Hearing Protection

[fred]

i dont want radio or music really, just to be able to hear people talking so I can wear them for extended periods of time.

Seems 3M has the market on them, at least the firm can buy them against tax I guess.

 

[doobin]

Howard Leight do them where they fitler out noise except voices etc.

 

[Gecko]

Howard Leight do them where they fitler out noise except voices etc.

I'd like a pair that only filter out voices - idiots would be much easier to cope with if you could only see the lips move!

 

[tinydigger]

f**k all that overpriced crap. Use your brains lads- put it together from off the shelf bits.

https://www.honeywellsafety.com/Pro...ion/Sync_Stereo_Earmuff_-_EMEAI.aspx?site=/uk

Comfortable ear defenders with buitl in speakers and a 3.5mm input port

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Bluetooth receiver with decent (all day and then some) battery life.

Stick them together with a bit of sealant/adhesive (Stixall is perfect) and use a short aux lead to connect. Make sure you get the buttons the way round that you want them- up and down for volume and side to side for skip tracks is my prefered way.

View attachment 10748

You can use a smaller dongle, but you might not get all day battery life, although it's then just plug and play. Also works best as a microphone with the dongle straight into the input port- it's nearer your mouth. Horses for courses.

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Thanks doobin will have to get the bits and sort something out as that is just what I am after and at a lot less money

 

[Brendan]

bringing this thread back to life.....
Anyone using the noise cancelling earbuds?
really need to start wearing my ear defenders a bit more but looking for something thats a little more comfortable than wearing a proper set of ear defenders all day.
Are you guys always wearing ear defenders when on uncabbed mini diggers or just dont bother in general?

 

[Quattromike]

What's that?

 

[Smiffy]

Tbh I know alot on hear despise hardhats but having one with the ear defenders attached to it means it's so easy to pop them down you don't loose them and you actually use them even for the odd cut with the Stihl saw when most wouldn't bother
Mine was quite expensive I think 70 quid for the helmet with defenders but seeing as I have to wear one it may aswell be a comfy one

 

[Grahams]

bringing this thread back to life.....
Anyone using the noise cancelling earbuds?
really need to start wearing my ear defenders a bit more but looking for something thats a little more comfortable than wearing a proper set of ear defenders all day.
Are you guys always wearing ear defenders when on uncabbed mini diggers or just dont bother in general?

I wear noise cancelling earbuds most of the time whilst operating. Make a huge difference to the amount of noise you hear and you can listen to audio on a much lower volume as well as taking phone calls although for that you need to check you have a noise cancelling microphone as well.
I’m not sure you particularly need wear protection in a modern open cabbed machine. It should tell you the decibel rating on the machine, so easy to check, but I find reducing the noise makes for a pleasanter day.
I am starting to suffer from hereditary hearing loss and trust me, if you can avoid noise related hearing loss by wearing protection it will make your life immeasurably better in the long run.

 

[Brendan]

Tbh I know alot on hear despise hardhats but having one with the ear defenders attached to it means it's so easy to pop them down you don't loose them and you actually use them even for the odd cut with the Stihl saw when most wouldn't bother
Mine was quite expensive I think 70 quid for the helmet with defenders but seeing as I have to wear one it may aswell be a comfy one

At least if they are built into the helmet you can actual have both on at the same time, issues is glasses although years ago had a helmet with some crappy pull down glasses built in

 

[Lancs Lad]

Funny thing but I've always worn a hard hat onsite, guess it's just second nature . Deffo with muffs attached. 3M.. Watched a mate once pull some staging down and someone had left a lump hammer on top...came off and hit him dead centre of his helmet...cracked it. Pretty certain it have killed him..and tree work. .I've had enough lumps of deadwood smack my helmet ....now after a protos...£200
But that's just me...guess each to their own

 

[V8Druid]

Funny thing but I've always worn a hard hat onsite, guess it's just second nature . Deffo with muffs attached. 3M.. Watched a mate once pull some staging down and someone had left a lump hammer on top...came off and hit him dead centre of his helmet...cracked it. Pretty certain it have killed him..and tree work. .I've had enough lumps of deadwood smack my helmet ....now after a protos...£200
But that's just me...guess each to their own

I've always got a hat on working ... has saved my nut many times ... but couldn't cope with wearing a hard one, full time, unless there are overhead risks .. then they're a no brainer

 

[Smiffy]

At least if they are built into the helmet you can actual have both on at the same time, issues is glasses although years ago had a helmet with some crappy pull down glasses built in

Several shooting company's do safety specs with extra low profile arms for use with ear defenders as the cheap option
As an expensive option several tree surgery helmets have the ability to fit flip down lenses
Lots of the tm crews wear them as they have ear defenders glasses and head torch all mounted on the helmet

 

[Monkeybusiness]

Funny thing but I've always worn a hard hat onsite, guess it's just second nature . Deffo with muffs attached. 3M.. Watched a mate once pull some staging down and someone had left a lump hammer on top...came off and hit him dead centre of his helmet...cracked it. Pretty certain it have killed him..and tree work. .I've had enough lumps of deadwood smack my helmet ....now after a protos...£200
But that's just me...guess each to their own

Try and wear a Protos for a couple of hours before buying one - I don’t like them at all tbh. I find them really uncomfortable and ended up going back to Petzl.

 

[fred]

I suffer from hearing damage already due to not using proper protection in my youth.

Recenlty bough Hellberg React muffs, they have passive audio (you can hold a conversation) and radio. Both separate controls.

Hellberg Safety

Hellberg Safety is dedicated to bringing you the best in hearing protection and face protection.

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I'll also be buying a set of 3m Pelttor in ear as well for when it gets hot as the full ear muffs do get very sweaty after a couple hours.

https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/company-uk/3m-products/~/3M-PELTOR-Level-Dependent-Earplug-LEP-200-EU/?N=5002385+8709322+8711405+3290665229&preselect=8720540+8729299+3293786499&rt=rud

Both are expensive but you cant put a price on your hearing.

 

[DaveDCB]

I have a pair of lightweight 3m ones, I make a point of when I take them off I put them on top of the stilsaw(or whatever loud thing I’m using) then it forces me to always put them on!
My new machines are much quieter inside, I swear it’s driving the 3cx on long road stints, or having the windows open because they never had ac which has buggered my ears up! Right ear constantly rings

 

[Smiffy]

Try and wear a Protos for a couple of hours before buying one - I don’t like them at all tbh. I find them really uncomfortable and ended up going back to Petzl.

2 of the tree blokes at work rushed out and bought them when they came out and 4 months later they where in the bin
Seeing as we get issued helmets and have to pay the difference to anything better I stretched to a petzl but wouldn't even consider a protos

 

[Lancs Lad]

Interesting feedback...I've had Petzl for years and swear by their kit...finally got myself a ZZ
But few lads raving about protos but think I'll save my Lennie's now
Used this time to do a bit more tree stuff and sell old crap so treated myself to a 161T lovin it

 

[Cyberprog]

I have "issues" with hearing, no particular reason why - the missus complains that I ignore her, but usually it's because she starts waffling away while I have something playing on the computer.

A couple of years back I got a pair of Bose QC35 II headphones for use in the office, and they are great at blocking out high level background noise (excellent on planes, even blocks out the missus bleating in my ear). But where they fell down for me was the microphone in them was too sensitive and picked up too much background noise when I was on conference calls.

I now have Bose NCH 700's which are *amazing* - oddly only £50 dearer than the QC35 II's but light years ahead in terms of the noise cancellation - they have an array of mic's which filter out the background noise and just picks me up - its like I'm sat in a small room on my own with no noise.

I was going to sell the QC35II's but have them by the bed at home now so I can ignore the missus yapping when I want to watch youtube in bed

 

[Grahams]

A couple of years back I got a pair of Bose QC35 II headphones for use in the office, and they are great at blocking out high level background noise (excellent on planes, even blocks out the missus bleating in my ear). But where they fell down for me was the microphone in them was too sensitive and picked up too much background noise when I was on conference calls.

I now have Bose NCH 700's which are *amazing* - oddly only £50 dearer than the QC35 II's but light years ahead in terms of the noise cancellation - they have an array of mic's which filter out the background noise and just picks me up - its like I'm sat in a small room on my own with no noise.

I think you will find that was what I mentioed about noise cancelling microphones. If you need noise cancelling to hear you need a noise cancelling mic otherwise it just picks up all the noise as well as your speach.
Bose are pretty weird like that with not all their headsets having the matching performance in the mic. Given what you pay for them they should have thought that out. I have the QC20 ear buds which are great, but wired, so thought I would treat myself to the QC30 wireless as I saw them on a really good offer. The sound was very good, but I couldn't get on with the neck piece and it was impossible to make phone calls in noisy environments, unlike the cheaper wired ones.

 

[Cyberprog]

Yeah, it's weird. I can put them into a conversation mode and that really helps my hearing while still blocking out background AC noise for example.