Hearing protection

[MarkV]

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]

Larry..

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

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

 

[bsauter]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[LarryT]

Thanks Richard. I used Google too but never came up with that site. You're a better sleuth than I am I guess.


Larry...

 

[DDT]

Wingnut
I wear 28db muffs in my cabinet shop most of the time (when machines are running) In the summer they sure make alot of sweat in the muffs, but it does get hot in my building. Do the ones from northern have the same effect? I would like some with a radio in them
DDT

 

[gordon]

Derek here is where I get mine from. I've also bought safety glasses from her.http:// http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=548534603

Gordon

 

[Rowski]

Thanks for the link, could not get on it though they say it cloed for maintance.. I'll try it later. I went to my local hardware store to see if the had anything similar. I found some plugs made by Aearo Company (that's how the spell it). The # of the product is 90586, claim to have a 21 dbl reduction. It does not say ultra fit on the package but sure looks like them according to the web site. I tried them out in the shop for few minutes, grinding, welding, hammering, air hammer. I must say they are very comfortable. They don't cut out as much noise as my muffs but work quite well. I think they well be perfect for the tractor, need to wait till we have another storm then I can push back the banks on most of our 100 drives. The amount of noise distortion is not bad at all. Pretty inexpensive too, $2. Thanks again for the links and the info.

Derek

 

[Billc]

Guess I'm late chiming in on this one. Never the less I sure have an opinion about it. This same subject was on this board about chainsaws maybe 2 or 3 months ago.

Anyway, when on the tractor, using the chainsaw, or doing anything that involves a lot of noise I use two things: First I have some cheap Styrofoam type plugs that I bought from Home Depot, they ususally come in a pack of 8. Second, I wear a set of shooting muffs. I keep them draped over my wheel knob when I'm not using the tractor. This may seem like over kill to most of you, but I'm trying to save my hearing. I grew up with a dad who flew helicopters all of his life. The hearing in his right ear...well, forget about it. The hearing in his left ear is about gone as well. Since I was a kid he would yell at us, "Stop mumbling and move you lips!" Problem was we weren't mumbling. Or someone would say something and he'd look at us and ask, "What did he say?". We won't even talk about how loud the t.v. is when he's listening to it, or the joy of being in a movie theater with him. He's tried 3 or 4 different types of hearing aids, but hates them all. His hearing problem only gets worse as the years go by.

I started getting my hearing problems in Nam.....o.k. this is misleading, it wasn't Vietnam, it was Thailand. My Dad flew for a company that flew out of Thailand. We lived there for a bit. Anyway, my dad had a little stero that you could attach a head set. I'd put on the head set and turn the volume way up. After years of being stupid and doing this I don't hear as well as I should.

I don't want to go around saying, "Huh?", "Move your lips", etc. so I wear all the ear protection I can get.

Bill Cook

 

[Boondox]

I use a pair of Mickey Mouse muffs whenever I'm on the Bota. Not only are they hard to lose (I hang them on the ROPS when not in use), but they keep my ears toasty warm in the winter!

Pete

 

[Rowski]

Gordon

Used them (ultra-fit) for 3 hours in the tractor, work great! You know they fit well when you go to remove them by just pulling/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif instead of twisting and pulling.

Thanks again!

Derek

 

[hoghead]

Well fellows, let me tell you a thing or to about hearing protection. In my line of work(railroad engineer) they are an absolute must! If you take a look back in time, you will see old railroaders cant hear anything! The company I work for would not let us wear hearing protection years ago, but after several lawsuits they are now not only providing protection,but it is mandatory that you we wear protection within 100 ft. of a locomotive...Go figure! Anyway i use hearing protection whenever I am around any thing loud now.I am so used to them (ear plugs) that I can't stand the noise without them! So if you value your hearing, better wear something in your ears no matter how uncomfortable it is..

Hoghead

 

[GlueGuy]

WVBill,

I'm a pilot, and can tell you about ANR headsets used in aircraft. The noise reduction you get from these are mainly aimed at "regular" sounds, and tend to not reduce the oddball sound that is not regular. Case in point: the regular droning of an engine operating at one RPM, versus the occasional "clang" when you run over a burried pipe with the brush hog won't get blocked out.


The GlueGuy

 

[WVBill]

Ah! That's the bit of information I was looking for.

Thanks, GlueGuy.

I flew in the Navy back in the 70's & 80's and all we had was the "earmuffs" inside our helmets. I'm not sure how effective that was. Huh? I SAID "I'M NOT SURE....."

I need to protect what I've got left.