Ear Plugs and Hearing Protection

[EddieWalker]

My dozer is extremely loud!

I wear foam ear plugs AND head phone potectors. With both of them on, I'm fairly deaf and can only hear the deep bass drone of the engine.

My question and concern is when I stop at the end of the day after some long hours of wearing my hearing protection.

I have super hearing for an hour afterwards. I can hear things that I didn't realize even made noise before.

Obviously my ears are super sensitve at these times, and I'm wondering if I'm causing any damage to my hearing ability long term?

 

[markie61]

I guess sensory deprivation can heighten the senses after their absence. I often use foam and phones with the increase in sensitivity afterwards. As for hearing loss, I imagine the loss (if any) would be much greater than if we did nothing at all.
Mark

 

[virgil]

Hugh! WHAT HE SAY?

 

[DocHeb]

Even though you are wearing ear protection, it may not be enough. If your ears are "ringing" after working you aren't protected enough. If a noise starts out so loud that the 29dB drop from earplugs still keeps you in a dangerous range you may be in trouble. Noise damage is caused by level and length of exposure. Can you do anything to quieten the dozer? New muffler? Sound adsorbing panels in the engine compartment or cab? Re-direct the exhaust? Active noise-cancelling headphones?

You are not causing damage during your "supersensitive" times. Hearing problems come from the amount of energy transferred by loud noise to your ear's hearing mechanism. No matter what it may "sound like" after you pull out the earplugs, it is not high-energy noise. Don't worry about the quiet periods after, there isn't the energy transfer. Keep protecting your hearing, and decrease the exposure during work.

 

[RalphVa]

Sounds as though you've got good protection and better continue it.

I had ottosclerosis in my right ear about 20 years ago, such that I'd lost about 50% of the hearing by the time they removed the stapes. The doc replaced the stapes bones with plastic and metal parts. I call it my bionic ear now and ALWAYS wear ear plugs around almost any kind of noise.

About a week after the operation, the doc had me come in to remove the cotton wading he'd stuck into the ear. He took it out and spoke to me. About knocked me over! My car sounded like a log wagon on the trip home. I had to wear ear plugs eating in the company cafeteria for a while because I could hear them dumping silver wear in the kitchen for washing. EVERYTHING was just so noisey. Took my body about 6 weeks to turn the volume down. I suspect this is what is happening to you, to a lesser extent. The brain actually turns down the signal coming from the ear to a comfortable level. During the work period with ear protection, the brain is turning the volume up. Then it takes it that hour afterwards to turn it back down.

Wish my left ear could have been fixed the same way. It ended up with some nerve damage, probably from firing a rifle without ear protection as a kid. It works fine on some frequencies but doesn't on others.

Ralph

 

[EddieWalker]

RalphVa, You described it just right. My hearing afterwards is so sensitive that some sounds are actually painful. I've started leaving the ear plugs in for awhile afterwards to keep the surounding noise levels down.

I have a few holes in my muffler and will eventually replace it, but it's way down on my priority list.

I have noticed another oddity with my hearing. I always wear protection when I shoot except when I'm hunting.

I recentely shot a wild hog, I didn't hear the shot, and my ears didn't ring.

If a weapon is fired in any other situation around me, and I don't have on protection, my ears will ring all night long.

 

[Bird]

Keep using the hearing protection, Eddie, or you'll wind up like me, with hearing aids in both ears. The doctor says it's probably from all the guns going off in my lifetime. We never even thought of, or heard of, anyone using hearing protection when hunting when I was younger. You wanted to hear what was moving around you. And when I started on the police department, we never used any hearing protection for many years on the firing range. Some folks thought that since you wouldn't have hearing protection on the job, if you ever needed your gun, you shouldn't have it when practicing. More sensible thinking has prevailed the last 20 years or so. The guns were always loud; whether .38 special, .44 mag., 12 gauge, 9 mm, etc. but for some reason the only one that made my ears ring for an hour or more after one shot is my S&W Chief, 2" bbl, .38 special.

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( my ears will ring all night long.

)</font>
hate to say this but some times my ears ring also, and thats without firing a weapon. do yourself a favor and wear protection whenever you can

 

[JDgreen227]

This may be a stupid pun, but I'd like all the TBN members to LISTEN to what I have to say on the subject of hearing protection.

In my early teens I rode loud motorcycles and go karts, and as I got older (but not wiser) I used noisy power tools and owned cars with loud mufflers...and the motorcycles made even more racket than the ones I had in my teen years.

If that wasn't bad enough, I chose a job that assaulted my hearing with hammer blows and the shrill screech of circular saws and the use of air nailers, and if that wasn't enough, I made the stupid mistake of using chain saws and other outdoor equipment without taking the precaution of wearing hearing protection.

And shall I mention all the target shooting I did over the years....

Feel free to yell at me for being stupid, because I won't hear you.

Please don't make the mistakes I did. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[DUMBDOG]

Do not know the cause, motorcycles, guns, or loud music, but my ears ring most of the time. For the last five to ten years have used hearing protection for power tools and target shooting. My son uses hearing protection for target shooting, etc. Hope he has at least learned that from me. To bad we did not know thirty years ago what we know now, or if we did, just to stubborn to listen.