Best Hearing Protection for Electricians

You only get one set of ears, and on a construction jobsite, things can get VERY loud at times when you least expect!

I always wore hearing protection on a jobsite, and in this article, I want to talk about the best hearing protection for electricians.

Don’t Be Too Prideful!

Being prideful has a price to pay.. which is very common when it comes to hearing protection and protecting our knees with knee pads!

First, we’ll discuss forms of hearing loss, just so you’re aware.. (which helps you realize how important things are).

Forms of Hearing Loss

Now from my quick research there seems to be four types of hearing loss.. but I want to focus on two main points, and not get into the super technicals..

Loud Noises

I’m sure you’ve heard that loud noise can cause hearing loss. (Whether loud for a moment, or prolonged loud listening levels).

But when living life on our own time (not at work), we often forget (or are lazy) when it comes to protecting our ears.

However, on a jobsite, you could be talking with your boss when someone over head just starts drilling or cutting metal right beside you!

It’s one thing to know loud noises are going to happen, and if you don’t wear hearing protection, that’s your choice.. but when you don’t expect the noise, it really sucks!

This is why hearing protection is so important on a busy jobsite.

Tone-Deaf, Motors, Humming Noises..

So we quickly covered loud noises, which are easy to understand regarding hearing loss prevention.

But here’s another one.. Have you ever walked into an electrical room and heard the transformer humming, or a motor constantly running?

This could be an example of a sound that can cause you to become tone-deaf!

The equipment keeps running within a certain frequency range, which can damage your ears only in that frequency range, due to pro-longed listening at loud volumes!

So when we look at the different forms of hearing protection below, understand that different situations require different hearing protection like Ear Plugs, Ear Muffs, or Band-Style Ear Plugs.

I always tried to wear hearing protection on the jobsite, so I’ll give my personal experience of what I liked and didn’t like about certain forms of hearing protection.

One Last Final Word about Hearing Loss

The biggest thing to be careful of is how long you listen to the loud noise for.

If you pull the trigger of a Sawzall quickly, it’s a lot different than if you hold the trigger down for 5 minutes.

The length of time you hear the loud noise can do much more damage to your hearing.

Okay, let’s move onto hearing protection options for construction!

Best Hearing Protection for Electricians

As an electrician we need to be alert, have our hands free, talk with our co-workers, and protect our hearing.

Different forms of hearing protection can reduce volume more or less agressively depending on the type and model of hearing protection you purchase.

All of this talk about loudness is measured in dB (decibels).

Decibels are measured with 0 being the loudest, and -1dB being quieter.

For example, if a hammer was -6dB, and a drill was -12dB, the -6dB is louder.

(The world of music production has started using a newer loudness standard called LUFS, which you’ll even find on Spotify! It works by understanding our human ear hears frequency ranges louder than one another, rather than just 1dB is the same for all frequencies).

Foam Ear Plugs

Foam ear plugs come in various forms.

You can have:

• One-time use ear plugs (which I’d use for only that day)
• Ear-Plugs on String (which are sometimes rubber and washable)
• Ear-Plugs on a Band (with replaceable tips.. these are more “on-ear” instead of “in-ear”).

Best One-Time Use Foam Ear Plug Brand

By far the best foam ear plug brand is Howard Leight Laser Lite by Honeywell.

Now as electricians, our employers provide ear plugs to us (or they are in the general contractors office trailer).

And depending on jobsite, companies usually offered the 3M 1100 Foam Ear Plugs (the orange ear plugs).

These orange ear plugs are perfectly fine for a quick task, but overtime they’d really hurt my ear canals, especially if I was working a demanding task for multiple days (or even a week).. such as lots of hammer drilling.

So whenever I was on a jobsite with the Laser Lite model ear plugs (yellow with pink stripe), I’d grab a handful to stock up, since they’re incredibly comfy, and gave good hearing protection, too.

Now, I have linked to a box of 200 Ear Plugs of Laser Lite by Howard Leight.

This is because when a jobsite only had the orange ear plugs, I would use my own ear plugs. But if that particular jobsite had the Laser Lite model, I would then grab a handful of Laser Lite Ear Plugs to stock up, as they are the comfiest ear plugs I’ve worn over my years.

For most tasks, I prefer ear plugs because you can easily wear them with safety glasses and hard hat without them getting in the way.

I’ve tried corded ear plugs before, but the cord is honestly a hazard. It gets in the way too often, or stuck on your clothes or viz-vest Velcro.

I recommend non-corded ear plugs, and just keep the plastic single-use bag in my viz-vest so that on break I would put the ear plugs in to keep them clean.

Each day I’d use a fresh pair for hygiene sake, and to prevent an ear infection!

But in short, the Laser Lite Ear Plugs by Howard Leight still allowed me to have a conversation with other workers on the jobsite, be alert of my surroundings, AND significantly reduce the volume to protect my ears.. you will be really happy you tried these!

Custom Ear Plugs (with Hearing Port)

Talking about the best ear plugs for construction.. custom ear plugs are the absolute best way to go if you think you’ll be working construction for many years.

This is because custom-molded ear plugs take a mold of your ear, which are then created into an ear plug for your own personal ear. (You have to book an appointment).

Many times custom ear plugs also have an acoustic filter port allowing clearer communication, while still blocking out a lot of the very heavy noise.

The price-point of custom ear plugs jumps quite drastically, but these designed to fit your ears for maximum comfort.

I never tried this approach as I was too cheap.. but I really think I would have liked custom ear plugs.

Now we’ll talk about the Neck-Band Ear Plugs.

Neck-Band Ear Plugs (Banded Ear Plugs)

The biggest benefit of the neck-band ear plug option is how fast it is to put them over your ears.

If you’re on a jobsite where loud noises randomly happen due to cutting or drilling (like on the early stages of a commercial big box store), I found the neck-band handy for that.. but sometimes it catches you off gaurd, and the loud noise is there before you can put the banded ear plugs on.

However, my biggest reason for not recommending neck-band ear plugs is if anything hits the neck-band while the ear plugs are in your ear, IT IS SO LOUD!

This happened SO MANY TIMES, where it got to the point that I was totally done with the neck-back ear-pads. Now, you can wear the neck-band on the back of your neck or under your chin.. in both cases it would eventually bump while on my ear.

Another big point is that since the neck-band ear plugs are typically on-top of your ear rather than in your ear… they don’t reduce surrounding volume as much as I’d like.

I don’t want absolute silence.. I still want to be aware of my surroundings and talk to co-workers, but the neck-band ear plugs I tried didn’t reduce the volume enough, plus the negatives mentioned..

I suggest non-corded ear plugs, and for really loud tasks, like days of hammer drilling, you can ear plug AND ear muff.

Safety Ear Muffs (Ear Blockers Hearing Protector)

Folding Earmuffs are by far the BEST hearing protection when it reducing the most decibels to protect your ears most..

I also find them very comfy as nothing has to go inside your ear, like ear plugs.. and they are easily reusable without short-term hygeneic issues.

The only problem is that Head-Worn Ear-Muffs (Noise Blockers) can be inconvenient because they’re really bulky when it comes to wearing a hard hat. There are hardhat earmuff attachments, but then your hardhat will be REALLY heavy all the time, causing neck pain and back pain over time. (Trust me, these things really add up over time).

So, if the boss tells you that you’ll be hammer drilling for the next two days, I’d definitely recommend buying a pair of these ear muffs, and wear ear plugs underneath.

Should You Buy Bluetooth Earmuffs for Hearing Protection?

Most jobsites do not allow any music like a radio, ear bugs, or headphones..

Some jobsites may allow a public radio for everyone to hear, but not in-ear monitors like ear buds and headphones because it’s a safety hazard if you can’t hear what’s going on.

This is only speaking for jobsites..

Recap: Best Hearing Protection for Electricians (Ear Plugs or Ear Muffs)

So what’s the best ear plugs or the best ear muffs to protect your ears?

What I personally like to look for is:

• Protects my ears by reducing the decibel level
• I can still have a conversation with a co-worker with normal talking voices
• I can still be alert to my surroundings
• Ultimately.. that hearing protection is comfortable over a long period

For ear plugs, I definitely recommend these Howard Leight Laser Lite ear plugs.

I have never found a comfier ear plug that doesn’t hurt my ears with long use. (Any ear plug that you wear daily will cause some mild discomfort, but comparted to the 3M 1100 orange form ear plugs, these Laser Lite ear plugs are GREAT!)

If you’re really serious, I would look into custom molded ear plugs for maximum comfort.

And for really heavy-duty tasks, you can wear both ear plugs and ear muffs for additional protection when required.

I hope this best hearing protection guide helps you out there in your electrical apprenticeship!