power tools and ear plugs

[Clarence Martin]

Got a set of those head phone type ear muffs to cut down on the noise hitting the old ears. Was wondering how much extra ear protection one would get by wearing BOTH ear plugs AND ear muffs in combination. Has there been any studies on that ?

[Steve Peterson]

I tried both once and found it to be spooky quiet. I ended up going back to just ear muffs.

Steve

[Jamie Buxton]

Yeah, wearing plugs and earmuffs really cuts down on the noise. Try it yourself. Turn on some good source of noise, like the table saw. Try muffs alone, plugs alone, and both together. You'll be able to hear the difference quite easily.

[Jerry Thompson]

The purpose of ear muffs is to absorb the sound energy. The foam in the muffs is designed to dissipate the energy before it hits your ears and keep it at around 85 dBa. Of course if the sound is jet like one would need ear protection designed for that.
I do not recall how ear plugs work exactly except the prevent sound waves from entering one's ears.
Sound is energy and it will cause hearing loss over time. The time it takes depends on exposure 90 dBa and above and the time you are exposed to that level.
Personally I do not see any advantage of using plugs and muffs in combination unless one is exposed to very high decibels.

[Charlie Velasquez]

https://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/noise/hcp/attenuation_estimation.html
OSHA suggest use of both increases the Noise Reduction Rating by about 5db over the effectiveness of the higher rated device.
Remember that db measurement numbers are not linear. So a 5db change is significant.

I religiously use both for my router (because of the high db) and when I mow the grass (because of the 2 hours of continuous med. high db). I keep a separate set of muffs and/or plugs (and eye protection)with each tool.

[David Ragan]

This here is a subject near and dear to my heart.

IIRC, a 5dB decrease is half the sound energy.

The dB ratings of plugs/muffs are not additive.

Amazon has some plugs for about $25 that you can custom mold to your ear. Work better than off the shelf. I don't use them, tho-i just use the regular plugs. Before the Shelix for DW735, I used to employ both plugs and muffs. Now, happily, only plugs. Shelix made a humongous difference.

Sound is indeed energy, and a person's chronic exposure to (what I call) 'noise' gives adverse health effects, the most common one being hypertension. Google Scholar search that if you like.

When I used to shoot benchrest, I always got to the range first in the AM, and took the left most bench cause most guns are right-ported. This meant that I had no sound energy blast 6 feet away coming toward me on the firing line (no one to my left).

One day, for some reason, I took the second left bench, just knew nobody would take the bench to my left. This guy comes in with a .308. I had my plugs and muffs on, and the sound was not that bad, but every time he fired, it really impacted my whole body. I hated it.

Bear in mind that noise induced hearing loss starts in the upper frequencies, around 6-8kHz. the human voice is around 500-2kHz. So, lots of folks have significant hearing loss, and may well think they are fine.

(My opinions, and not necessarily those of my employer.)

[Justin Ludwig]

I've found single hearing protection adequate. I have a pair of washable inserts I've kept since issued before deployment in 2011 - love those things. I can't stand to run 90% of the equipment in my shop without them in my ears. I mainly wear them because I want to be 70+ and still have decent hearing.

Only time I wore double hearing protection was in the Navy around turbines and things that really screamed. I distinctly remember a good friend goofing around while we were standing next to a "huffer" (portable turbine engine used to force air and assist starting T-56 turbo prop engines). Those things were ridiculously loud. He was only wearing muffs, and I was yelling at him from 2 feet away - of course he couldn't hear me. He raised his muffs for a moment to hear me and you'd think someone plugged him into an electric socket. His eyes got huge and he shook all over trying to get his muffs back over his ears. He said his ears "rang" for a week for that 1 second exposure. I still giggle thinking about his facial expression.

[David Ragan]

. I have a pair of washable inserts I've kept since issued before deployment in 2011.

We all thank you so much Justin for your service.

Let me add one thing--that impact noise-hammering, pneumatic tools, etc is much worse because there is a mechanism whereby the ear can dampen what gets through to the inner ear--imagine a freight train coming toward you.....gradual build up.

So, even if you're doing just a little hammering, etc--use the protection.

[Ole Anderson]

I took a tour of the Great Lakes icebreaker Mackinaw and remember the guide telling that engine room personnel wore both ear plugs and muffs it was so noisy.

[Ronald Blue]

The combination of plugs and muffs is beneficial in extreme noise situations. However the reason you don't get more than a 6 or 7 db reduction is the bone of the skull becomes a conductor. But there is still a benefit to dual protection. The drawback is it makes conversation difficult but at those noise levels there isn't going to be any conversations taking place. Exposure under 100 db doesn't need dual protection. Audiology online has a good article on it complete with graph comparing the single and dual protection methods. Just google ear plugs and ear muffs combined.

[David Utterback]

The 85 dBA sound exposure limit is not fully protective against hearing loss. Chronic exposure to 75 dBA will result in measureable loss of hearing sensitivity over a lifetime. The OSHA standard was an accommodation of interests at a time (1972) when adequate data were not available.

Also, a substantial portion of the population, including my extended family, are genetically susceptible to hearing loss. A grandparent on each side of my family grew to be profoundly deaf and I am well on my way at 63 years old. If the older members of your extended family are hearing impaired, it is advisable to take extra precautions. Always asking people to repeat what they just said really sucks. Not being able to participate in large family gatherings is even worse. I miss all the jokes, good and bad. As the wise ones say, "Let's be careful out there."

[scott spencer]

Don't know about any studies on the subject, but I use both when running the planer. Too little noise shouldn't hurt my ears in the short term!

[Max Neu]

I think sometimes too much protection when working around machinery can be dangerous.I can see where so much protection to the point where you don't notice things running can cause some extra risks.I just wear the muffs, they kill the high pitch sounds, but let enough noise in to keep me aware of what's going on around me.

[Al Launier]

I use these at night to "protect" me from my wife's snoring, which is like a freight train running on steroids (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Flents-Quiet-Time-Comfort-Foam-Ear-Plugs-40-pr/34729649). These purple plugs claim to have a noise reduction ratio 33 dB and work much better than the pink ear plugs that I've used before. Trust me when I say that if they can protect against my wife's snoring they will work in your shop!

[Bryan Wiesendahl]

The combination of plugs and muffs is beneficial in extreme noise situations. However the reason you don't get more than a 6 or 7 db reduction is the bone of the skull becomes a conductor. But there is still a benefit to dual protection. The drawback is it makes conversation difficult but at those noise levels there isn't going to be any conversations taking place. Exposure under 100 db doesn't need dual protection. Audiology online has a good article on it complete with graph comparing the single and dual protection methods. Just google ear plugs and ear muffs combined.

Beat me to it.

A good reason to use muffs instead of just plugs is the bone conduction. Obviously it becomes more important the louder the noise, or the more percussive (guns, etc), but it's a good piece of knowledge to have.

[Art Mann]

I have been woodworking as a hobbiest and occasionally for money for about 40 years and for much of that time I used no hearing protection. I now have continuous ringing in my ears and my high frequency hearing is gone. I am finding it difficult to understand normal conversations on the phone. I am thinking hearing aids are not too far away. Please be smarter than me and use good quality protection all the time, whether plugs or muffs. It is worth the trouble.

[Jim Matthews]

A good pair of Peltors are hard to lose, even in a messy shop like mine.

Unless you're habituated to keeping plugs around your neck,
you may be tempted to forego the protection they offer.

I like the kind from Shooter's supply - they're designed for isolation
and have a nice keeper cord so they're handy.

19 times out of 20 - I'm still wearing the Peltors.

http://www.amazon.com/Macks-Seals-Earplugs-Detachable-Cord/dp/B0067PMYRE

[John K Jordan]

... but let enough noise in to keep me aware of what's going on around me.

I like the electronic earmuffs made for shooters for the same reason. I have several different types and like these the best, usually around $45:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001T7QJ9O/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have two of these so when working near someone else, perhaps with nail guns and circular saws, we can carry on normal conversations and hear just the sounds you refer to, but they "instantly" cut off any loud sounds.

As a bonus, I can crank up the volume control when walking around the farm and much better hear things moving in the woods, etc. Since they use two carefully positioned microphones you can easily judge the direction of a sound source just as with your own ears.

They even function a bit like hearing aids with the adjustable amplification.

JKJ

[Mike Wilkins]

Sometimes wear both plugs and muffs while running the planer for long sessions. Spooky quiet but I feel better protected.

[Max Neu]

Sometimes wear both plugs and muffs while running the planer for long sessions. Spooky quiet but I feel better protected.
That's one machine that would concern me about doubling up on hearing protection. If something starts to let loose with the machine, I would want to react as soon as possible to get out of harms way.When all your hearing is blocked off , your reaction time could be too slow to avoid a serious problem.

[Charles Taylor]

The only place where I wear both plugs and muffs is the indoor shooting range. In the workshop I only wear plugs, but since I've got some mild tinnitus already, I wear them for any tool louder than a screwdriver.

[Allan Speers]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this:

While hearing protection is a must, you don't want TOO MUCH. It's a pretty good idea to be able to hear when someone is shouting at you, as in an emergency, or to be able to hear that the door just opened and you 5 year old niece has entered the shop.


One set is enough.

I don't recommend muff-types, though, because it's sometimes possible to sort of "angle them" off your ear a little, due to head movements or even extreme jaw movement, and if that happens when you just happen to be RIGT on top of the blade, you could do minor damage. I like those "little guys on a frame," (I forget the name, but there are several brands now) as they go inside your ears, but can be unobtrusively hung over your neck when not needed.

[David Ragan]

A good pair of Peltors are hard to lose, even in a messy shop like mine.

Unless you're habituated to keeping plugs around your neck,
you may be tempted to forego the protection they offer.

I like the kind from Shooter's supply - they're designed for isolation
and have a nice keeper cord so they're handy.

19 times out of 20 - I'm still wearing the Peltors.

http://www.amazon.com/Macks-Seals-Earplugs-Detachable-Cord/dp/B0067PMYRE

Very true. When I used to shoot the research showed most bang for your buck w Peltor