# How strong are your earmuffs?



## Ickathu (Jun 27, 2012)

I don't know if I should be posting this in the OABQT, because I want more than 1 answer.

Anyway, how much sound do your earmuffs block out? Yesterday I picked up some 23dB earmuffs and was trying them out. They muffle most sounds, but I can still hear people talking, etc. It completely blocks out whispers, but even a normal talking volume can be heard.
So I was wondering how strong everybody else's are, to see if I was just expecting a vacuum of silence and just get used to it or if I should return these and get stronger ones.
I think the "average" sound level of a normal household is ~45dB


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## applemobile (Jun 27, 2012)

Have you considered putting ear plugs in under your ear defenders?


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## Goosly (Jun 27, 2012)

I'm not sure how much it is in dB: my earmuffs block whispers but not normal voice volume, just like yours. They are good enough for BLD in competition, and only costed about 5 euro.
I feel like my ear plugs don't block any sound at all. Decent ear plugs should be made tailored (not sure if that's the right word) but I don't need those since it might be quite expensive.


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## Mike Hughey (Jun 27, 2012)

Goosly said:


> I'm not sure how much it is in dB: my earmuffs block whispers but not normal voice volume, just like yours. They are good enough for BLD in competition, and only costed about 5 euro.
> I feel like my ear plugs don't block any sound at all. Decent ear plugs should be made tailored (not sure if that's the right word) but I don't need those since it might be quite expensive.



If you're using the spongy earplugs and it seems like they don't block sound at all, you're probably not inserting them correctly. They have to expand so that they fill your ear canal. I find it a real problem to get them in correctly in the few minutes before I start a solve in a competition. But if you get them in right, the good ones should block 31-32 dB, which should definitely be quite noticeable.


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## Noahaha (Jun 27, 2012)

Mine are like yours. All ambient noise is gone, but sharper sounds are still audible. Good enough for comp.


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## Ollie (Jun 27, 2012)

Practice with music on, and you won't ever need them again


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## Stefan (Jun 27, 2012)

NRR or SNR or some other rating?

And where can you get 40+ ones?


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## cubernya (Jun 27, 2012)

29 db earplugs, plus 35 db earmuffs on top of it (so 64 db?)

Earplugs: $7.46 for a 50 pack here


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## Stefan (Jun 27, 2012)

theZcuber said:


> 29 db earplugs, plus 35 db earmuffs on top of it (so 64 db?)



No. It doesn't work like that.


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## cubernya (Jun 27, 2012)

Stefan said:


> No. It doesn't work like that.



I wasn't sure, which is why I didn't vote yet. What would I vote for? 35?


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## Ickathu (Jun 27, 2012)

Stefan said:


> NRR or SNR or some other rating?
> 
> And where can you get 40+ ones?



I don't know. I'm sure you can get them somewhere though

EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/Sensear-SM1xS...e=UTF8&qid=1340828032&sr=1-1&keywords=earmuff


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## Mike Hughey (Jun 27, 2012)

theZcuber said:


> 29 db earplugs, plus 35 db earmuffs on top of it (so 64 db?)
> 
> Earplugs: $7.46 for a 50 pack here





Stefan said:


> No. It doesn't work like that.



An interesting discussion on this:
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-520608.html


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## Stefan (Jun 27, 2012)

Ickathu said:


> I'm sure you can get them somewhere though



I'm pretty sure you can't.



Ickathu said:


> EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/Sensear-SM1xS...e=UTF8&qid=1340828032&sr=1-1&keywords=earmuff



What about it?

And you forgot to answer the SNR/NRR question. How are we supposed to vote if we don't know what rating we shall use?


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## shelley (Jun 27, 2012)

Ollie said:


> Practice with music on, and you won't ever need them again



Music is pretty easy to tune out. So is a low but constant level of noise typical at most competitions.

I do use earplugs for big cube blind. These events are typically held in a separate quiet room. Which sounds great at first, until you start solving and realize that every little sound, every whisper from a judge across the room, every click of the door latch as someone comes in or out, becomes that much more distracting because it just stands out against the background of silence.

I remember at Worlds 2007 when the 3x3 BLD event was going on onstage, the emcee had the idea that the room had to be COMPLETELY SILENT for this event. When the ambient noise level got too high, she would go "SHHHHHH!" into the PA system, which was so much worse than the ambient noise.


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## Ickathu (Jun 28, 2012)

Stefan said:


> What about it?



It says it blocks 85dB



Stefan said:


> And you forgot to answer the SNR/NRR question. How are we supposed to vote if we don't know what rating we shall use?



NRR. I'm not too sure what the difference is. The box on mine says NRR though, so we'll do that.


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## drewsopchak (Jun 28, 2012)

Anything over 50 is overkill.... unless your shooting a minigun or something inzane.


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## masterofthebass (Jun 28, 2012)

Ickathu said:


> It says it blocks 85dB



Uses active noise cancellation for sure. No way can you use that in competition.


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## Stefan (Jun 28, 2012)

Ickathu said:


> It says it blocks 85dB



No it doesn't. It _"*allows* ear muff to ear muff communication *beyond *85dB"_. It doesn't _"block 85dB"_. Reading skills much? It has NRR of 24-25 dB.

Try another?



drewsopchak said:


> Anything over 50 is overkill....



You also think 50+ ones are available/possible? Please show one.

Same goes for everybody voting higher than 31-40dB.


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## jonlin (Jun 29, 2012)

30 Db


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## drogg (Jun 30, 2012)

Excuse my ignorance. I have never seen a BLD solve or done one. Why do you need earmuffs?


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## RNewms27 (Jun 30, 2012)

drogg said:


> Excuse my ignorance. I have never seen a BLD solve or done one. Why do you need earmuffs?



Solvers are distracted by background noise in a competition.


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## insane569 (Jun 30, 2012)

I don't use them. Over time I just got used to doing BLD. Once I did a BLD solve in school while everyone in the class talked and a girl drawing on my back while I was memoing and solving. But I might consider getting some earmuffs now.


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## cmhardw (Jun 30, 2012)

My earplugs say they provide 32 dB reduction, and my earmuffs say 30 dB reduction. From the link posted earlier I guess I am probably receiving approximately 35 dB reduction in total when I wear both.


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## Kattenvriendin (Jun 30, 2012)

My natural muffs are pretty strong actually *giggle* I need reverse plugs to hear


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## Goosly (Jun 30, 2012)

drogg said:


> Excuse my ignorance. I have never seen a BLD solve or done one. Why do you need earmuffs?



When you hear people talking on the background, memorization is more difficult then in complete silence.
You can compare it to students in a library... Those study rooms are kept silent


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## Mikel (Jun 30, 2012)

I just use ear plugs that I get from my work. I find that no protection at a competition is distracting, but complete and utter silence is just as distracting as I can hear myself breathe.


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## alexw (Oct 18, 2012)

Hi all

If I want to block out as much talking as possible - do I want to go higher or lower with the db? The higher the better, or the lower the better?

Thanks


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## HEART (Oct 19, 2012)

I want to get a pair of earmuffs, are 24db good enough? I feel like after looking at the poll that 30 is better, but 24 is the highest i can get in my area it seems for a decent price.

Would 24db be suitable for something like a competition? I dont' want 100% silence obviously, just enough to dull everything.


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## HelpCube (Oct 19, 2012)

http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/sensgard/Detail?no=6

These are actually really good, they don't look like they do much but they work reallly well. I use them for shooting too.


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## Stefan (Oct 19, 2012)

HEART said:


> but 24 is the highest i can get in my area it seems for a decent price.



What kind of area is that, and what do you call a decent price?


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## Ickathu (Oct 19, 2012)

alexw said:


> Hi all
> 
> If I want to block out as much talking as possible - do I want to go higher or lower with the db? The higher the better, or the lower the better?
> 
> Thanks



higher dB = more dB blocked



HEART said:


> I want to get a pair of earmuffs, are 24db good enough? I feel like after looking at the poll that 30 is better, but 24 is the highest i can get in my area it seems for a decent price.
> 
> Would 24db be suitable for something like a competition? I dont' want 100% silence obviously, just enough to dull everything.


I've got 23dB (iirc) and I used them at CSP on saturday. It dulled out sounds, but not people talking right nearby. They were fine though.


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## Noahaha (Oct 19, 2012)

I have 25 decibels and they're pretty good. A little bit if background noise always relieves some pressure anyway. My worst performances have always been in silent back-rooms like multi at Harvard Spring 2012 and 4BLD at SJC.


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## HEART (Oct 19, 2012)

How db works :
say for example your home noise level is 40 db, and your earmuffs have 25db reduction. That means your house hold noise level will now be 15db to your ears. (40 is about average for a home, and around 110~ are airplanes iirc)


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