Personal Protection Hearing and Eyes

[David]

This is a thread about how members are handling best practices for hearing and eyesight.

I have 3M full ear muff and these glasses: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06X919BT2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The combination works well for me.

 

[Canadium]

I don't wear those type of glasses for 2 reasons. One I already wear prescription glasses and two they don't afford complete protection around the sides.

I wear these: https://www.princessauto.com/en/indirect-ventilation-safety-goggles/product/PA0008173627

I do find having to wear prescription glasses complicates wearing safety gear. For example when spray painting this morning putting on a respirator and the safety glasses together is about as much as I can get on at one time.

 

[Susquatch]

I use 3M WorkTunes full muffs when I need them. I can listen to music or even answer the phone while wearing them. I often wear a full face shield instead of glasses, but glasses are not a huge problem.

 

[David]

I have the 3M Worktunes as well but I find the head band a bit of a head squisher.

 

[phaxtris]

My vote is ditch the muffs and buy a box of earplugs, I wear them just about all day every day, a box of 200 pairs of earplugs is like 20-30$, you just have to find the ones that fit your ear canal well



I find those goggle style glasses to be bad news, metal shavings and grinding dust collet on the top brim and proceeds to fall into your eyes when you take them off

 

[Chicken lights]

That style, with or without the cord, are pretty popular. For my ears they work much much better than the foam plugs. I wear ear muffs otherwise and they don't bother me, in the shop at least.

If I'm cutting wood my bucket has built in muffs and a face shield.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I wear 3m worktunes muffs with safety glasses (on/off) almost all day. Takes a bit of jiggling to get them to fit right, but not bad. I mostly wear the muffs to hear music, and I only wear one muff so I'm not a tuned out zombie. If I had both muffs on you can't hear ANY ambient noise, or someone trying to speak to you. They're that good. Sometimes that's handy....but it's a big annoyance and safety hazard to someone trying to get your attention for something. Or for hearing what a machine is doing. I have some coworkers that do that, and it drives everyone nuts......

Most of my day I sit at a desk programming or designing with occasional trips out to the machines to run programs so the worktunes are perfect for my situation. When I'm out on the floor working and I NEED hearing protection I wear inner ear buds, as they are the most comfortable for me, yet still let in the important stuff and don't interfere with glasses. I wear them at home too, as I switch between glasses and grinding shield, or welding hoods frequently also with a respirator and muffs just don't work.

You can try and find some glasses with smaller frames too. I'm making an assumption here based on your name, but you might have a smaller head than what most glasses are designed to fit (one size fits all...but not comfortably) and some smaller frames, or even child sized ones might fit you better. If the frames are too big, they'll squeeze in when the ear muffs go on and create a pressure point. I bought my kids a box of these glasses a while back, and my Wife stole a couple because they fit her smaller head way better than most offerings.

Those kids glasses with the flatter style side shield are the same style I wear at work (I buy my own as the company provided ones are crap) The thinner arms sit flatter to the face and allow for better sealing of the earmuffs.

 

[Tom O]

My vote is ditch the muffs and buy a box of earplugs, I wear them just about all day every day, a box of 200 pairs of earplugs is like 20-30$, you just have to find the ones that fit your ear canal well

View attachment 36867

I find those goggle style glasses to be bad news, metal shavings and grinding dust collet on the top brim and proceeds to fall into your eyes when you take them off

I use prescription glasses and a ball cap there is reduced chances of debris getting pass and for the hearing just a set of muffs from when I worked in the press room.

 

[StevSmar]

I really like behind the head (wire) earmuffs. No problem interfering with safety glasses.
3M Peltor Optime 105 Behind-The-Head Earmuffs H10B

Once I get a new glasses prescription, I’m going to order these with progressive lens’s:
Z87.1 Safety Glasses 749618

 

[140mower]

I really like behind the head (wire) earmuffs. No problem interfering with safety glasses.
3M Peltor Optime 105 Behind-The-Head Earmuffs H10B

Once I get a new glasses prescription, I’m going to order these with progressive lens’s:
Z87.1 Safety Glasses 749618

Those look to have replaceable nose pieces, I had that style, but found that even the natural oils on my nose disintegrated the rubber in a short period of time. Like +/- 2 weeks and they were starting to get mushy. I recently replaced them with a pair with a solid bridge piece and am much happier...... At $20 a pop for the nose pieces, those were expensive glasses. Hated them.

 

[Bandit]

I use ear muffs a lot depending on temputures, foam plugs if very warm. Safety glasses were a major problem as I was basically legally blind, but could be corrected with lenses. This made for very thick lenses that caused distortion around the outer edges, that made it hard to distinguish movement and made for eye strain, the arm size was also a problem as an ear muff did not seal well and muff tended to cause pressure on the arm making for sore pressure spots on my head. Basicly, a wire type arm on the glasses and some higher grade muffs helped greatly.
I think a lot of the cheaper safety glasses and ear muffs are of very poor quality and will not fit most people well, some say better then nothing, I say you may need to buy your own, if supplied equipment does not cut it, and one pair of safety glasses and ear muffs will not do the job on every job.
On my last job, I had 2 sets of muffs, both higher end units, one set, the single band over the head, could be worn with baseball cap style cap or toque, the other pair, a soft band over the head and a solid band in back, allowed wearing a hard hat. The smooth foam plugs went with all as needed. I also had 2 sets of safety glasses that would go over regular persipion glasses and a face shield that could go over them.
The hardest to wear and tolerate was the respirator with persipion glasses, safety glasses, ear muffs, hard hat and the shield, couldn't do it for more then a few hours in the heat. Could be hard out side in -30 too.
Anyway a good safety supply store may allow try on to check fit and comfort.

 

[cuslog]

I've spent most of my life around lots of loud machinery etc. Hot rods, Drag Racing, Sport Shooting etc. 72 Y/O
For a few years now, I've been using 3M "Pistonz" ear plugs - shaped like a piston / connecting rod. Not the cheapest but by far the best earplugs I've ever used = as good as or better than most muffs I own (and I own some good ones) and more comfortable too.

 

[Aliva]

Before I retired we were all given DB Blocker ear plugs. These are all custom made for each individual.
A fast drying foam is injected into each ear after about 1 minute the foam is removed and you have an impression of the ear and canal. This is then shipped to the factory were the actual plug is made. The finished product is then shipped back to you, the plugs are marked for your specific ear left or right with you name on them.
They are pricey, I believe about $150.00 per pair. The company is located in Surrey BC. They do wok extremely well.

ProtectEar

www.protectear.com

 

[Rauce]

I prefer muffs for hearing protection if it’s not too hot out. At home they’re worktunes and at work they’re 3M muffs that attach to my hard hat.

If it’s hot or if I have to get into a tight space then I wear the tri flange plugs. Foam plugs are a real hassle for me to get in my ears… must be something about the shape.

 

[Hruul]

I like isotunes earbuds for when I want to listen to music and do loud stuff. If its just a quick cut with the tablesaw or something that takes a few minutes I use the over the head ear muffs. I hate the over glasses eye protection so I wear my contacts and glasses like DavidR8 wears. I use this respirator for woodworking dust and metal grinding, does hit my glasses a bit but not terrible.

Elipse Low-Profile Dust Respirator - Lee Valley Tools

www.leevalley.com

 

[Tom O]

We used those foam ones along with the regular style of earmuffs because we had 3 Metroliner printing presses running at the same time and because of the noise levels when they were running we would work 1/2 hour on the floor and 1/2 hour break.

 

[van123d]

I shoot competitively which requires full days wearing hearing protection. I have tried about everything and use different things depending on the situation.

If you are going with muffs the key is to get gel cups. Some higher end ones come with them, others like the 3Ms you need to buy them separately and swap them. It’s a huge difference in comfort and makes a big difference in sealing around glasses.

Custom molded plugs are comfortable for long duration use as they are not applying pressure on the ear like plugs. They usually have lower nrr rating compared to normal plugs or muffs though.

 

[Tecnico]

For occasional, short term use I’ll reach for my over the ear muffs that have a passive Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) of about 24 dB . That’s for running things like the shop vac or the table saw. For extended periods I have a box of foam plugs (EAR or Howard Leight) with a (NRR) of 33 dB. That’s for noisy tools, grinding, lawn mowing or snow blowing or at the (oval) race track and the like. The plugs are good for combining with safety glasses, hats etc.

The 9 dB difference means that the noise level reduction of the plugs is 87.5% greater than the muffs. FWIW the 3M Worktunes have a NRR of 24 dB. One more arcane detail, you perceive that the 87.5% reduction "sounds" like only a 46% reduction because of how the ear and brain process the sound level.

The other place I wear hearing protection is in the small plane. In that case I have a passive aviation headset that has been modded to make it active noise cancelling. The ANR makes a surprising difference, maybe some of the shop muffs are ANR too?

The safety reading glasses look interesting.

D

 

[slow-poke]

When using a grinder, I wear a face shield. I have never had a problem while using a face shield. Once in a while something seems to bounce off my chin and thats a reminder to rotate the shield in tighter to my chin.

When I was in high school I was wearing safety goggles (same style as Canadiums post) while laying on my back in the trunk of a car and cutting speaker holes with the debris falling on me from above. Somehow a piece of metal made it past the goggles probably through the side vents and into my eye. Surgeon really had to tug at the little piece, was not a pleasant experience. Did not seem to have any long term effects.

 

[darrin1200]

I’ll second the isoTunes ear buds like @Hruul .
when I’m doing repetitive tasks, I’ll listen to podcasts.