The HIGHEST Rated & MOST COMFORTABLE Ear Protection for Shooting & Industrial Use

I have some neighbors with motorcycles....A couple Harleys and some other motorcycle I'm not sure the brand....They start them up....and the instant they press the ignition and the motor starts there is from silence to this sudden loud THUNK which will spook anybody out of their sleep....Then they let the motorcycles idle which is loud in and of itself....And then they just rev rev rev rev.....For as long as 15 to 30 minutes....At the worst times....Early in the morning....really late at night....I have always had super sensitive hearing....And they roll their bikes just outside their garage and start them up....30 feet away is my bedroom window and the wall borders all 3 bedrooms so there is no escaping getting woken out of sleep....I have found some great and comfortable earplugs which I wear pretty much 24/7 because the sound of things such as cars and trucks driving down the road is just so loud to my ears....I wish they had earplugs that were stronger and block out everything....But apparently not....if a person wants complete silence apparently the only option is blast loud music until you go so deaf you need hearing aids to listen to someone talking to you across the table....Anyways....I needed more sound blocking than my really nice and comfortable earplugs because I'm getting blasted with like 120 decibels from these people and their Harleys....which jolts anybody out of deep sleep....I have tried a few of these over the ear muffs and these seem to do a pretty good job, the first pair was I think maybe unbranded....They worked good but soon my ears hurt because they didn't have enough room so the top and bottom of my ears would rub and get sore....I couldn't wear them very long plus they would catch some hair in the side parts that adjust the fit, I tried another brand something like pro for sho.... Or something like that....They work okay....But they were "Made low profile thin" like when somebody buys something to protect their hearing they are going to care about something like that....They worked okay, but before long they seemed to be blocking less and less sound....So I went looking for something else....I decided to try these....They seem to really be doing a good job so far.....Sure they are a tad bulky but I'm not looking for style points....I'm trying to get peace and quiet my hearing vs neighbors Harleys....These so far seem to be doing just what I need....They are also quite comfortable too....They don't make my ears or sides or top of my head sore...They seem to be blocking out noise just like I need if I am going to get sleep....The other brand soon started blocking less and less sound, unfortunately..... Hopefully these will last and won't also start losing sound blocking abilities.....I wonder about how it's listed as 37Db but then it also says it meats the standard max of 34Db.....So is it 37 or 34? It seems to say it's both, which is odd....But so far.....So good.....Peace and quiet even with the jerks next door who make tons of noise with their Harleys at all hours....I like the fact these are so far very comfortable to fit....Even to sleep in..... Hopefully these hold up well over time....At this point, I definitely recommend these, they are big, yes, but they block more sound because they create a good seal and they are comfortable to wear, even for sleep.

Getting the right hearing protection

This is a bit of a minefield as you can’t rely on the concepts of

• ‘the more you pay the better the protection’, or

• ‘the protectors with the highest SNR number are stronger so must be better’.

With hearing protection it is always a balance of getting the right level of protection under the protector which means making sure it is enough protection but also making sure it is not too much. But it’s not as complicated as that all sounds and is easy to calculate.

The biggest mistake we see time after time is companies meaning well so buying hearing protection with the highest SNR they can, but higher is not better and can give reduced compliance, increased risk, and from a company standpoint, a lot of wasted money for no benefit at all.

The is no ‘best’ in terms of muffs or plugs by the way, both are equally good. Foam plugs can be both cheap and very effective, sometimes even too effective.