MRI Safe Earmuffs

[Baker]

"MRI safe" ear defenders are just metal free ear defenders, that are also (somewhat) slimline.

So, if your ear defenders contain no metal (and aren't bulky), they're generally considered fit for use during an MRI.

Here's a current UK supplier I found:

EP106X (ultimateindustrial.co.uk)

And a current US supplier also:

MRI Safe Pro-Ears Ultra Pro Premium Ear Muffs (NRR 30) - Pro Ears (Altus Brands) (earplugstore.com)

They have three different Pro-Ears. A regular one, one that is more slim, but offers less protection, and one even smaller for children or small heads.

I need to get an MRI and have to have my head in a cage as I'm getting an MRI of my thoracic. I'm thinking of trying the one for children to see if that fits my head. I think that would be my best chance of my head fitting in the cage with MRI earmuffs.

 

[Damocles]

They have three different Pro-Ears. A regular one, one that is more slim, but offers less protection, and one even smaller for children or small heads.

I need to get an MRI and have to have my head in a cage as I'm getting an MRI of my thoracic. I'm thinking of trying the one for children to see if that fits my head. I think that would be my best chance of my head fitting in the cage with MRI earmuffs.

Get all of them, is my advice, @Baker.

If this were me, I'd buy all of three of them and bring them all with me to the scan.

Because think of it like this, say you were to suffer a bad spike off the back of the scan; how much would you pay, and to what lengths would you go, to rid yourself of it?

To me, money and effort are no object where maintaining equilibrium with my tinnitus is concerned.

Therefore, in my opinion, you should ask the radiologist to allow you try all three in the cage ahead of the scan, when you arrive at your appointment.

Obviously the ones that push the margin of space are going to be the best, and offer the most protection (which is what you want). But as long as you're wearing ear defenders + earplugs that are fitting well and forming a seal, I suspect you should be okay.

However if they don't feel like they're offering you adequate protection during the scan, the radiologist always gives you the option to call time on it. So keep that in mind if things become uncomfortable.

 

[Damocles]

Recent post by @tracyNYC got me thinking about this topic again.

Started wondering if perhaps Peltor X5A ear defenders might be safe to use in an MRI machine, given the lack of metal obvious in their design.

Sent an email to 3M on the matter and got this ▼ response.

Unfortunately, the headband on all of our ear defenders contain stainless steel. I would suggest that a better solution than trying to combine muffs & plugs, which will only increase the overall protection by ~4 dB, would be to use a plug with a very high attenuation rating such as the 3M Earsoft FX.

So that answers that. All versions of 3M ear defender are a no go where MRIs are concerned.

You'll notice they also touch on something a lot of you are already aware of, which is the whole NRR 30 dB + NRR 30 dB =/= NRR 60 dB thing.

Made into quite a nice analogy by @ECP recently ▼

I think of ear protection the way I do sunblock. You can wear SPF 15 on top of SPF 30, but that doesn't mean you're getting SPF 45 as the end result

If you want to calculate what level of dB reduction you're getting with your double protection, @ajc and @GoatSheep have covered the method before here and here.

To be honest with you though, I am still to this day, confused by the physics behind this. It perplexes me that double protection could offer so little protection. But then, I'm not going to argue with 3M on the matter, since they've only been making high quality protective equipment for over a century now...

Still, given the choice, I think I'd rather be with the extra 4 dB than without.

That is to say, the day you find me in a tube without double protection, will be the day after tinnitus has been cured.

 

[Eleanor89]

Hello @Baker. I had an MRI in September 2020, and I am so glad I had it, as the pain I was in was horrendous.

I wore the head gear they gave me which fit perfectly and I explained about my tinnitus and they gave me time to insert foam earplugs.

I had my MRI at Blackpool. Fantastic hospital.

I also had an MRI earlier in the year at the Spire hospital and on both occasions I was in the scanner up to an hour.

They saved my life. I'm so grateful.

 

[Baker]

I finally got my MRI done via the Canon/Toshiba Orion. It took twenty minutes. I used -30 dB earplugs, and the MRI earmuffs they provided. They played music through it and I had taken a Valium.

I did pretty well. I could hardly hear the MRI machine noise other than random times like the banging, etc. But it was fairly quiet. Though I did have double protection and they had music playing in the earmuffs. I don't believe the MRI changed my tinnitus level.

The images looked a lot more grainy than the MRI I had done several years ago. Both were 1.5T, so not sure why the MRI machine used several years ago had done such a better job. In the future, I may try to find a Canon MRI machine with 3T.

 

[Baker]

Hello @Baker. I had an MRI in September 2020, and I am so glad I had it, as the pain I was in was horrendous.

I wore the head gear they gave me which fit perfectly and I explained about my tinnitus and they gave me time to insert foam earplugs.

I had my MRI at Blackpool. Fantastic hospital.

I also had an MRI earlier in the year at the Spire hospital and on both occasions I was in the scanner up to an hour.

They saved my life. I'm so grateful.

Do you know what brand/model MRI machines you used?

 

[Eleanor89]

Do you know what brand/model MRI machines you used?

Hello @Baker.

One was done in a mobile scan unit and one at the hospital. One was NHS and one was private healthcare.

Both were the same in volume although I didn't think about that at the time, as I was just relieved I was getting treatment.

The staff were amazing and helpful at both appointments.

In fact I never explored noise and the effects of the MRI on tinnitus as I just went, as the thought had never crossed my mind. If I had read anything, I would have been petrified attending...

I'm sure that you will be fine.