Hearing protection

MarkV · Jan 24, 2001

My wife is a flight attendant and hearing lose is a big problem with airline types. Many of them are starting to use active ear phones, when they can. I have heard good reports, along the same lines as Bill's experiences. We haven't gotten her a set because the company does not let the flight attendants use any hearing protection during flight. They also don't pay for any hearing problems through our insurance. Do you think they don't want to open a can of worms?

I'll ask if she has heard of any brands being used, when she gets back in the country.

MarkV

Richard · Jan 24, 2001

Larry..

http://www.affoto.com/hearingprotection.html

I found this location by using a "google.com" search

bsauter · Jan 24, 2001

I use regular old shooting muffs and have ear buds that go to my walkman mounted on my fender so I can listen to the radio or tapes. I can still hear the tractor too so I know if I bog down while cutting or something. Been doing this for 6 years.

Brad, Kubota L3010HST, loader, R4 tires
Pictures at http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=179207&a=9183978

cowboydoc · Jan 24, 2001

Bird,
Had to laugh at your post because I'm the same way. I remember growing up my Grandpa listened to talk radio and news all the time. I couldn't stand it! He was always the good guy though and let me listen to my music. Now I listen to the talk shows and news and it's my girls that ask how I can stand to listen to that and turn some music on /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. When I was younger I had to have a radio everywhere to do anything. Now I never have one on and if I do it's talk radio or news. Really is funny how we change over the years.

WVBill · Jan 24, 2001

I wonder if there might not be a safety concern with active noise reduction ear phones.

The loud noise my chain saw or leaf blower or table saw make is a reminder to me of how dangerous they are. I wear ear muffs while using them partly to shut out all outside sound. I think I'm less likely to be distracted from the work at hand. I imagine that if I were using active noise reduction ear phones and could hear everything but the saw normally, I might be lulled into less of a sense of caution about the saw.

Also, if I'm mowing and start hiting rocks or something, a soft "whump" is less likely to spur me to immediate action than a "KLANG!!".

I don't know, never had the chance to try the noise cancelling ones, just speculating.

WVBill

Bill_in_MI · Jan 24, 2001

You may have a point. I suppose each of us might have different "alert" mechanisms...naturally or learned over time. My sense in the short time I have used these gadgets is that everything is still "sensed" and there is still a relative loudness distinction, but the top of the scale is capped to keep the damaging noise from getting through. I did some "wrecking" of a few wooden structures with a big hammer the other day. I have to say I did not feel like I had any less usefull sound feedback as to how hard I was hitting things...just less ringing in my ears. I'll post further thoughts when I get more experience.
Bill

Wingnut · Jan 24, 2001

Since my early days as a medic in the military, I've been safety conscious. Damage to most parts of your body is cumulative - not temporary. Screw up your back and it stays screwed (and gets worse). Damage your hearing ... well go buy a hearing aid and get used to missing half the noises.
So ... I wear shooting muffs when using my lawn tractor ... when using power tools, and most of the time when on the tractor. If I'm not really working it, sometimes I'll skip it, but feel guilty.
Since I do sometimes spend a fair amount of time on the lawn tractor or the 'bota ... I've ordered a pair of FM muffs from Northern. If you don't pretend you're a teen and try to blow your eardrums with them ... you really don't miss anything ... it just cuts down the decibals to a safer range.

too bad that common sense ain't

Wingnut · Jan 24, 2001

I stopped listening to talk radio awhile ago, Cowboydoc .... it drove my wife nuits when I kept hollering at the id ... ah people who called in.

too bad that common sense ain't

Corm · Jan 25, 2001

I never used to wear any hearing protection, then I found I was having to ask my wife to repeat herself every once in a while, then more often...... Guess I've got too many years of riding my bikes and doing carpenter work without any hearing protection.... Now I use hearing protection for anything that I even think will make my ears ring. I use a gadget that has two rubber plugs fastened to a plastic band (like a head band on a set of stereo head phones) that puts pressure on the plugs while they are in my ears. Generally I let the band hang under my chin, and when I remove the plugs I just let the whole thing hang around my neck. I use it nearly every day and have never found it uncomfortable. I also keep a set or two of foam plugs in all my vehicles, in my saddle bags, and in most of my tool boxes.

For you folks suffering with ringing ears from not wearing some sort of ear protection, I learned from a Dr. several years ago that taking a couple of vitamin E pills will reduce the ringing until it naturally fades away. It works well for me. I've got tinnitus, so the ringing never really goes completely away/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. I take vitamin E pills every day...

Corm