Hard-Hat Hearing Protection
These Bluetooth-enabled helmet muffs and add-on boom mic offer job-site convenience to anyone who works near loud equipment and has to wear a helmet on a regular basis.
I own and operate a general contracting and tree-removal business in northern Wisconsin. Needless to say, hearing protection is an important, daily concern. When I’m wearing my contractor’s cap, I usually wear earbud hearing protection to block out irritating background noise from saws, generators, and compressors. I use earbuds equipped with Bluetooth so I can answer calls and listen to music and podcasts while I work. But I have yet to find earbuds that fit my ears well enough to block all the sound from my wood chipper, which is considerably louder than my biggest chainsaw, so I rely on earmuffs that connect directly to my helmet.
The downside with my old helmet muffs was the lack of Bluetooth, which meant no calls, no music, and no podcasts. But that was then. I now own a pair of ISOtunes Link 2.0 Helmet Mount earmuffs with the optional boom mic. I don’t like distractions when I’m perched 40 ft. in the air limbing a tree, but when I’m on the ground it’s nice to be able to answer an important phone call without having to take off my helmet and gloves and fumble through my pockets for my phone. In addition to the benefits of Bluetooth, these muffs are easy to install on a hard hat, block more noise than my old muffs, and are much more comfortable on my ears.
I recommend these muffs to anyone who works near loud equipment and has to wear a helmet on a regular basis. In fact, I have found myself wearing these more and more at my construction job sites when I have a bunch of saw cuts to make. ISOtunes claims up to 50 hours of battery life per charge, but I usually charge mine before that amount of time. The ISOtunes Link 2.0 Helmet Mount muffs cost $120 and the optional boom mic is $30.
Lee Nelson, a general contractor and tree-removal specialist in Danbury, Wis. Photo courtesy of the manufacturer.
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