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Searching for Hearing Protection Searching for Hearing Protection
By Colin S. Barry

"The most reputable websites offered extensive and well-researched scare statistics about the consequences of noise exposure. They advocated the use of hearing protection, but none gave explicit advice on what to buy."


This fall I entered the United States military in a role that will expose me to occasional loud noise from gunfire. As a regular reader of Hearing Loss Magazine, I know the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss, so I decided in advance to locate the most effective hearing protection available for myself.

With little background myself in hearing health, my first impulse was to turn to the Internet for information on what I should purchase. A quick search yielded many different types of plugs and a plethora of unverifiable manufacturers' claims about their effectiveness.

I found dozens of relatively low cost noise-reduction products and several fabulously expensive devices, but I found absolutely no unbiased, specific guidance about what might be right for me. Similarly, I could find no third-party evaluations of how various products performed.

The most reputable websites offered extensive and well-researched scare statistics about the consequences of noise exposure. They advocated the use of hearing protection, but none gave explicit advice on what to buy.

A webpage produced by the prestigious National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/noise.asp), confirmed that there are hundreds of kinds of earplugs available and rhetorically asked, "Which type are you getting?" I still had no idea.

Frustrated by the lack of resources I found on the web, I turned to my mother -- Donna Sorkin, formerly executive director of SHHH (now called the Hearing Loss Association of America) and currently a consumer affairs executive for Cochlear Americas. My mom forwarded my inquiries to John Niparko, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University Hospital, who offered both great general advice and relevant research on hearing protection.

Dr. Niparko suggested that I contact an audiologist. I initially visited an audiologist near my college in New Hampshire, who encouraged me to purchase fitted noise-reduction plugs and referred me to another audiologist closer to my parent's home in northern Virginia.

My odyssey ended at the offices of Leslie Lesner, an audiologist with offices in Alexandria, Virginia. Lesner listened to my particular needs and helped me determine that my prime concern should be reducing the damage associated with firing an M-16 rifle, which exposes the user to about 156 dB of high-frequency impulse noise.

Leslie Lesner consulted with Westone, a manufacturer of hearing protection products, and made ear molds to fit me for two products. First, she took impressions for a set of silicone plugs that would provide a uniform and comprehensive level of sound reduction (between 32 and 45 dB of attenuation).

Second, Lesner fitted me for an additional set of plugs with special filters that could be used to diminish the less intense noise of blank rifle fire while leaving speech sounds largely unaltered (between 11 and 30 dB of attenuation). By way of comparison, most unfitted earplugs for firearms users only provide about 22 dB of noise attenuation at best, with potentially less reduction if a plug does not adequately seal the ear.

Leslie Lesner also recommended that I use ear-muff-style hearing protection in conjunction with the plugs to provide the most possible noise reduction. She sent my molds to a laboratory and the finished products arrived in the mail a week later.
Even with personal access to some of the most distinguished clinicians in the nation, I estimate that I spent some eight hours over the course of several months to obtain the most effective and practical hearing protection for myself. For someone without immediate family in the hearing health field, I can only imagine how frustrating the process would be.

Conclusions from My Search
My lengthy travails left me with a few simple lessons. Generic, unfitted earplugs are reasonably effective for individuals who are not exposed to loud noise on a frequent basis. If you desire more noise protection, make an appointment with a nearby audiologist. The unfortunate truth is that there is currently no reliable means for a consumer to independently determine the efficacy of hearing protection.
The upside, at least for me, was that my experience was entirely positive after setting foot in an audiologist's office: I spent a relatively small sum of money and a few minutes of my own time to acquire the protection that best suited my needs.


Colin S. Barry graduated from Dartmouth College this past June with a double major in economics and philosophy. He was president of The Dartmouth, the College's daily newspaper. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and is stationed in Quantico, Virginia.

Article provided by Hearing Loss Magazine, a publication of Hearing Loss Association of America


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