Ear Muffs / Hearing Protection while mowing?

[powerpace]

Never wore ear protection when growing up and operating equipment. Wish I had. Always had ear protection when shooting. Hearing protection was mandatory on Helicopters and around other aircraft. I use it when Chainsawing and weedeating. I also use full head and face protection when falling trees. Protection is worn when brush hogging.

[JakeBrake]

I want to preserve the hearing I have left. You don't miss your hearing until it's gone. I use ear protection whenever I'm doing anything noisy (mowing, tractoring, chainsawing, shooting, etc.) I usually use earplugs because ear muffs are too hot most of the time. I like the ear muff radios, but they are too hot most of the time and where I live the reception is not good.

I'm almost deaf in my left ear and my hearing is not too good in my right ear either.

[wyeguy]

I use foam ear plugs. Roll them up and they expand in your ear. I use the kind connected by a plastic string and leave a pair hanging on the steering wheel of the tractor, mower, on the snowblower, tiller, etc. I bought a box of several dozen a few years ago for $20 & they'll probably last me another decade.
Ear muffs are hot and don't fit my fat head too well ;-) I'll have to quit being so cheap and buy a quality good fitting pair sometime. But I still use muffs when making a cut or a few on the table saw or circ saw, etc.
I've had way too much safety training over the years not use something. And hopefully it'll pay off if I ever have some grandkids!

[DT86]

I also use the bulk corded foam ear plugs. I have a box above the work bench and several pairs thrown in the truck, tractor, chain saw case, ect.

[stuckmotor]

The cheap muffs I bought are too tight and make my head hurt. I used to use them when my hard of hearing wife had the TV turned up too loud.

[TedLaRue]

I started out using muffs, but switched to disposable foam ear plugs, as wyeguy and DT86 mentioned. The foam plugs are easy to carry around in my pocket, and I keep some in the glove box of my vehicles and tool box on my tractor so I always have them available, which encourages me to use them.

I use these (32db noise reduction, about as high at it gets):

Laser Lite Earplugs Corded, 100 Pair -GEMPLER'S

I buy the corded version because that makes it easy to remove them from my ears, although the cord sometimes gets in the way when I'm trying to fill a fuel tank. The cord seems to hang right in my line of vision, so I usually chew on it when I'm refueling.

At first they may be hard to use, but after some experience, you can insert them pretty easily with one hand, and you will feel more comfortable having them in when you are running a noisy machine. It's kind of like how you get used to wearing a seat belt in your car, and feel uncomfortable if you don't have it on.

I also try to follow my "no exception" rule, where I always use them, even if I'm only going to be mowing for a few minutes (which often turns out to be longer than that).

[T Dew]

I never used to use any sort of hearing protection, and I felt like a little bit less of a man when I finally started wearing it for everything. I'm sure glad I did, and I wish I had years ago. I use the disposable foam ear plugs w/o the cord. I also leave some in the truck, in the shop, and keep some in the tractor. Hearing loss is cumulative, so every little bit helps. The over the ear style are just too bulky and hot to wear for an extended period of time in my opinion.

[alchemysa]

These are my favorites. Inexpensive headband earplugs. (About $6.50 from Bunnings in Australia). I have 4 pair around the place so they are always ready at hand. These are really comfortable. I often forget I'm wearing them. Really easy to slip on and off. No problem to wear with glasses. And they can hang comfortably around the neck without a problem when you aren't actually 'wearing' them. Vastly superior to the little foam earplugs in my opinion.

[California]

I'll repeat here a post I put in the Harbor Freight thread a few months ago:

I just now read the product manuals for HF's various hearing protectors. The $2 red ear muffs give only 2 db reduction @ 125 hz while their foam earplugs are 38 db reduction @ 125 hz. (All the strings on a bass guitar are below 125 hz for comparison.)

What I read confirmed my experience of these products, that the $2 muffs weren't adequate to prevent fatigue from my clanky 24 hp 2 cylinder Yanmar. I've described its sound as 'sledges hammering on a manhole cover'; an overwhelming and tiring pounding if I use the backhoe just above idle all day. (Higher rpm is hardly better just higher frequency).

I looked at some of the other manuals.
The earplugs-on-a-string are only 1 db @ 125 hz.
$6 red ear muffs, the ones some users say have a too-small headband: -5.43 db reduction @ 125 hz. Negative!!! Maybe an echo chamber? But it has good numbers at mid-frequency.
$10 yellow ear muffs: 9.6 db reduction @ 125 hz and excellent numbers at mid-frequency.

After that I bought the yellow ear muffs. I recommend them. They simply eliminate the fatigue caused by hard, pounding sound.

[jeff9366]

I use in-ear plugs too, but the tapered soft plastic style with a chord between the inserts. I buy them at Walmart in the shooting section of the Sporting Goods department, three pairs for about $3.

As I am in Florida, sun protection is as important as noise protection. Most of the year I wear a big straw hat when on the tractor and the in-ear style does not interfere with a hat.