Howard Leight FAQ: From Sync Earmuffs to a Pool Fence (A Buyer's Notes)

You'd think running safety purchasing is just comparing prices. It isn't. I'm the office administrator for a 160-person extrusion and metal fabrication company, and I handle PPE ordering—roughly $60,000 a year across seven vendors. I report to operations and finance, which means I get asked to justify every line item. The Howard Leight questions keep repeating, so here are my notes. Some answers also cover leather welding gloves, one covers Loop earplugs, and one is about a pool fence. I promise the fence makes sense eventually.

The questions I actually get

Where is the Howard Leight official website?

Short answer: Howard Leight doesn't run a standalone consumer store. The official information lives on Honeywell's website under the Howard Leight brand. The old howard-leight.com URL redirects there. I usually search “Howard Leight official website” and look for the Honeywell URL. Distributor pages show up first, which is annoying when you're trying to verify specs.

What I learned in 2024: the safest route is to go to Honeywell.com, search “Howard Leight hearing protection,” and bookmark the product family page. That's the source I use for NRR numbers and dimensions. Before that, I almost ordered 500 boxes of earplugs based on a reseller's spec sheet. The reseller had the right NRR, but the box count was wrong. You do not want to be the person explaining why you bought 500 boxes of earplugs based on a typo. (Note to self: always download the official spec PDF.)

Is the Howard Leight Sync Stereo Earmuff worth buying?

If the name sounds like something from an audio blog, I get it. The Howard Leight Sync Stereo Earmuffs are work headphones and hearing protection in one. They have a 3.5mm audio cable, volume control on the side, and a limiter so the loudest source won't push damaging levels into your ears. They're passive earmuffs with speakers, not active noise-cancelling. That distinction matters.

We bought 30 pairs for the machine shop in 2023. The team liked being able to plug into their radios without taking off their muffs. The downside: there's a cable, so the phone or radio has to be somewhere accessible. I'd also set the volume cap before handing them out, because the default was louder than I expected.

Exact NRR depends on the model, and I don't want to quote a number I'm not staring at. Check the Honeywell spec sheet for the current version. (I think there's a Bluetooth version now, but don't quote me on that.)

How does Loop earplugs work? And should I put them on my PPE list?

“How does Loop earplugs work” is a search that lands here because I write about hearing protection. Quick version: Loop earplugs use a small internal channel to reduce volume while letting more midrange sound through. Instead of foam expanding and blocking everything, you get a lower overall level and can still hold a conversation. The Loop site calls it an acoustic resonator.

That's great for concerts or an open office. For industrial noise, I'd be careful. Occupational hearing protection in the U.S. comes down to the NRR, and I don't think Loop's consumer listings include an EPA NRR. I could be wrong—check their FAQ. If a product doesn't have a labeled NRR, it doesn't fit into a hearing conservation program. That doesn't make Loop bad. It makes it a different category.

For our shop, we use a combination of Howard Leight foam earplugs and earmuffs. A worker who wants Loop on top of that? I'd still want the NRR and a fit test before approving it. I do not recommend skipping the fit test.

Does Howard Leight make leather welding gloves?

No. Howard Leight is hearing protection. If you're looking for leather welding gloves, you're on the wrong page, but I'll give you the shortcut I use anyway.

We order split-length gauntlet gloves for MIG welding. The spec says leather welding gloves, full grain or top grain, with a reinforced thumb seam and a thermal liner. I do not mean “leather-looking” work gloves. I ask the distributor for the ANSI/ISEA 105 levels for heat and cut before adding a new style to our approved list.

Price check: in our January 2025 quotes, decent MIG gloves ran $15 to $28 a pair depending on cuff length and lining. Verify current pricing—it moved a lot after 2024 material surcharges. And before you buy cheap, remember my invoice lesson. I once used a discount vendor because the gloves were $3 cheaper per pair. The vendor sent a handwritten receipt, finance rejected the expense, and I ate $180 out of the department budget. Now I confirm invoicing capability before placing any order.

What does a pool fence have to do with Howard Leight?

Nothing. But it's the question nobody expects. Our facility has a shallow retention pond next to the parking lot. A safety consultant flagged a gap in the barrier, so it became my job to fix it. I searched “pool fence” because a residential safety fence was the closest description, and the result was an industrial chain-link section with a self-closing gate.

It's not PPE, but it belongs on the same checklist. The fence cost $850 with installation. That's cheaper than a fall incident, an OSHA citation, or the awkward conversation with my VP about why we didn't fix it. Prevention over cure works for every category, not just earplugs.

Should I buy Howard Leight earplugs or earmuffs?

I get this at least once a quarter. The honest answer: it depends on the job and fit. The Howard Leight MAX foam earplug has NRR 33, one of the highest foam earplug ratings available. It's our baseline for high-noise areas. But earplugs only work if they're inserted properly. Earmuffs are harder to get wrong and easier to inspect.

For workers who wear hard hats, low-profile earmuffs can conflict with the straps. We solved that by buying both and letting people choose after a quick fit test. According to OSHA (osha.gov/hearing-conservation, accessed January 2025), if a worker's 8-hour exposure is 85 dBA or above, you need a hearing conservation program. In our case, that meant training, baseline audiograms, and annual tests. I didn't know that when I took over purchasing in 2020.

That's the part I usually don't have hard data on: how many small shops actually fit-test hearing protection. My sense is it's a minority. But 5 minutes of insertion training beats 5 years of hearing loss claims.

What's the most common mistake in safety equipment procurement?

The most frustrating part is that written specs don't prevent interpretation problems. You'd think a purchase requisition for leather welding gloves would be enough. I still received “welding gloves” that were thin enough to use in a kitchen. After the third order like that, I started putting exact ANSI levels on every line item.

Another mistake: assuming a reseller listing is current. Howard Leight, like every major PPE brand, updates lines and packaging. If the listing doesn't match the official website, trust the official website. And if you rely on a vendor to keep you compliant, you won't know what you're missing until the audit. Prevention over cure—same principle as the pool fence.