3M PELTOR Ear Muff Hearing Protection, X5 Series, Noise Protection NRR 21 dB, Construction, Manufacturing, Automotive

I first heard about these on Reddit and found this description by u/Karlu _most to be very true:“The moment I put them on, everything went silent. It felt like I was floating in space, and the soft ear cushions pressed gently against my head, like I was lying on two pillows at once.Suddenly, the anxiety was gone. I stopped feeling afraid. I stopped thinking in a negative way. I just felt calm and focused, and gradually, I started to feel more energized. I can say with absolute certainty that at that moment, my life split into before and after.With these headphones on, I could easily write an important email, read and take notes without any effort, and finally focus. I quickly wrote my resume, which later helped me land a job. And later, I successfully defended my thesis.But most importantly, I no longer suffered from decision paralysis. Everything suddenly felt clearer, and I no longer wasted hours overthinking things.And here’s something funny—whenever I didn’t know what to write to a girl on a dating app, I would just put on these headphones. Instantly, my thoughts stopped rushing around, and my messages became more natural and confident, which made conversations flow much better.What’s even stranger is that I used to have a strong addiction to background noise. I was constantly listening to music or podcasts on YouTube because I was afraid of silence. But when I first experienced true silence, I realized that this was exactly what I had needed all along.”

As soon as I put them on, there is a dramatic drop in the noise around me. They are very comfortable. And they don't have batteries or circuit boards or any other high tech gadgets. They just work.I got these to use in church. Our song services consistently run around 90 db or higher. So instead of being the grumpy old goat, I'm using the 3M headphones.

Got a new 90cc chainsaw with 112dB at the ear, and found that my existing hearing protection was not adequate. I've been using 3M Optime 98 and 105 ear muffs. The X5 are significantly better. They fit comfortably, even with glasses, and provide enough sound reduction that I'm comfortable using the saw, and not worried about ruining what little hearing I have left. Made in the USA. Will see how they hold up over time. My older Optime 98s would eventually pop apart.

Rarely do I feel so moved to write a review such as this. I haven't had a life-altering experience or anything of that magnitude with these earmuffs, but I have had a few moments of silence that have made my day!As a matter of disclosure, I bought these earmuffs to silence my many neighbors at my "open" workplace. I am a software engineer, and I very frequently need to hear myself think. Where I work, each employee gets 3 square feet of cubicle space. The official line is that being this close to all your office colleagues will foster collaboration. It is really just a way to save money on cubicle furniture (which -- to my employer's credit -- does gouge out souls with their prices). So they try to put a positive spin on what is essentially a negative occurrence: everybody now gets less space. And more noise. And more distraction. And a ridiculous amount of light. But the light is another story.Anyway, my previous tries at finding a set of headphones or earmuffs to stifle every little joke, conversation, phone call, laugh, etc. had previously met with mixed results. I had already settled on how I would listen to music: a really good set of noise-cancelling headphones and some Bluetooth transmitter/receiver magic (not all good headphones are wireless). But I still longed for times where it could be library-level quiet at my desk. A quixotic desire to say the least, since people are on the phone right next to me, having meetings right next to me, walking by in groups and talking like no one else is around right next to me, etc.. So I tried a few earmuffs with high NRR, again with mixed results. The most effective set of earmuffs I used before these were a set of earmuffs rated 29 NRR. They worked very well. But the ear cushions were square (who thought of that?) and after an hour or two of wearing them, my ears would protest vociferously. Hence my search for a quieter and more comfortable set of earmuffs. My search led me to these and another set that claimed a rating of 34 NRR. I ordered these, and told myself if they didn't do the job, I could always order the 34 NRR ones.Wow. The first time I put these on, I could feel myself physically relax. The noise was GONE. I can't hear a THING with these earmuffs on. Well, I can, but everything outside of the earmuffs is either dead quiet or so muffled it doesn't even matter. Any amount of distraction due to sound is effectively eliminated with these earmuffs. My previous 29 NRR earmuffs used a huge cushion on the inside of each earmuff to do the hard work of absorbing noise. But it made my ears hot after a while (body part + insulation + containment = heat & sweat). These Peltor earmuffs are hollow on the inside of each earmuff, and the shell is lined with the noise-absorbing foam. As a result, my ears are much cooler with these on. The space between your ear and the outside of the earmuff shell is part of the strategy of how these earmuffs reduce noise, and it is VERY effective. Also, the seal provided by the ear cushions is the tried-and-true plastic/vinyl-like material (I believe it is PVC) that creates a good seal around your ears without acting like an adhesive.That being said, no earmuffs are perfect, and these Peltor earmuffs are no exception. The immediate inside of each earmuff -- where your ear makes direct contact with the earmuff -- is solid plastic. This plastic wraps around the whole earmuff, but for the most part you feel it on the back of your ear. I believe it is designed this way on purpose, because a rigid plastic ring where the foam ends and the cushion on the outside begins helps to create a superior seal around the ear. And the plastic does not put any crushing pressure on your ear lobes. But this rigid plastic can become tiresome. I usually need to wear these for hours at a time. Sometimes, during crunch times, I wear these earmuffs for four hours straight. And either my head will protest, or my ears will, depending on whether I put them on correctly, of if they are a little off balance. When I take them off, the areas on my ears where the plastic made contact are the most sore. And the headband could stand to have some kind of cushioning on it, to prevent the "two-band" impression in my hair after a long programming session. I realize these earmuffs are intended to be used along with protective headgear, but for my application (i.e. shutting everyone around me up) I wouldn't mind a terry cushion or a memory-foam cushion on the headband.But I swear these are quibbles and nitpicks. I LOVE these earmuffs. If 3M has a higher NRR set of these Peltors, I will be all over them. I now use these all the time at work. I look like a dork with these huge cans on my head, but I don't care. I can finally work in a library whenever I want to! Now, all I have to do is conquer the copious light in my "open" workspace...