A rifle report is over 150 dB at the muzzle and the damage is done before you flinch. Most people put protection on late and take it off ten minutes later because it gets in the way. We tested fifteen models over ten weeks at the range, in the shop and doing yard work. Here is the order.
See our #1 ›
Still on after two hours, no clash with safety glasses, and still findable a month later. Those three things decide this test, not the number on the box.
✓ Sold by BOLLSEN · free shipping over $39 · 40-day returns
Protection you take off after an hour protects you for exactly one hour. That is what this whole test rests on.
So we scored comfort after two hours, whether they clash with the rest of your gear, and whether you find them when you need them. Attenuation was a requirement, not a criterion: a model without a measured figure did not enter the ranking.
One clarification worth making: a plug does not sort sounds. It does not pass speech or a range command better than anything else — if anything it takes most off the high end. You hear a call because it is loud and close. If you genuinely need to communicate under noise, that is a job for electronic muffs, not a passive plug.
Earplugs sold in the US usually carry an NRR figure, set by the EPA. BOLLSEN publishes a European EN 352-2 measurement instead — 24 dB, measured by an independent German laboratory. The two numbers are produced by different test methods and are not interchangeable, so we quote the figure that was actually measured rather than converting it into something it is not.
It depends on the firearm and how long you are out. For rimfire, a workshop and yard work, plugs are more comfortable, do not clash with a cap and do not trap sweat. For heavier calibers, indoor ranges and anything with a muzzle brake, muffs — or both together — are the sensible answer. Doubling up is standard practice at indoor ranges for a reason.
Still on after two hours of work. Half the field was on the shelf by then.
See our #1 ›After ten weeks — weekend range sessions, shop work and yard machinery — the BOLLSEN WorkPRO were the only ones our testers did not take off partway through.
The best protection is not the one that blocks most. It is the one still on your head in the second hour.
The plug sits inside the ear canal, so a cap, a headset and the temples of your safety glasses never touch it. Muffs rested on the temples of glasses, and that is exactly where the leak forms that the wearer never knows about.
In summer, testers took muffs off because of the sweat collecting under the cushion. With plugs that did not happen once, and it was the sharpest difference between the two product groups.
It sounds like marketing and it worked in the test: skin-tone and clear models disappeared into a workbench inside a month. High-vis yellow you spot among your tools, and the case is included.
Ten weeks of range, shop and yard. The same pair.
See our #1 ›The only ones still on after two hours, and the only ones safety glasses did not push out of place.
| Rated on | WorkPRO | Earmuffs | Electronic | Foam | Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comfortable after 2 hours | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ~ | ✗ |
| No clash with gear | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Still around a month later | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ meets · ~ partly · ✗ does not meet — based on the pros and cons in the cards above; tap a card to open it.
See our #1 ›We bought fifteen hearing protectors at retail — both plugs and muffs — and used them for ten weeks at the range, in the shop and on yard machinery. We logged when they came off, whether they clashed with glasses or a cap, and whether they were still to hand a month later. None came from a manufacturer.
The winner’s attenuation was measured by an independent German laboratory to EN 352-2: 24 dB overall, of which 24 dB at high tones, 21 dB at mid and 19 dB at low. It is passive protection: it lowers the volume and does not sort sounds. The result also depends on how you insert it.