Is your hearing protection failing to safeguard your hearing? Here are 3 things to look out for.
Whether you’re at home or at work, sometimes you run into something that can impede the effectiveness of your ear protection. That’s difficult to deal with. After all, you’re trying to do what you’re supposed to do! When you go to a concert, you wear your earplugs; At work, you use earmuffs every day; and you make your best effort to steer clear of Uncle Joe who is always shouting in your ear.
Here’s the point, when you’re doing everything correctly but you’re still having trouble, it can be aggravating. Luckily, you can take a few measures to protect yourself once you understand what kinds of things can interfere with the performance of your ear protection. And that can ensure that your hearing protection functions at peak efficiency even when you have some obstacles.
1. Using The Wrong Type of Hearing Protection
There are two handy and basic categories of ear protection: earplugs and earmuffs. As the names may suggest, earplugs are compact and can be inserted directly inside the ear canal. Earmuffs are like large headphones with no sound (instead, they, you know, safeguard your hearing).
- Earplugs are encouraged when you’re in a place where the sound is comparatively continuous.
- When loud sounds are more sporadic, earmuffs are suggested.
There’s an obvious reason for that: when it’s quiet, you’ll want to remove you’re hearing protection which is more difficult to do with earplugs than earmuffs. Earplugs take a bit more work to put in and are easy to lose so you could find yourself needing to replace lost plugs when you really need them.
Use the correct form of hearing protection in the appropriate scenario and you should be fine.
2. Your Ear Protection Can be Affected by Your Anatomy
Human anatomy is amazingly varied. That’s why your Uncle Joe has such a large set of vocal cords and your vocal cords are more normal sized. That’s also why you may have a smaller than average ear canal.
This can cause problems with your ear protection. Disposable hearing protection is often a one size fits all mentality, or at best, a small, medium, large situation. So, perhaps you give up in frustration because you have tiny ear canals, and you quit using any ear protection.
This can leave you open to risk, undercutting the hearing protection you were trying to give yourself. The same thing can happen if, for example, your ears are on the larger size, making earmuff style protectors awkward. For individuals who work in noisy settings, a custom fit pair of ear protection is a smart investment.
3. Check if There’s Any Wear And Tear on Your Hearing Protection
If you’re using your hearing protection daily, you should give yourself a pat on the back. But that also means you need to keep close track of the wear and tear your ear protection is experiencing.
- When they lose their pliability, replace the cushions on your earmuffs.
- Check the band on earmuff protection. The band will need to be replaced if the elastic is worn out and no longer holds the earmuffs tight.
- Clean your hearing protection. Earwax serves a practical function in your body but it can also collect on your hearing protection. Make certain you wash your hearing protection thoroughly by taking them apart before you clean them. If you’re rinsing earplugs, don’t drop them into the drain.
If you want to get maximum benefit, you need to do regular maintenance on your hearing protection. It’s important that you have a consultation with us if you have any questions on how to care for your hearing protection or want to learn more about the things that can interfere with their performance.
You need your hearing. Taking the time to protect it properly is worthwhile.