Is your hearing protection failing to protect your hearing? Look out for these three things.
Whether you’re at home or at work, sometimes you run into something that can interfere with the performance of your hearing protection. And that can be aggravating. After all, you’re striving to do what you’re supposed to do! When you go to a show, you use your earplugs; At work, you wear earmuffs every day; and you do your best to steer clear of Uncle Joe who is always shouting in your ear.
The point is, it can be rather discouraging when you’re doing everything correctly and still there are challenges. The good thing is that once you know about a few of these simple issues that can interfere with your hearing protection, you can better prepare yourself. And that can ensure that your ear protection functions at peak effectiveness even when there’s a bump in the road.
1. Wearing The Wrong Type of Hearing Protection
Hearing protection comes in two basic kinds: earmuffs and earplugs. As the names might imply, earplugs are compact and can be inserted directly inside the ear canal. Earmuffs look like a pair of 70’s headphones, but instead of music, they provide protection for your hearing by blocking outside sound.
- Earplugs are recommended when you’re in an environment where the noise is comparatively constant.
- Earmuffs are recommended in instances where loud sounds are more sporadic.
The reasons for that are pretty simple: you’ll want to remove your hearing protection when it’s quiet, and that’s easier to do with earmuffs than earplugs. Earplugs are incredibly easy to lose (especially if they’re cheap and disposable anyway), so you don’t want to be in a position where you take out an earplug, lose it, and then need it later.
You will be okay if you wear the correct protection in the right scenario.
2. Your Anatomy Can Impact Your Ear Protection
Human anatomy is amazingly varied. That’s why your vocal cords are average sized compared to old Uncle Joe’s larger vocal cords. It’s also why your ear canal might be smaller than the average person’s.
And that can interfere with your ear protection. Disposable hearing protection is frequently a one size fits all mentality, or at best, a small, medium, large situation. So, perhaps you give up in frustration because you have small ear canals, and you quit using any hearing protection.
This can leave you exposed to risk, undermining the hearing protection you were trying to provide for yourself. Another example of this is individuals with large ears who frequently have a hard time getting earmuffs to fit comfortably. If you spend a lot of time in noisy environments, it may be worth investing in custom hearing protection personalized to your ears.
3. Assess if There’s Any Wear And Tear on Your Hearing Protection
You should be commended if you manage to wear your hearing protection every day. But that also means you need to keep close track of the wear and tear your ear protection is experiencing.
- Your hearing protection should be kept clean. Ears aren’t really the cleanest part of your body (ear wax serves a good purpose and all, but it’s still kind of… yucky). Just make sure that you wash correctly; if you’re cleaning a set of earmuffs, take the earmuffs apart. Be cautious not to drop your earplugs into the drain.
- Check the band on earmuff protection. When the elastic is worn out and the band is no longer holding the earmuffs snug, it’s time to exchange the band.
- Replace cushions on earmuffs from time to time (generally, when those cushions aren’t pliable, they’re ready to be replaced).
If you want to get the greatest possible benefit, you need to do regular maintenance on your hearing protection. If you have any questions or how to do that, or how to make sure you’re prepared for things that can mess with your hearing protection, it’s a good idea to have a candid conversation with a highly qualified hearing professional.
Your hearing is vital. Taking the time to protect it properly is worthwhile.
