Armory Sponsor
Posted: 12/3/2008 5:13:25 PM EDT
| So just curious, what decibel level does the average set of earmuff's protect against. Meaning do they start to block noises above something like 90 decibels? |
| The most sound reduction you can get from a pair of ear muffs is about 30db. The tricky part is that decibels are measured on logarithmic scale because the human ear is able to detect a wide range of sound levels. If decibels were based upon a strictly numerical scale of quantity, we would have sound measurements in the millions, billions and trillions probably. |
|
For the most part, ear muffs are rated at around 22 - 25 dB and good ear plugs are around 27 - 30 dB NRR (Noise Reduction Rate) in ambiant noise/sound. They all tend to be rated higher than they actually block due to imperfect fits on actual people.
They work by blocking a part (what they are rated for) of all sound. If the ambient noise level is 90 dB and your muffs block 20 dB then you will hear noise at 70 dB (90 Db - 20 dB). Conversely, if the ambient noise is 10 dB & the muffs block 20 dB then you will not hear any noise. Doubling up on hearing protection (wearing both plugs and muffs) does give more protection but not equal to adding the two NRRs together. MLG |
Armory Sponsor