Ear muff foams

[Fuzzie]

I have a set of comfortable ear muffs that are a few years old. The foam inside the shells has started to deteriorate and turn to grey dust.

Is there a particular type of foam that should be used in these? Only a couple of small ovals are needed, what would be a cheap source of replacement foam?

[DJ’s Timber]

What brand are they Fuzzie?

You can buy new foam inserts for some of them.

[Fuzzie]

DJ they are just an old heavy duty Protector brand set that came with a face shield as well, but that long since disintegrated, although the earmuffs are fine. Maybe I should check Bunnies, probably something hiding on the shelves. I guess that just after I put in new foam they'll snap in two.

Cheers, Franklin

[DJ’s Timber]

The earmuff hygiene kit at the bottom of this listing might be what your after

Earmuffs & Accessories | Protector Alsafe

[Fuzzie]

DJ, Thanks that looks like what I need.

[mkcl]

Hi Fuzzie,

Exactly the same thing happened to my ear muffs a year ago. Fortunately, I was working at a company with lots of acoustic specialists and audiologists, so I was able to get free expert advice.


What I found out is that:
- There's nothing particularly special about the foam. As long as it has similar sponginess to the existing foam, is comfortable and won't itch, it should do the trick.
- You want the maximum amount of foam you can fit in. Ideally, the foam should actually (lightly) touch your ears.

I happened to score some offcuts of noise insulating foam from a sound booth they were constructing at work. However, before I got that, I was just going to use some packaging foam I received in a parcel some time ago. Since you only need a small bit, other possible sources of foam could include old foam pillows, sofas, mattresses etc. (You might want to cut a piece from the core, for hygiene reasons, if re-using old foam.)

I reckon my ear muffs work better now than they did new. Because ear muff manufacturers don't know how big your ears are, they tend to leave quite a lot of free air space. If you custom-fit the foam, you should be able to get a noticeable improvement in effectiveness.

Michael.

[Fuzzie]

Well my foams finally turned to dust. Rather than buy a hygiene kit I bought a 99c sheet of foam at Spotlight today that will do for 3 of 4 replacement sets. Seems to work, no problems using the table saw.

If the foam didn't work very well I was going to try the Aldi set on sale next weekend https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-b...rotection-kit/

[soundman]

There are a few very good reasons to buy name brand ear mufs.

One of those reasons is that you can buy hygene kits, that replace both the internal foam and the ear cussions.

If the interiour foam in falling appart, the ear cussions are probably buggered too and not performing to spec.

good ear pads are imperitave because the effectivness of the muff relies on the seal...chances are if the muffs are uncomfortable they are not sealing properly.

The other reasons are.

comfort....I've been wearing peltor muffs exclusively for over 20 years.....since before the came on the industrial market.....they where originally a shooters product.
Nothing matches them for comfort.....I have tried cheaper muffs on....there is no comparison

Performance.....the good brand name muffs perform to spec and actually achive good isolation.....some of the cheaper muffs are just a joke.

The ability to select an ear muff for a job......my lightest pair of muffs are sufficient for most of what I do...they are light comfortable and low attenuation....I can hear what is going on arround me and have a conversation with them on........my heaviest pair of muffs are the highest attenuation ear muff available...I have worn them for 8 hours a day......but I'd rather not...the isolation is so strong it realy does impeed awareness....try eating an apple with high isolation muffs on...it is bazare.

the cheaper brands will not give you a choice nor will they be available in the higher attenuations.


Durabilty.
None of the cheaper muffs will come close for lasting like to good quality top brands......I have two pairs of muffs that are over 20 years old and have done a lot of work....because they are built well and I can buy hygeen kits they will easily last another 10 years.

With my peltors...even though the models from 20 years ago are obsolete and there are no spares for them, the hygeen kits for the later model higher spec muffs fit.

Think about this before you buy cheap rubbish.

I am a working Soundman..my hearing is my living.
I have looked after my hearing and I hear better than many people 20 years yonger than me.

cheers

[Robson Valley]

Peltor brand Shooter's Hearing Protectors are very popular over here. Some of the reason may be that they are a very slim profile, particularly when shooting any sort of long gun.

The rich guys use noise cancelling muffs but I have no idea how well they would work for machinery noise.

Mine were originally made for blast protection from shooting unlimited class handguns.
I went to a craft store and bought several 30x30 x 3 mm sheets of dense craft foam.
Added several pieces and that made a big difference in comfort.

My pistol was a Remington XP100 rebarreled in 7mm and rechambered for .308 brass.
Pretty ferocious bang.