Can you wear ear defenders with a powered respirator?
Yes, and it is easier than with a sealed mask because there are no head straps crossing your ears competing for the same space. The unit itself runs under 65 dB(A), so it does not add meaningfully to what you are already protecting against.
Stacking protection is where a lot of shop PPE falls apart. Safety glasses lift the seal on a mask, ear defenders clash with head straps, and something ends up left off.
A hood-style powered respirator removes most of that conflict, because the respiratory protection is not achieved by strapping something tightly to your face. There is no seal being broken by a spectacle arm or an ear cup.
On noise: the blower runs at under 65 dB(A). For reference, that is conversation level — well under the point at which hearing protection becomes necessary on its own, and not a meaningful addition to a planer or a router that you are already wearing defenders for.
The practical thing to check before buying any hood is the shape of your existing defenders. Over-ear cups sit outside the hood on some designs and inside on others, and that is worth knowing before it arrives rather than after.
Related questions
Do I actually need a respirator for woodworking, or is that overkill? Does the carbon pre-filter mean it handles fumes? Why do my glasses fog up under a dust mask, and what stops it? How often should a PAPR filter be changed?The Breathie Thingy
A powered air-purifying respirator for woodworkers. $499 for the first 30 units of each batch, including a spare filter kit.
See the current batch