Custom Hearing Protection

Helping You Maintain Healthy Hearing While Supporting Your Lifestyle

Your ears are a sensitive organ responsible for helping your communicate with the world around you and helping you maintain your balance.

Proper stimulation of your brain, thanks to your ears, is a major component in maintaining cognitive health and keeping dementia at bay.

Your capacity to interact with your family, friends and neighbors is a major contributor to your mental health and a critical factor for an independent and rewarding quality of life.

Because your ears are so important to your overall health and daily living, protecting them against damage for as long as possible should be among your healthcare priorities.

Schedule A Custom Hearing Protection Appointment

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Why Hearing Protection Is Important

Age deterioration, various diseases, ototoxic medications, head traumas, birth defects and other causes all contribute to hearing loss. However, one of the most common causes of hearing loss is ongoing exposure to loud noise (noise-induced hearing loss, or NIHL).

Hearing professionals consider exposure to loud music, either live or through headphones, to be particularly dangerous with sound intensity levels reaching 100 to 115 decibels (dB). However, ongoing or frequent exposure to sound levels above 85 decibels (the sound of an idling bulldozer) for 8 hours a day can also cause permanent, irreparable hearing loss.

While hearing loss is irreversible, that doesn’t mean it’s not preventable. Knowledge, hearing protection, and prevention can help keep your hearing healthy. Highline Hearing Professionals are here to help you protect your hearing with custom hearing protection.

Custom vs. Generic Products

Custom-molded earplugs offer a degree of comfort and sound protection that is not available with generic earplugs. Additional benefits of custom protection include:

+ Ensuring that your hearing protection stays in place with a more secure fit.

+ Designed to retain accurate frequency response, so you’ll hear the full range of sounds but at a reduced volume.

+ Venting allows sound to pass both ways, eliminating reverberation of your own voice inside your ears.

+ Specific, measurable protection with precision-engineered filters for clear, unmuffled, and natural sound.

+ Medical-grade silicone allows for extended periods of time without discomfort.

+ Several models offer replaceable sound filters in order to select the level of sound protection you need for situations with 10, 15, 17, 20, 26, or 27 dB sound reduction.

Custom hearing protection for musicians

In-Ear Studio Monitors for Musicians

According to several studies, musicians are four times more likely to suffer from hearing loss than the general public due to their profession. In addition to the hours spent practicing with their instruments, concerts regularly exceed 110 dB, which is loud enough to cause hearing damage in a matter of minutes.

Musicians who do not wear hearing protection face the likelihood of hearing loss at an early age, and place their careers at risk in the process.

Highline Audiology and Hearing Aids ‘in-ear musicians’ monitors are custom-fit to the unique contours of your ear, providing a comfortable fit for your entire performance. The snug but comfortable seal ensures that you only hear sounds through your monitors at a safe volume that won’t damage your hearing, but with the tone quality you require.

Hearing Protection for Hunting

Firing a rifle, shotgun or pistol without proper ear protection puts the ears of hunters and those engage in shooting sports at risk of immediate hearing damage.

Highline Audiology and Hearing Aids offer an array of custom-fit, essential protective gear for hunters and shooters, military and police personnel, as well as industrial and manufacturing professionals who are frequently exposed to extreme noise events.

The hearing protection we fit you with is convenient to carry with you, and since it’s fit to the unique contours of your inner ear, it’s comfortable to wear. Both standard hearing protection and electronic hearing protection are available to use wherever and whenever loud noise is a problem.

Custom hearing protection for hunters
Custom hearing protection for swimmers

Ear Protection for Swimmers

Though swimming doesn’t produce NIHL, ear protection for swimmers is an important part of protecting your ears against swimmer’s ear, surfer’s ear, and eardrum ruptures.

Ear protection for swimmers helps your ears equalize the pressure in your ears while underwater, and are custom fit to create tight seals that keep the ear canal dry.

Regular swimmers, or those who spend several hours per week performing activities in water, are encouraged to be fit for ear protection. Our practice specializes in finding the right ear protection solutions for you.

Ear Protection for Sleeping

A lack of sleep can lead to psychiatric troubles and is tied to a multitude of other health issues. Poor sleep often means that you go to work tired, have low energy, poor concentration, decreased productivity and are more stressed than you otherwise would have been.

Though sleeping does not usually pose a threat to your ears, many people strive for but struggle with getting a good night’s sleep for one reason or another. Our practice believes in taking charge of what you can control, like blocking out nighttime noises that keep you awake when you should be resting deeply.

Whether it’s the result of street noise, loud neighbors, or a snoring partner, our custom-fit ear protection is so comfortable, you’ll barely know it’s there — because you’ll be sleeping too soundly to notice.

Ear protection for a comfortable sleep

FAQs About

Protecting Your Ears

What are some common loud noises I should avoid?

Perhaps the most common loud noise you’ll encounter is freeway traffic, which can be loud enough to damage hearing (85 dB) when it’s heavy. Lawnmowers, chain saws, ambulances, garbage trucks, and motorcycles are all fairly common neighborhood or street sounds that can damage hearing. During certain times of the year, firecrackers, jackhammers, snowmobiles, or outdoor sporting equipment (guns included) might make themselves known. And of course, loud music — whether it’s through earbuds and a loud iPod or in person at a concert — is one of the most common culprits of hearing loss today.

My ears hurt after being exposed to loud noise. What should I do?

Do whatever you can to get away from that noise immediately. When a noise is painful, it’s likely that damage is being done to your hearing. Noises loud enough to cause pain are also typically loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage almost immediately. If the pain persists, please see a medical professional.

How do I protect my ears from loud noise?

Earplugs that fit snugly and seal tightly in your ear canal typically offer protection for a variety of situations. Custom-fit hearing protection offered by Highline Hearing Professionals can protect your ears from harmful noise levels while still allowing you to enjoy the activities you love.

Where can I get custom hearing protection?

Highline Hearing Professionals can fit you with custom hearing protection that defends the delicate inner ear against harmful noise levels.

How can I tell if a noise is dangerous?
If you must raise your voice in order to be heard over the sound, you’re probably experiencing a dangerous amount of noise. Do what you can to move out of harm’s way or cover your ears if possible until the noise passes.
How long can I be exposed to loud noises before it affects my hearing?
Permissible noise exposure levels vary. Hearing loss is cumulative, meaning that the less time you’re exposed to loud noises over the course of your life, the better your hearing health is likely to be. The point at which sound begins to damage hearing is 85 dB, for which the permissible continuous exposure period is about eight hours. For each 3 dB increase in noise pressure, the permissible exposure time before hearing damage can occur is cut in half. For example, permissible exposure to 88 dB would be four hours, 91 dB would be two hours, 94 dB would be one hour, etc.
Are there advantages to earmuffs or earplugs?
Heavy-duty earmuffs can create a seal around the ear that cuts out noise to the same level as many earplugs. The main disadvantages of a larger headset are the possibility for less mobility and the possibility that they may fall off, leaving the ears exposed for some period of time. Earplugs may also fall out, but custom-fit earplugs are likely to stay sealed comfortably in the ear for as long as you’d like to wear them.

Let Us Protect Your Ears

Your ears are essential to helping you communicate with the world around you, ensuring better mental and physical health, and ensuring that you’re able to live an independent and rewarding lifestyle. Protecting them from damage as long as possible is an essential element in the hearing care we provide.

If you or a loved one is at risk of developing noise induced hearing loss or are in need of protection for swimming or sleeping, complete and submit the adjacent form, and we’ll help you schedule a custom hearing protection appointment.

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