Custom Hearing Protection

Our hearing is one of the most important ways we understand the world around us. For those of us who grew up with the ability to hear, a substantial part of our brain is devoted to decoding and understanding sound. It’s crucial to protect our hearing when we encounter loud sound, especially if we are exposed to it on a regular basis.

At Heritage Hearing Service, we provide custom hearing protection for a variety of needs. Depending on the particular situations where noise is a problem for you, we will recommend the custom hearing-protection devices best-suited to your needs. We regularly provide hearing protection for hunters, as well as those who work in manufacturing.

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Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the name we give to hearing loss that comes specifically from over-exposure to loud sound. Hearing care providers can usually identify NIHL from the results of a hearing test. Unlike other causes of hearing loss, NIHL tends to show the biggest losses at frequencies around 3 kHz and 6 kHz. This is because the shape of our ear canals accentuates these frequencies, which are important ones for understanding speech. When sound is too loud, however, it’s even more too loud at these frequencies, causing more hearing loss to occur than at other frequencies. This is especially problematic because these are frequencies where a lot of important speech sounds occur, so NIHL can easily cause communication problems.

Sound levels at 70 dBA (decibels A-weighted) or lower are considered safe. 70 dBA is about the volume of a group conversation. When sound reaches 85 dBA (gas-powered lawn mower), hearing loss can occur after about 8 hours of continuous exposure. For every additional 3 dBA, the safe period of exposure is cut in half. That means by the time sound reaches 100 dBA (motorcycle engine) it only takes about 15 minutes for permanent hearing loss to occur. Sounds around 120 dBA and higher can cause hearing loss instantly.

NIHL is one type of hearing loss that is completely preventable, but completely permanent. Whenever we are around loud sound, it’s crucial to protect our hearing.

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Why Choose Custom Hearing Protection?

Custom-molded earplugs are the most comfortable, safest, and best-sounding way to protect your hearing. The attenuators used in custom earplugs reduce all frequencies evenly, unlike single-use earplugs. Even OTC earplugs that claim to provide an even frequency response pale in comparison to the attenuators in these custom passive designs.

When you come to our office—or when we arrive at your home if you choose our mobile service—we will administer a hearing test to establish the state of your hearing ability. This helps us determine in the future whether the protection you have is doing its job well enough.

Then, we’ll take an impression of the inside of your ear canals. This only takes a few minutes, and while it may be slightly uncomfortable it is completely painless. These impressions are sent to a factory where specialized equipment is used to make a set of silicone earplugs that fit your ear canals perfectly.

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Hunters’ Hearing Protection

Many common hunting rifles exceed 150 dBA at report. The popular 30-06 even reaches above 163 dBA. Firing these weapons without hearing protection in place causes immediate hearing loss, plain and simple.

We offer custom-fitted hunters’ earplugs to help you focus on the task at hand without having to worry about your hearing protection. When things are quiet, the earplugs will allow sound through unimpeded—and some models can even amplify incoming sounds to assist with tracking. When sound climbs above a safe threshold, the earplugs instantly engage and reduce the sound of the report to a safe level.

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Work Plugs

For employers, protecting employees from the effects of loud noise is a major responsibility. Any workstation where noise levels measure 85 dBA or higher while workers are engaged in their tasks must provide hearing protection that attenuates the sound to safe levels, and workplaces where noise is measured to be an issue must start a “hearing conservation program” according to OSHA requirements.

A hearing conservation program involves hearing protection, employee training about how to protect oneself from loud sound, and annual hearing testing. Heritage Hearing Service is proud to offer mobile services to fulfill the requirements of a hearing conservation program.

Depending on the dynamics of your individual company, it may be that custom hearing protection is preferable to providing single-use earplugs. Over time, the cost of disposable earplugs can exceed the cost of a durable set of custom-molded earplugs, and the custom earplugs are also more comfortable and better-sounding to wear throughout the day, improving your team’s experience of hearing protection. Call us to discuss whether custom hearing protection is right for your workplace!

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