For a while now, I've been wearing ear protection while mowing the lawn, or using power tools. (Yeah, I'm an old guy.) Of course, all that silence, causes me to spend far too much time in my own head, which is definitely not good. So I spend my time my ipod earbuds in my ears with the ear protection over them. It's not as weird as it sounds. I have a lovely pair sound protection FM WORKTUNES headphones from Menards. However, I really want to listen to my Ipod. Worktunes also makes a mp3 player compatiable headphone model, but I'm cheap. Also, I get a chance to work in the Evil Genius Lab/Workshop downstairs. So I whipped these up, using a pair of ear protection head gear, some cheap (free) earbuds, a hobby knife, my dremel tool, and lots of hot glue.

I took off the vinyl ear cushions, and traced the earbud pattern into the foam in the headset. I also cut a channel for the earbud wires using my dremel tool. After making the pattern, it's just a simple matter of cutting out the foam. The hole smaller, but deeper than the earbud. That way you get a tight fit around the earbud, but still have space behind the earbud for glue. It doesn't take that long to do both sides of the ear protection.

Here is the final picture, after everything has been glued in. This project has been bouncing around my head for at least 5 years. It's nice to see something come of it. They work great, but you may have to use a slightly higher volume. Since the earbuds are no longer in your ears the sound is less intense, but the ear protection dulls everything outside so it does work out.