Ear protection, over the ear muffs?

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au_prospector

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Hello,

My son has problems with the foam earplugs, he cant get them to seat right and stay in his ear. (they work great for me) I went and bought a $15 set of Winchester over the ear muffs at Wally World, and they are good for keeping the sound out. However, they interfere with eye protection:banghead:. I cant win.

Any ideas? What is a good pair of muffs that dont lose some of their effectiveness when wearing goggles and vice versa? The goggles I use interfere with the muffs and the muffs interfere with the goggles, Im getting it both ways! :eek:

Thanks for the equipment advice!
~GP
 
Get some of the earplugs with the soft plastic baffles, or the orange silicone ones from the drugstore that are like play dough you stuff in your ears.
 
You have to tell us what your son is actually using since we don't know what "goggles" are the problem.

Also, how old is your son and have you tried getting "small" foam plugs? Try this assortment pack and perhaps he'll find some that stay in.
 
Next time your at a gun show check out the custom made silicone earplugs. They make them right there in your ears in less than 10 minutes. If I'm shooting big bore I usually use these and over the ear protection.
 
Remllez makes a good point about molding to fit plugs. There are also do it yourself kits if you're comfortable with following the instructions.

If you switch to a spoggle using a band instead of ear pieces you'll minimize breaking the seal of the pads on the muffs.
 
Try the rubber orange type. They work better [for me] than the spongy ones. Several years ago my dentist and a few others were going to take a long distance motorcycle trip. And since there was going to be a loud Harley in our group I thought this might be helpfull. He injected my ears with a type of silicone that hardened up. So now I have custome ear plugs. Probably the same type of thing that remllez is talking about.
 
Hello,

My son is 18 years old and built on a small frame. 5'6" and about 125 pounds.
I currently have generic shooting type goggles, probably paid under $10 bucks for them. They are tinted and rest on our ears. Thats about all I know on the goggles.

The ear plugs I use are the cheap orange foam/silicone ones that you roll between your fingers to compress them. Then you place them in your ear and hold them until they expand. The muffs I bought are regular Winchester brand that you can find at Wal-Mart and the goggle ear pieces interfere with them.

HSO, thanks for the link I will order this today.
 
"Radians DIY Custom Molded Earplug Kit" is the name of the little silicone compound kit. They come in assorted colors and rated 26 dc. (Which is about the same as basic earmuffs and more the foam plugs.) I've used a pair of them for over two years now and really prefer them over anything else. They cost around $15 for each kit.
 
au_prospector,

Sounds like safety glasses are what you're using. This what they look like
4UET6_AS01.JPG


or this?
HD_8952_M.jpg
 
Peltor Bullseye Ultimate 10 muffs seal well over glasses and are $25 or less. The Howard Leight large muffs work well too. Otoh, I don't think any muffs really work too well over big old clunky safety glasses.

For very comfortable and highly effective plugs for smaller ear canals -

www.howardleight.com/earplugs/max-lite

I use these and I have a size 8 head. I never knew they were for smaller ear canals, so I must have small ears. They appear to be the same as the green Remington plugs I used for years. The box of 200 pair I just got says 5mm to 10mm ear canals fwiw.
 
Howard Leight makes small plugs for smaller ears. He markets them form women, but, if your son can deal with the pink color, they work well!

HLR01757_1.jpg


Outdoors with .22s, I think either plugs or muffs alone (if the ear pieces actually seal against the head) are fine. Indoors or with noisier calibers, I like plugs and muffs. Young ears, gotta protect them.

Help him seat the plugs at first. In some people, the canal takes an odd turn; once that's known, directing the plug for good fit is easier.
 
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I have Allen brand muffs and get no interference with my prescription glasses.

When I shoot indoors I use foam plugs and muffs.
 
Try this assortment pack and perhaps he'll find some that stay in.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest this. Plugs are not one size fits all. Finding what's best between comfort and effectiveness can be a challenge.

The custom-molded plugs mentioned above are about the best when it comes to comfort and being effective, but I've been using EAR classics (yellow barrels) for years.

I buy my glasses at Northern Tool. Clear ones cost two bucks, smoked cost three bucks. I wear the smoked glasses for sunglasses, and they're so cheap that I don't get upset when my 4 year old gets ahold of them.
 
are you sure that your son is inserting the plugs correctly?
Click to expand...
I think I would check into that further.

The cheap yellow foam ones you roll between your fingers and stuff in you ears just ain't gonna fall out by themselves once they expand to fit the ear canal.

rc
 
My wife and I use Gargoyle ballistic glasses. They are the ones that the "Terminator" wore in the first picture, but we have them in all sizes, with and without side sheilds, and in all tints and clears. But she worked for them and got great deals on them so we stocked up. Lots of my buddies when I was in the army bought some from her to take to Iraq, they held up very well.

Our ear pro, she uses Howard Leight muffs, but I recently tried 'em out and although they seemed nice at first, they were still a little loud. The Peltor tacticals I have that I got in the army almost ten years ago, they still work perfect and they do real well with cancelling noise but allowing you to have normal conversation. Kind of costly, but you get what you pay for here.

The Gargoyles, which wear a lot like glasses but with heavy lenses, do not interfere with these muffs, but especially with the Peltors. Like they were made for one another.
 
I've had some luck cutting down foam earplugs with scissors to make them stay in my nephew's ears. However, if shooting anything louder than a .22 i would insist they wear both earplugs and muffs. Its been my experience that you must try different combinations to see which glasses work with which muffs. Options are endless.
 
I use Macs swim ear plugs.They are kind of a gel.You roll them up into a ball and put them in your ear.They are about $5.00 for 16 of them.
 
I use the silicone Winchester plugs from Walmart with a set of muffs over those. They don't interfere with my eye pro very much.

The cheapo silicone plugs work surprisingly well on their own.

Those Winchester muffs are a royal pain in the backside.
 
foam plugs need to be squeezed tightly and fully inserted into the ear canal to get the noise reduction; otherwise, you are better off with muffs. Hearing is not something to go too cheap on, as once it is lost, it never comes back. You need to protect the bones around the ear that muffs do and plugs do not. Those bones transmit vibrations to the middle and inner ear and can cause long-term permanent damage
 
foam plugs need to be squeezed tightly and fully inserted into the ear canal to get the noise reduction
Click to expand...

And then held in place with a finger tip as they expand.

Some ear canals are tapered enough (getting larger near the ear lobe) that it can be a PITA to get foam lugs to expand, grab, and stay.

Make sure the ears are clean.
 
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