Strategies to Hear for a Lifetime: 3. Protect Your Ears
Earmuffs
Earmuffs are designed to fit around the ear and have a headband that is typically worn over the head. The earmuff cushions need to seal against the head all the way around the ear to make sure sound does not leak into the ear canal.
How Earmuffs Work
It is very simple. The sound energy is reduced by physically sealing the ear from the outside sound. The earmuff cushion seals against the head using the tension from the headband. The ear cup blocks the sound from entering the ear canal. The better the fit, the greater the reduction in sound level. There is no way to block all of the sound, but the reduction in amplitude is often sufficient to make a dangerous sound safe.
Wearing sunglasses or safety glasses with earmuffs will reduce the seal of the cushion against the head which results in less sound reduction.
Proper Fit
Research shows that most everyone can wear earmuffs correctly and get sufficient protection from them for most high-level sounds. Let’s have you try it!
Try It!
- Find the earmuffs in your kit.
- Then place the earmuffs over your ears and adjust the headband so that the earmuffs sit balanced on your head (not tilted to one side or the other).
- Check the fit. Make sure the cushions exert even pressure around the ears to get the best noise reduction. The seal of the earmuff cushion against the head is what provides the protection from high-level sound.
3. Protect Your Ears
Quiz