Hearing Protection

[jdgreg]

I usually wear a set of ear muffs for hearing protection when I'm on the tractor. I ran across a set of these at Home Depot yesterday afternoon, and had to have them. So far, they seem to work very well, and have decent reception inside my Curtis cab. Thought I'd pass it along here.

Go to www.homedepot.com, then type in "hearing protection" in the search field, they'll show up. I tried linking to them, but HD's links are goofed up.

 

[TOL1488]

I use one of my pairs of shooting ear muffs for just about anything requiring hearing protection. Already own a few sets and they are generally rated much higher than most others you can find.

Check out your local gun shop, if you just want the protection without the weight of a radio.

 

[Highbeam]

Me too. Several pairs laying around for metal work, shooting, and PTO speed tractor work.

If I was ever bored, the radio feature would be nice.

 

[BobG_in_VA]

I shoot a lot and use the same hearing protectors for the tractor. I have used everything from a $9.95 set to over $50. By far the best bang for the buck are Husquvarna (sp?) hearing protectors that I found at Lowes in the power equipment side (next to the Husky power saws). About $18 and well worth it! I use them for shooting as well.. My $.02 worth. BobG in VA

 

[goaliedad]

ditto on the shooting 'muffs- great for the workshop, shooting, and tractor. Isn't putting a radio speaker in a "hearing protection" device a contradiction?? Sorry honey I couldn't hear you because I'm deaf from listening to my hearing protection device. On second thought that may not be so bad.

 

[Pilot]

I have used that headset radio for several years. It's great, except that tuning with the little knob is a hassle since there is no station marking on it. Also, until I superglued it on, the cover over the side without the battery would pop off if it got touched lightly.

Hearing protection: Loudness is limited to 82dB.

Sure helps out when doing boring jobs!

 

[rambler]

Got my wife that unit last year for mowing & other jobs, she's pretty happy. So am I. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Works pretty well.

--->Paul

 

[wushaw]

I have the same set but the reception is not that great so I purchased a different radio (walkman) that got better reception and installed it on a good set of muffs, It works better and if I decide to ever get a MP3 player I can just disconnect the walkman and plug the MP3 player in.

 

[daTeacha]

If you want to get serious about hearing protection, check into the electronic ones that create an "opposite" sound for anything over a safe limit. For each compression wave, it makes an exact mirror image, cancelling out the offending sound. I've used some for sporting clays and it's just amazing. You can hear conversation easily, but the gun shots simply don't seem to happen. This is a whole different animal than the pressure activated mechanical "sonic ear valves". These things really work. You can expect to pay for them, but they're great.

For normal muffs, look for the best fit and the highest dB reduction.

 

[cisco]

The muffs would have to be very good (and anything over 20db is decent, and over 35db takes a combination of muffs and earplugs) to reduce your tractor noise sufficiently for you to hear a radio well without doing so at levels that could damage hearing (90 db plus, though 85db for repeated 8 hour lengths might do such, per OSHA). As to the "sound neutralizers" (basically a 180 degree out of phase sound wave generator), some work well, but cost a bunch (it's the microchip that analyzes complex sound patterns, and a speaker that can handle the frequencies and sound pressure levels needed), with the majority not particularly effective, as in most of the ones sold for mp-3 players, plane flights and so on.
Me, I use the same muffs on the tractor that I do on the target range, except on the range I also have ear plugs in place. The reason is I enjoy a fine stereo system at home, and, on rare occasions, need to pay attention to what my wife is saying.