Hearing protection and loud machinery

[Brian Elfert]

This may not really be off topic as woodworking tools are loud.

Anyhow, what are folks using for hearing protection when working around loud machinery outdoors?

I was using a rened wood chipper on Saturday. I had on a good set of ear muffs when using the chipper. Later in the evening I fell asleep watching TV and when I woke up and went up to bed one ear was ringing. It went away by morning, but it got me worried about hearing protection. I have always used hearing protection around anything loud and have never been to a loud concert in my life.

Would I have been better off with plug type hearing protection instead of the muffs? Maybe both? Or, I am just worrying too much? I would like to still be able to hear at age 70. (A long time from now.)

[Leigh Costello]

Hubby and I use noise cancelling ear muffs when wood working.

If he is too loud, i.e. asking too many questions, I add Smith & Wesson ear plugs. ;)

I, too, want to be able to hear when I am 70. :D

[Randal Stevenson]

I believe the latest issue of Wood magazine reviews some hearing protectors. There are ones rated for different decibels and duration of noises (aka Shooting ones wouldn't be the same as a jackhammer all day).

That said, I have/had (don't know where they currently are) some old shooting ones, that I believe were comparable to the inexpensive, AO Safety ones I picked up for a project. But now pretty much only use the AO safety, digital worktunes ones, with an MP3 input (aka the input has a max level, so you can't avoid one sound and screw up your ears with another)

[Pat Germain]

Having lived aboard many an aircraft carrier, I was forced to learn about hearing protection. Muffs and plugs offer very good protection. That would likely be a good option for using a wood chipper all day.

When working in my shop, I use an inexpensive set of muffs which work very well.

Noise cancelling headphones work by sampling the sound, then moving membranes inside in direct opposition to the sound; thus "cancelling" it out. This works well for constant, droning sounds. But it doesn't work for inconsistent sounds. I would think such headphones would work for wood chipper, but I'm not sure.

At the very least, wear muffs and plugs! Use the little yellow plugs which you roll tight, then stick in your ears where they expand to fit your ear canal.

[Matt Meiser]

Virtually everyone in virtually every manufacturing facility I've ever been too is wearing ear plugs. The small foam ones work amazingly well, if properly inserted.

I doubt any of them were anywhere near as loud as an aircraft carrier, but I'd bet many are as loud as that chipper.

[Bob Genovesi]

This may not really be off topic as woodworking tools are loud.

Anyhow, what are folks using for hearing protection when working around loud machinery outdoors?

I was using a rened wood chipper on Saturday. I had on a good set of ear muffs when using the chipper. Later in the evening I fell asleep watching TV and when I woke up and went up to bed one ear was ringing. It went away by morning, but it got me worried about hearing protection. I have always used hearing protection around anything loud and have never been to a loud concert in my life.

Would I have been better off with plug type hearing protection instead of the muffs? Maybe both? Or, I am just worrying too much? I would like to still be able to hear at age 70. (A long time from now.)

Brian,

As long as the ear muffs sealed properly around your ear they should prove adequate for the work you mentioned. Occasionally I get a ringing in my ear and it lasts for a minute or so then goes away.

Ringing in the ears, or tinnitus, is a common and annoying problem. Some studies have suggested that almost one in three Americans report this problem at some time and about 2 percent of the population have severe ringing.

Although people of any age can be troubled by this condition, it becomes more common the older we get. People describe the sounds in their ears in a number of different ways - ringing, roaring, whistling, humming and buzzing are some of the most common descriptions.


The most common cause for tinnitus is a problem with the hearing nerve. It is usually associated with some decrease in the ability to hear higher pitched sounds, known as a high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. The best explanation is that as there is degeneration in the hearing apparatus, a kind of self-generated noise arises that we perceive as ringing or humming.



Don't worry so much but if it becomes frequent see an ear doctor just to be sure.

[Steven Wilson]

I have a Stihl hardhat/earmuff/face shield combo that I use for noisy yard work (weed whacker, chainsaw, etc). If I needed more protection I would wear a pair of earplugs under the muffs.

[Brian Elfert]

Just to be clear, the chipper was a rental and a one time thing. I don't make a living chipping wood. I work in a nice quiet office five days a week.

I've never liked the ear plugs as my ears always feel like they are plugged up like I have a cold. I just use the muffs instead.

[Prashun Patel]

Wood magazine's latest issue has an article on hearing protection.

personally, I'm a fan of the noise redux headmuffs. Some equalize sound, so you can still hear noises you 'want' to hear while filtering out the loud, dangerous ones.

My ears also get fatigued with the cheap insert ones; they do the job a lot cheaper, though.

[glenn bradley]

My muffs drop the level 29db. I sometimes use plugs as well for extended work (like your chipper experience). I have other muffs that drop it 27db. They are now spares or for yard work use. A few db is a lot of volume.

[ray connors]

I put in ear buds and then put on my head set(ear muffs). Running the sawmill all I hear is the sound of the blade as it passes through the wood.
Chipping slabs I hear the engine change pitch thats about it.
Double up your hearing protection is what I recommend.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I use those little foam plugs you twirl and twirl between your finger and thumb and while they are still compressed you shove them in those hoes in the side of the head.

They are really effective no matter what I'm doing.

[Colin Giersberg]

I work around a lot of paving equipment in my job, and one of our contractors was using a decibel meter to check noise levels. The piece of equipment that I was near was 96db, and I am sure that most of the equipment was just as loud. I asked the guy performing the tests just which piece of equipment was the loudest. He told me that it was actually one of their employees, whose voice was 125db. I think he was kidding, but the guy does have a loud, high pitched voice, kinda like Mariah Carey, only not with the vocal range.

Regards, Colin

[Randal Stevenson]

Just to be clear, the chipper was a rental and a one time thing. I don't make a living chipping wood. I work in a nice quiet office five days a week.

I've never liked the ear plugs as my ears always feel like they are plugged up like I have a cold. I just use the muffs instead.


One time use, hire a deaf person, LOL.

As a kid, my cousin (severely hearing impaired, more lip reading), was fortunate, in the fact she could turn around, and turn off her hearing aid, whenever she got in trouble. Took her parents YEARS to figure out she turned off the hearing aid.:D

I don't like the inserts (all though my father does), but know we have multiple members who are tone deaf due to repeated noises. There are other things to protect your ears from (although your boss doesn't like to be known as one of them).

[Joe Pelonio]

I too have found that for things like shooting, chain saw, and other loud work the foam ear buds work a lot better than muffs. Unfortunately the rock concerts of the '60's have already taken their toll, so I have no desire to make it worse!

[Jim Becker]

I will often wear my Bose QC-II noise canceling headphones on the Kubota. When I run the PTO chipper or use my chainsaw, I have a Peltor helmet/shield/ear-muffs combo product that encases my whole head.

[Joe Chritz]

I have a fair amount of experience with ear protection from shooting many many round over a few years. (OK, 19 or so but who's counting)

Nothing is as effective as the twirl foam disposables. They are comfortable, cheap and more effective then anything else in real world settings.

Because I am often with many other people and have to hear everything else going on I use electronic shooting ears. I have a few old sets of ear muffs floating around the shop that I keep out there. I know I won't walk to the car or gun room to get my good ears if I didn't take them out to the shop.

There are in the ear electronic plugs available but the sound reduction isn't very good. Great for what they were designed for but that isn't a shop environment.

Joe

[Chris Padilla]

I use Howard Leight Leightning 29 earmuffs. They are so comfy I often forget I have them on. I bought 2 more pairs after my initial purchase. My wife/kid use them when vacuuming or when my kid is in the shop with me. I think we ended up purchasing two more so my wife could send them to her father and brother in Serbia.

I find I can concentrate more when I don't have a wailing table saw or CMS slightly distracting me.

Occasional ringing from one-time affairs is not harmful for your ears. It is the long-term stuff that will do damage. I fear many of our youth will lose their low-frequency hearing way too early in life due to all that sub-woofer thumping they put in their cars.

I'm pretty fanatical about my hearing and find myself wearing ear protection a heckuva lot more than eye protection. I've been saying this for years but I really need to remedy that!

[Brian Elfert]

I wear eye protection anytime I do any sort of wood or metal work and for lots of outdoor work too. I have saved my eyes at least once in a situation where most folks would not have eye protection.

I find that most any time I need hearing protection I also need eye protection.

I was trimming branches with a hand lopper today along a wooded road and I wore my safety glasses. It probably looked goofy to the other volunteers, but I didn't need a branch in the eye. I sometimes forget I have the safety glasses on and wear inside or to the store.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

It's odd that the associated subject of tinnitus should come up in this post as I just made a post about it in the thread about cicadas. Whenever I'm awake if I pay attention I can hear cicadas...and that's 365 days a year. It started about 12 years ago and I think taking a prescribed steroid treatment after cornea transplant surgery triggered it. Although it's there and for what little I've read about it really bothers some people my brain usually 'dials it out' and my hearing is probably as good or even better than most people my age.

I have two observations on noise and hearing protection. First it seems to me that yes, loud noise is to be cancelled if possible, but I think constant noise louder than the usual background noise has a detrimental cumulative effect. My father was a farmer and was pretty much deaf in his later years from doing what he loved....sitting on a tractor. My next door neighbor was also the next best thing to deaf...he drove a truck for many many years.

Which hearing protection to use? Whatever works. And what is that? It's the plugs, muffs, whatever that cancels the noise but as importantly the ones you will put on and keep on (or in). And as for me nothing with a radio in it, thanks. I have enough trouble concentrating on the task at hand without that possible distraction, and it seems a lost cause to put something over your ears to keep noise out only to pipe more noise in.