Leaf blowers are great for clearing leaves from lawns, gardens, and parks. But they also create a lot of noise pollution. And if you work outside, you probably already know how annoying loud noises can be.
Earplugs and earmuffs aren’t just for the construction site; they’re also useful for protecting your hearing while working outdoors. They’re even more important than you might realize.
You should try it out if you’ve never used hearing protection before. It will make your job safer and less stressful. Plus, you won’t get as tired after a long day of yard work.
I’m going to share with you my top picks for the best ear protection for leaf blowers. These options are not only comfortable, but they’re also effective and have additional features.
In This Article:
- Best Leaf Blower Hearing Protection
- Should I wear ear protection when using a leaf blower?
- Can I Use Leaf Blower Headphones?
- What is the best hearing protection for leaf blowers?
- How loud is a leafblower?
- Can a leaf blower damage your ears?
- What level of noise protection for the leaf blower?
- How do I reduce the noise from my leaf blower?
- Do leaf blowers hurt dogs’ ears?
- Protect Your Hearing
- Soft padded headband for reduced pressure an improved comfort. Breathable ear cups with faux leather to provide a tight seal.
- Solid ABS shell, with thickended foam provide noise-dampening with an NRR of 28dB passive.
- 360-degree rotating earcups, with adjustable headband to fit almost everyone from kids to adults.
- Easy to store with a compact design that folds to fit in any range bag other other bag
- Ideal for shooting, yard work, lawn mowers, flying and pretty much everything.
Protect yourself from the highest decibels of a leaf blower with earplugs or earmuffs, or find custom protection with a pair of Decibullzs molded ear tips. Rather than letting your hearing whither, stop loud noises from “blowing” into your ears with some of the best hearing protection available.
Best Leaf Blower Hearing Protection
Remember that headphones and earphones for listening to music have no NRR and offer no noise protection, so don’t use them while operating a leaf blower. In addition, prolonged exposure to loud noises from lawnmowers, brush cutters, and blowers can harm your ears. Protecting your ears while leaf blowing is an integral part of the process, especially if you use yard tools regularly.
3M Worktunes
A Bluetooth hearing protection device with AM/FM radio and long battery life. 3M Worktunes ear muffs are the perfect solution for the leaf blower. They are comfortable on the head when wearing them for long hours and have the ability to play music and catch phone calls while you’re working on equipment.
This is the Best Hearing Protection for Mowing and one of the most recommended hearing protection devices for all yard equipment and power tools because of its versatility and price. 3M is known for the quality of its ear muffs, which all have high ratings, some of the best on the market.
ISOTunes Link Bluetooth Earmuffs
Here is another example of Bluetooth safety earmuffs. When you wear ear protectors, ear muffs for leaf blowing are great because they block the air from the leaf blower.
They provide an NRR of 27, protecting your ears from noise up to 97db. They also have a built-in microphone so you can answer phone calls without removing your hearing protection, perfect for finishing a project by a deadline when your hands are busy.
With 37 dB noise reduction, they provide sufficient protection from even the loudest leafblowers. The honeycomb-lined headband has a comfortable fabric seam, while comfortable, breathable padding keeps your ears comfortable for hours, meaning you can keep moving without having to clean your ears.
Walker’s Silencer
Ear plugs allow air around your ear, but they are much less bulky and don’t sit on your head. They provide all the great features like Bluetooth and noise-cancellation as well.
These premium in-ear headphones reduce noise levels by up to 37 dB for maximum protection. These earplugs are designed for professional use as they provide protection when it’s loud but allow you to hear normally when it’s not. One of the best hearing protection products for NRR is earplugs, which reduce up to 33 dB of noise.
Zohan Earmuffs
The Zohan ear muffs have echo cancellation technology, intelligently blocking each supplemental sound wave in an echo.
In addition, these headphones reduce outside noise by up to 34 dB to protect your ears in various environments.
I recommend getting these Bluetooth lawn-mowing headphones if you are a professional landscaper working with huge lawns and yards. Check out these ZOHAN ear muffs if you’re looking for hearing protectors that do more than protect your ears. If your blower is loud or you use other powerful tools in your garden that make a noise like a blower, these headphones are perfect for you.
Axil Trackr BLU Earmuff
Overall, these earbuds are undeniably great value for money and will adequately protect your ears without spending much money. That’s a good reason to consider this as an investment in the safety of your ears; getting good headphones but the best quality you can get is what this review is about.
Axil Electronic Shooting Headphones should be a key motive for buying the highest quality in-ear headphones on the shooting range. Noises from Sirens, forklifts, saws, and blowers are enough to justify the need for hearing protection. If you prefer earplugs or a set of over-ear headphones, it’s important not to overlook this important piece of protective clothing for hearing preservation.
Plugfones
Earbuds that look like earplugs, a cord that goes around your head over the back of your neck. They are high-vis and provide adequate ear protection. The main advantage is you can wear ear protection that looks official but also plays music and have a mic.
Husquvarna Earmuffs for Leaf Blowing
Basic but well-padded and comfortable earmuffs.
Peltor Muffs
It provides excellent hearing protection when using heavy machinery and equipment. Well-designed full-length ear pads essentially isolate noise. Best of all, they snap on, allowing me to remove, clean, or replace the earpads when needed.
Decibullz Custom Molded Plugs
These are an excellent option when you wear hearing protection for leaf blower noise. They custom mold to one size and make you feel like you are wearing nothing. A pair of Decibullz ear plugs is inexpensive and will last you your whole life. They are great at reducing noise by molding to your outer ear with a foam plug tip in your ear canal, providing completely passive protection.
They have earplug options perfect for the leaf blower.
Foam Plugs – 33 dB Noise Reduction Rating
With the High NRR Foam Assortment Pack, you can quickly find a good pair of earplugs in one go, so you can put your MRI hearing protection away and focus on FYI if you find earplugs from foam. Unfortunately, they are not very effective, likely the wrong size or incorrectly installed.
Should you double your hearing protection with in-ear headphones, the soft foam of Macks earplugs will keep your ear canal comfortable while providing plenty of NRR. Wearing earplugs and headphones simultaneously will not double your hearing protection. Still, you can expect to add 5 dB to the maximum noise reduction rating (NRR), which can differentiate between a safe listening environment and hearing loss.
Should I wear ear protection when using a leaf blower?
The leaf blower produces damaging levels of sound when turned on. Exposure to loud sounds, no matter how loud they might sound, is liable to damage hearing if repeated exposure. It’s also important that you keep your hearing protected. When using a leaf blower, you may use the ear muff or plug to protect them.
A gas-powered leaf blower has high decibels, whereas electric handheld leaf blowers are not nearly as noisy and require less noise cancellation.
During a presentation on the safe use of gardening equipment for the Massachusetts Association of Professional Landscape Designers, they discussed the need for hearing protection due to the sound generated by some of the equipment in use, such as blowers, jackhammers, chainsaws, etc. At the end of the presentation, several participants asked questions about sound reduction provided by earplugs and ear muffs.
Can I Use Leaf Blower Headphones?
It depends on the model of leaf blower you have. Still, you shouldn’t use regular headphones for leaf blowing as they don’t offer adequate noise protection.
Unlike headphones and earbuds that only offer noise-cancellation, safety ear plugs and ear muffs provide much better ear hearing protection with padded cups.
Earplugs can be basic foam or advanced Bluetooth earbuds.
Ear muffs feature adjustable ear cups and headbands padded with foam linings to reduce noise levels. There are two main earmuff styles, i.e. passive ear muffs and active electronic earmuffs.
What is the best hearing protection for leaf blowers?
The best hearing protection for leaf blowers is ISOtunes Link earmuffs or Walker’s Silencer BT earbuds. These products offer advanced features and the ability to play music and use your Bluetooth device.
Otherwise, the best is your basic foam earplugs (Laser Leight) with an NRR of 25+, silicone earplugs (like Alpine Safety) or passive earmuffs such as the Husqvarna model we feature.
How loud is a leafblower?
While it’s hard to give an exact number, a lot depends on the make and model of your leafblower; assuming an overall leafblower noise level of 90-100db, you should shoot at least 20db for hearing protection. Note that a fairly typical hearing protection rating of 30 is not enough to reduce the sound of a blower by 100 dB, of which there are several, to the 80 dB threshold.
The vibrations from the gas motor and the noisy engine can cause instantaneous hearing damage, which makes hearing protection important.
Can a leaf blower damage your ears?
Using a leaf blower or power tools can result in permanent hearing damage. And once your hearing goes away, it will never come back! Leaf blower noise can be up to 100 dB or more.
Any sounds above 85 decibels are sufficient to require hearing protection. While it’s hard to draw a fine line on whether the intensity is strong enough to cause hearing damage, a good rule of thumb is that hearing protection above 80dB is necessary but highly recommended when using any electrical appliance, regardless of its noise.
What level of noise protection for the leaf blower?
When you’re buying muffs or plugs, make sure you check the Noise Reduction rating. Generally, there’ll be 20 or 30 NRRs, but the higher, the better. NRR is a single number to pay close attention to. Consumer Reports recommends choosing hearing protection with an NRR rating of 20 to 30.
The higher the noise reduction rating, the more noise reduction you will get with ear protection. If the average noise level is 95 and the NRR of your protector is 15, the average sound wave pressure you will experience while wearing them is 95 – 15 = 80 dB or decibels.
So, if I wear NRR 33 earplugs and NRR 30 muffs with my backpack, I add 5 to the NRR 33 rating (highest of 2) and get an NRR of around 38, reducing noise exposure. About 68db – well below the level I need for a full day of use.
How do I reduce the noise from my leaf blower?
You can reduce the noise a little by using a leaf blower with sound reduction, but they are more costly. Use a vacuum or power brush when removing dust, as they can be less noisy. For the leaf blower engine, the sounds carry in the air; reducing the noise without switching from gas to electricity is very difficult.
Do leaf blowers hurt dogs’ ears?
Leaf-blowing devices can hurt dogs’ ears as they are very sensitive, but some dogs won’t mind, although they should be kept at a safe distance. Like a gunshot, 95 to 105 dB is comparable to the sound produced when leaf blowing, which can easily damage a dog’s sensitive ears if close by.
Protect Your Hearing
In short, you should wear ear protectors to protect your hearing. While you probably know the importance of eye protection, you can still focus less on protecting your ears with the best hearing protector. First, having the necessary equipment to protect our ears is crucial. That said, you can use it to block noise caused by household tools, fireworks, gardening, landscaping, construction, crowds, gunfire, airports, and woodworking.
This ensures that your ears remain protected, and you can focus on maintaining a beautiful and tidy lawn. Don’t be fooled by the price; these earphones provide excellent protection against mowing and harsh sounds from the leaf blower.