Reddit reviews Fnova 34dB Highest NRR Safety Ear Muffs - Professional Ear Defenders for Shooting, Adjustable Ear Protection/Shooting Hearing Protector Earmuffs Fits Adults to Kids

I'm 35 - pro mastering engineer, and a tinnitus sufferer. I know this might seem impossible, but in time you will adjust and it will go away. A couple things I wish I had told myself at 21.

1. Buy ear plugs and put them in your car, jacket pocket, pants, back pack. I like the Hearos Extreme ones. Wear them whenever you're in ANY sort of loud environment.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Hearos-Xtreme-Protection-Plugs-14-Pair/dp/B00M0P6FX4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1519348869&sr=8-6&keywords=hearos+extreme+protection
   
   
2. Buy these, or something like them, and wear them (instead of the earplugs) if you're doing anything around the house that might be loud. Mowing the lawn, building something, even vaccuming.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AFOJ3HG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   
3. This is HUGE. Buy an SPL meter (I'll link to a cheap one below) set it up at your listening position and adjust your listening level so that it doesn't go above 85dba during the loudest passages of mastered tracks. Don't use youtube, spotify, or any other loudness normalized playback medium to do this. Buy a song off itunes (that isn't labeled 'mastered for itunes') or better yet - play back a CD.
   
   Mark that volume level on on your level control and NEVER go above it. 85 dba SPL is safe for 8 hours a day - anything more than that, or longer and you could potentially cause permanent damage. If your ears feel stuffed or tired it's because you're listening too long, too loud, or both.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EZZ8B5Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   I understand that you may be recording or mixing material that is lower than mastered material and will sound quiet at the 85db setting you'll have marked off. In that case, make a second mark on your volume control that corresponds to 85db at mix level, or better yet - keep the SPL meter in front of you. This serves a dual purpose, as it doesn't only protect your ears, but it helps you hear constantly. Your sensitivity to different frequencies chances (quite a bit) with listening level. So establishing a (safe) standard will allow you to mix faster, better, and much more confidently.
   
   Typed that pretty fast while working, so sorry for any typos.
   
   Good luck!
   
   edit: for some reason all my points are coming up as #1 ... odd.
   

How do these look? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AFOJ3HG


They work pretty well for me. They don't get rid of all sounds but it makes it much quieter. I bet if you combine these with earplugs it could block out all sounds under 50-60 db.

Most people will tell you Howard Leight and earplugs. This is a great solution, and the Howard Leights are great muffs if you want the electronic hearing feature.

However, they don't have a particularly high NRR rating (NRR 22). If you don't care about the electronic feature, then you can buy earmuffs with a much higher NRR for cheaper. Examples that I use when I want to make sure I have as much NRR as possible:

NRR 31

NRR 37

NRR 34

To protect your hearing. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AFOJ3HG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Scanner: Baofeng UV-5R v2, $33. I have the previous model of this one. The older model is now $25.

Antenna: Nagoya NA-810 2.5-Inch Mini-Whip VHF/UHF, $14. The stock antenna on that radio has a lot of bleed, I changed the antenna on both of my radio's and the next race we went to there was no bleed whatsoever.

I just use normal earbuds for audio and have noise cancelling ear muffs, but plan on getting a microphone headset in the future.

Noise cancelling headset here

So for a little more than the price of renting one of the scanners you can buy your own and have it ready to go every year. We go to multiple races a year, so after two races we were already saving money on scanners.