Abstract

A hearing protection apparatus has a pair of assemblies, each assembly including a body, an attachment facility connected to the body and configured to removably receive a lower edge of a hat, a retractable tether extending from the body and having a free end, and an earplug attached to the free end of the retractable tether. The attachment facility may be a clip defining an upwardly open channel. There may be a hat having opposed right and left edge locations each proximate to a wearer's ear, and the attachment facilities may be connected respectively to the right and left edge locations. A retraction actuator may be connected to the body and operable to retract the tethers to a retracted condition in response to actuation of the retraction actuator. There may be separate retraction actuators for each assembly, the retraction actuators being operable independently of each other.

IPC Classes  ?

• A42B 3/16 - Ear protection devices
• A42B 1/0188 - Protection for the ears, e.g. removable ear muffs
• A42B 1/245 - Means for mounting audio or communication systems