 4 hrs on a mower a week, sometimes more if the lawn is growing faster than I can cut it. My dogs found mine and chewed it up. Now that they got ones for MP3 hooks ups, I'm hoping I can hookup and portable XM radio to them.

[John Branam]

I used to work ou on the tarmack at the local airport and ear plugs really work better than ear muffs for me. So when I am in th shop I use soft insert ear plugs that are conected by a cord/band. This is a lot less expensive option than ear muffs and for me work better.

[Dave Hale]

Can anyone confirm whether the Peltors (AM/FM) are mono or stereo.
Checking out their site, it looked to me like mono sound on only.
I was thinking of ipod feeding to these, but not if mono.
Thanks.

[Jon Shively]

Lee, your comment about the amplification of the sounds reminded me of the gun shop owner I bought my first handgun from when becoming a Posse member. He said he kept a pair beside his gun beside his bed. If an intruder came in, no lights and he could hear him better with the muffs on. I wore his and felt really weird hearing my footsteps as I walked. It is unusual and takes a while to get used to.

[Dave Boxmeyer]

I have a set of Peltor H10A (the basic ones) that I bought for like $20 on Amazon - they work great and are easy to slip on and off for quick stuff or something really loud. I also have a pair of simple plugs (triple flange) that work better with safety glasses. If i have someone working with me, I give them the Peltors and use plugs myself since no one likes to use some else's earplugs!

However, my favorite if I am going to be in the shop for awhile - or for whenever I'm outside doing yardwork is my pair of Shure e3c headphones. They provide the best sound quality of any earphones I've ever used and block out more noise than any other hearing protection (with the exception of double hearing protection.) I can't say enough for how enjoyable these earphones are if you like listening to a radio or iPod while blocking out ambient noise.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I've always been curious as to just how helpful active hearing protection really is. It decreases the amplitude of the sound, but the pressure is still there, even more with the additional negative sound the earphones are producing.

Bingo!! That is the main question I've had about them. Just because you don't have any ability to hear the cancelled sound doesn't mean that there isn't sound that might be affecting you.

[Jim Fox]

Can anyone confirm whether the Peltors (AM/FM) are mono or stereo.
Checking out their site, it looked to me like mono sound on only.
I was thinking of ipod feeding to these, but not if mono.
Thanks.

Hmmm, i thought mine were stereo. I couldn't complain about the sound at all...........just the reception sometimes.

[John Michaels]

I prefer plain old ear muffs that I also use for shooting. I've got soft ear plugs also, but don't like the way they feel after some time in my ears. Plus the muffs are easier to take on and off.

[Art Davis]

Having done some work with active sound cancellation a few years ago, I can perhaps shed just a bit of light on a couple of questions others have raised. Sound waves are a series of compressions and rarefactions, or you might say pushes and pulls. The electronic sound cancellation scheme puts out a pull when there is a push from the noise source and vice-versa. So the pull cancels the push, etc. The sound is still there outside, but right in the region of the tiny speaker in the muff there is much less.

On the issue of hearing better when you have earplugs in. Sure, you hear yourself chewing or walking much better---but that's because of sound conduction through your body structures like bones, etc. You have less sound coming in externally, so you tend to focus on the "internal" sounds. I think you will find that external sounds (like another person in the house) will be less.

Hope this helps.

Art