NOISE ASSESSMENT AT WORK
Hearing protection
What is the best hearing protection?
Our recommended hearing protection for various activities
Includes music-playing bluetooth-enabled hearing protection
“Thank you for the report. Very comprehensive with good, easy to understand information for us to make improvements
and changes where necessary”. QHSE Manager, Hull, 2022
Finding the best hearing protection
Before looking into this, remember, very very few workplaces need the most powerful hearing protection. ‘Strongest’ is not a synonym for ‘best’. For employers, there is such a thing as too much noise reduction.
There is an assumption that ear muffs must be stronger than ear plugs as they are bigger but surprisingly this is not true, at their strongest, good old foam plugs are more powerful than ear defenders / ear muffs.
The most powerful hearing protection on the market of which we are aware has an SNR of 39dB. SNR is a measure of how powerful the hearing protection is, effectively how many dB it knocks off the noise. Of the five products we are aware of which have an SNR of 39dB, all are plugs, not muffs.
Best hearing protection at work
80 to 85 dB
Normal workplace
E-A-R Ultrafit14 plugs
E-A-RFlex20 banded plug
Food safe
Detectamet Three Flange Plug
E-A-R Tracer 20
95 to 100 dB
Normal workplace
Portwest PW40 muff
E-A-R Classic plug
Moldex M4 muff
3M Peltor Optime II muff
Food safe
Moldex Rockets Detectable
Honeywell Smartfit Detectable
For sleeping
Stronger is better here. Needs to block out noise but also be soft so there is no pain when lying on your side.
Recommend: EARSoft FX plugs.
Soft and very strong reduction
For concerts/gigs
Needs to have an even response so all tones are reduced equally. Won’t distort music but will reduce the volume evenly.
Recommend: Leight Max Lite or Alpha Sota EP11, both plugs.
Don’t fall for marketing hype, all I’ve seen marketed as ‘for music’ have more of a distorting impact on music than these. And these are cheap too.
85 to 90 dB
Normal workplace
Moldex Mellows Plug
Portwest PW48 muff
Moldex Pura-Band banded plug
E-A-RFlex 20 banded plug
Food safe
E-A-R Tracer 20
Pro-Fit Detectable Plug
100 to 105 dB
Normal workplace
Honeywell VS130 muff
Moldex Spark Plugs
Honeywell Laser Lite Plug
Moldex M5 muff
Food safe
Portwest EP30 Detectable
Uvex X-Fit Detectable
For Motorbikes
You need to retain some awareness of surroundings, and need to not have pain from the helmet pressing in.
Recommend: Uvex Hi-Com plugs
Soft, pain-free but not isolating
Listening to music
Certified hearing protection with bluetooth music playback. Need certified SNR and good quality music playing, with volume limit.
Recommend: ISOTunes or 3M Worktunes ranges.
At all costs avoid the off-brand stuff on Amazon, absolutely terrible quality of build and music playback. Protear / Prohear are really bad.
90 to 95 dB
Normal workplace
Uvex Whisper plug
Alpha Sota L1 muff
Moldex Jazz Band 2 banded plug
E-A-R Cap banded plug
Food safe
Uvex Hi-Com Detect plug
Uses Whisper+ Detectable
105+ dB
Normal workplace
E-A-Rsoft FX plug
Peltor X5A muff
JSP Sonis 3 muff
3M 1100 plug
Food safe
Arco Essentials Detectable
Ultimate Industrial EP3-1CD plug
For DIY
No specific need for awareness so whatever has a good noise reduction and is comfortable. Muffs usually preferable
Recommend: Honeywell Verishield. Any of the range.
Is it OK to have music-playing hearing protection at work?
Yes, it is absolutely fine providing the things being worn are certified as hearing protection.
They will have a playback volume limit so the wearer can’t exceed the daily limits, and the playback doesn’t get isolating.
Our choice are the ISOTunes Air Defender but they also make in-ear plug styles. There is a LOT of rubbish on places like Amazon where £70 gets you awful build quality and even worse sound quality.
The ISOTunes or 3M Worktunes cost the same but music playback is vastly superior.