Hearing Protection

[Grrrr]

Does anyone else wear any sort of ear protection when operating their tractor. I was reading through the manual that came with our ride on mower and it said you should always wear hearing protection with it.

I know that some of our tractors are pretty loud especially at PTO speed. I always have ear defenders close by especially when I'm spending a long time on the tractor.

Back in the 1976 a rule was enforced that in the UK all cabbed tractors had to have an in cab noise level of less than 90 db. Are there any noise reestrictions on todays CUT's and SUBCUT's?

 

[ragkar]

Always - I always wear hearing protection while running small engines. That means tractors, lawn mowers, chainsaws, motorcycles, weed whackers, snow throwers etc. You only have two hearing transducers and they have to last a lifetime.

Anecdote - A long time ago I bought a small biplane with an 85hp unmuffled engine. I remember taking it up for the first time and having lots of fun. But when I came back down I remember that my ears rang for a bit. The next day I did it again and my ears rang for about three hours. The following day, being naturally dumb, my ears rang for three days. I only had to be hit on the head three times to get the point.

The muffs are the easiest to use but they are the most inconvenient and sometimes hot. I like the foam ear plugs that you can buy at HD in large quantities. I find that I can carry on most conversations without removing them.

 

[jbrumberg]

Grrrr:

Always wear ear protection. At minimum get NRR29 rated foam ear plugs; more is better. I will often wear foam ear plugs as well as over the ear "muffs" especially for extended use of my tractor at PTO RPM speeds. Jay

 

[Grrrr]

Grrrr:

Always wear ear protection. At minimum get NRR29 rated foam ear plugs; more is better. I will often wear foam ear plugs as well as over the ear "muffs" especially for extended use of my tractor at PTO RPM speeds. Jay

Rest assured, I always do when working for any lengt of time on the tractor. I was just wandering what other peoples thoughts were on it but by the looks of it lots of people do.

 

[RoyJackson]

Yep, ear plugs when I'm on the tractor (especially if running a mower or cutter) and when I'm pushing the lawn mower.

 

[EdC]

You bet, foam earplugs while on the tractor, muffs and sometimes muffs and foam plugs while using riding lawn mowers, mush mowers and string trimmers. It may be just my imagination but I don't seem to feel as tired after a day of using these things if I wear hearing protection. What does everybody else think?

 

[jbrumberg]

EdC:

I agree with you as to longterm exposure to noise increasing fatigue. I reason that high volume noise increases stress levels which increases fatigue IMHO. Jay

 

[bigtiller]

You bet, foam earplugs while on the tractor, muffs and sometimes muffs and foam plugs while using riding lawn mowers, mush mowers and string trimmers. It may be just my imagination but I don't seem to feel as tired after a day of using these things if I wear hearing protection. What does everybody else think?

I am glad you mentioned that Ed. Several years ago it took 2 hours to mow with my X495 and I would be dog tired. Then one day I put on the ear muffs and couldn't believe how much better I felt afterwards. I have been wearing them ever since.

 

[srjones]

Does anyone else wear any sort of ear protection when operating their tractor?

WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY? I DIDN'T QUITE HEAR YOU...

Yes, I wear hearing protection whenever I'm running any sort of loud machinery. I've nearly worn out my AO Safety "Worktunes" but I use foam plugs at times since the headphone don't fit with wide brimmed hats.

It's nearly impossible to have a normal conversation with some of my older relatives without raising my voice to near the point of shouting. Since I've got damage in one ear from shooting guns more than 20 years ago, I'd like to maintain what I have now for at least another 50 years. I'm reminded of the value of wearing hearing protection on those occassional times where I don't wear plugs/headphones for a short amount of time, and my ears are ringing afterwords.

Back to original question, are there any noise restrictions on CUTs? I imagine there are, but I would also imagine that the restriction is still higher than a safe level of noise exposure.

 

[ragkar]

Bad news !!!
You're wrong
The manual is wrong
He's wrong
I'm wrong

Your thread got me curious so I went looking for my sound pressure level meter and did a few measurement:

In the following listing, some readings are typical and are published. And some are my measurements. You'll know which is which.

10db threshold of hearing
50db speech
64db measured roadside traffic noise at 50 feet
70db vacuum cleaner at 10 feet
74db measured miata convertible top up
74db measured JD2320 stationary and idling at 1500rpm
80db heavy traffic
84db measured miata convertible with top down
85db tractors with soundproof cabs
85db measured JD2320 stationary idling at 3000rpm
99db measured weed whacker
100db tractors w/o soundproof cabs and farm machines
120db chainsaw and jackhammer
130db jet takeoff at 200 feet
140db threshold of pain

And here's another listing on permissible sound level exposure from the U.S. Department of Labor
8 hours 90db
6 hours 92db
4 hours 95db
2 hours 100db
.25 hours or less 115db

So, looking at the above data leads one to the conclusion that it is not necessary to have ear protection on the JD2320 even operating at maximum rpm. Also I should not exceed 2 hours per day weed whacking without protection. As for the chain saw, protection is mandatory.

There's nothing that spoils a good argument than data and facts.

As for me - I'll continue to use ear protection for all my small motors including the tractor.