Ear Muff, Or Headset? Ear muffs, in their simplest form, have been used for many years. In the past, they were deemed effective in providing hearing protection in high noise environments. But standard ear muffs were designed to limit the volume of ALL sound, which may include important alerts or warning shouts, actually endangering the wearer. Today’s headsets take hearing protection to a much higher level, providing protection, while improving communication capability, and allowing increased awareness of the workplace environment.