Hearing protection

Farmers are exposed to noisy machinery such as chain saws, elevators, bobcats, etc.
Though most larger tractors & combines have cabs, how many here use hearing protection?
Lost a large portion of my hearing when younger & hard headed while working a factory.

I wear hearing protection....most of the time.

I use hearing protection all the time.

Ocassionally I will not have any with and it drives me nuts to be around anything loud.

i wear muffs while running my tractor, unless its idling. BTW i have a straight piped 53' AC CA. and i wear plugs about 95% of the time at work.

i never wore any when i was younger, now loud noises dont bother me because i can barely hear them

When i was younger my dad wouldn't let me wear ear protection,he said i needed to be paying attention and hear every noise so i could tell if something wasn't running right.Come to think of it he had me painting tractors without a face mask and one time while pumping lasso grass
herbicide into a tank the hose broke and i got soaked.I wore those cloths all day long.Good ole dad.

I have service connected hearing loose form being on ships and yes when I worked in a factory I wore ear plugs day in day out. So yes my hearing is not what it once was but shoot my eyes, back, arms, and legs are not either

If you know someone at Airgas you might be able to get some for around $80 (reg $144) with noise reduction that have microphones which are adjustable. Batteries last about 700 hrs. I will get the name and part number tomorrow. Grainger also hve them for $144 and no reduction in price.

I am 43 and have noticed some loss. Not officially checked but say WHAT to my fiancee occasionally.

Some of this I credit to my stupid youth. Straight pipe on a LA case, glass packs on my daily driver pickup that sort of thing.

One thing I did a number of years back was we traded up on combines which helped some. Old one the front of the grain tank was the back of the cab.

And yes anytime I am working a open station piece of equipment for much time I wear earmuffs. Got mine at a local place called Agrisafe. They are subsidised by the guvment and have pretty reasonably priced stuff. Last set of muffs I bought was off ebay and they have speakers in them so I can listen to the radio while working.

Chain saws were mentioned in the OP. Here I wear one of those hard hats with muffs and a face sheild. It has saved me a few headaches. Had a friend tell me about him getting cut on the leg cutting firewood. That was all it took to get me to drop the coin for a set of chaps.

GUYS AND GALS. WE ONLY GET ONE BODY IN THIS WORLD. BEST TO TAKE CARE OF IT WHILE WE ARE HERE.

Yes I intended to use caps

jt

Even librarians who come home and read more books can have hearing loss.

I am retired as a sandblasting contractor. I used to bid contracts that had surface prep and painting content. In order to work for the Corps of Engineers, sandblasters had to submit to a pre-mobilization physical. The audiologists would tell me I had lost some high frequency in my left ear. They said that was to be expected and was probably caused by high-speed driving with the window down. It is a common condition.

I have always used the yellow foam earplugs. All the other plugs are worthless for high noise levels. But I see alot of people who don't take the time to insert them properly. They have to be compressed tightly and pushed in so that they almost contact the ear drum. Anything less achieves very little attenuation.

My hearing is good despite 35 years of three day sandblasting work-weeks. I ran the entire capacity of a 6-71 Detroit Diesel powered air compressor through one nozzle. That would be 750 CFM through a 5/8" to 3/4" venturi nozzle at 100 to 125 psi. That was way over OSHA specs. The noise was so loud that it was off the scale of several decible meters when tested by industrial hygenists.

Seemed to have lost some hearing in my left ear, as I can't use telephone on that side. I attribute it to too much time looking over my right shoulder while baling plowing etc. in the good old days when we did seem to know any better. Always wear foam ear plugs now to protect what is left, and make my sons do like wise.

What?

WHO ? lost a lot of my hearing helping on dad's sawmill when I was young and on my drilling rig past 12 years wear ear plugs now, nephew is 45 has always wore plugs around dozers and backs hoes he cant hear crap either but then his problem may of been his ex wife. he probably should have have wore ear plugs round her.

Your dad would probably say "see, you're still around to talk about it, I knew what I was doing". About hearing protection, when I'm starting a day when I know I'll be exposed to a lot of noise, I put one or two kleenex's in my pocket, then tear off pieces to put in my ears. Seems handiest to me.

If I don't wear hearing protection while operating any equipment for much time, I am a real bear for my family to deal with. All the sound normal in a family drives me up the wall at those times. So I make a determined effort to wear hearing protection. In fact, I've got a pill bottle of spare foam plugs in the the tool box of each tractor.

Christopher

What's that again? I can't hear worth a darn anymore. Went to a hearing aid place, then after some research decided that was a racket.

Had my regular doctor set me up with an audiologist (sp) Anyway she confirmed that I have "farmers and shooters ear" She said I was borderline for hearing aids helping me. Said they would just magnify the background noise that casues me the biggest problems. I also have tinnitus. She said you can be borderline having tinnitus if you have hearing loss, then one incident of shooting or whatever can set it off. I dont think mine is going away. Guess I'll just have to live with it.

Sounds like crickets in my head all the time.

at least I know there is something in my head!

Gene

I've got tinnitus too and it sounds like a running fridge is following me everywhere. Hearing more than one person speaking at a time makes it all just one rumble. I haven't really noticed any loss but the confusing noises probably indicate there is some loss.

I"ve got tinnitus also, a loud ringing in my left ear and moderately loud in the right. I drove those JD Rs with straight exhaust for several years with minimal if any loss. But that .44 mmagnum with hand loads did me in . I have a hard time hearing students in the classroom, especially girls, if they don't speak up. Boys lower pitched voices are easier to understand. If you have good hearing, protect it. Of course, selective hearing has its advantages too, especially when the wife......lol.

My wife says I don't hear very well......

I wear hearing protection all the time on tractors, lawn mowers, chain saws, weedeaters, air tools in the shop, etc. Anything above normal noise, I have my plugs in.

About ten years ago, an otolaryngologist (hearing specialist) made a VERY convincing speech than my hearing would never be better than it was right then, so I'd better preserve it while I had it.

Right now, I have service connected tinnitus, and a service connected hearing loss in my left ear with 0% disability. In other words, any hearing loss in my left ear will be service connected, but right now there's insufficient loss to be considered a disability.

Meanwhile, I'm wearing hearing protection religiously.

I have my foam plugs in nearly all the time running a tractor, around irr. engines, chainsaws, or in the shed grinding or running the impact wrench in a tractor rim, etc.

I also wear my safety glasses as eyes are also tough to replace.

One of the real lucky ones I guess.You wouldnt believe the amount of noise that I have been exposed to in the past 50 years.I'm in my early 60's and still pass the company hearing test with flying colors.We are 1 decibel over the limit at work so recently had to start wearing ear plugs.Several of us now have problems with excessive ear wax and my ears have a rash now.One girl has been to the doctor 4 times because of the ear plugs and head phones.

Many I know that are half my age have hearing loss and havent been exposed to a fraction of the noise that I have.They have never been around 2 cycle Detroits,dont go to tractor pulls,and havent farmed for 50 years with straight pipes.I should be stone deaf and cant explain it.


I work with 2 guys that are totally deaf in one ear.Neither wears a hearing aid and its hard to get their attention sometimes.Most people deffinitely need to wear hearing protection.

A good reminder, I carry earplugs in my pocket everyday, as I have sensitive hearing, a darned old craftsman shop vac is more than I can deal with it seems, just hate noise, I can feel it work the eardrums, so whenever I need to, I wear em. They ring at night, though more so if I don't wear hearing protection when I should, since I keep hearing protection on me, not so much of an issue anymore, I do firmly believe it is very foolish not to wear them when you need to, I find it difficult to understand how people can deal with noise that makes me shudder or my eardrums reverb like a woofer in a speaker, some people shoot, bang on things or what have, no trouble at all, me I absolutely cannot deal with it, seems odd but true LOL !

While on high rise building projects, I used to marvel at carpenters putting up metal studs, specifically, seeing a carpenter, cut a full bundle of metal studs with a 14" chop saw, no eye protection, and no hearing protection ! Lots of sparks and the noise of that bundle being cut is unbearable to me.

When deer hunting I wear a woodland camo, hot weather hat, I weave in a pair of earplugs, in the outer headband, and let them dangle like the price tag on Minnie Pearl's hat, if you remember Hee Haw. I can quickly put them in if I need to make a shot, though on occasion I've shot without them, the ensuing ear ringing is not worth the kill or so it seems. I like the plugs as they do a good job and you can kind of adjust them so you can hear more, though some tasks require the full headphone type. I used to wear those when I was a D8K operator, the transmission noise alone was enough to whine right through ya, some odd frequencies there, one day I forget to bring the hearing protection, thought I had shell shock when I got home, needless to say I never did that again. Heck I even bummed some smokes, ( I don't smoke ) broke the filters off and stuffed those in my ears, it helped but the fit was not good.

I think it's wise to protect ones hearing and eyes, not that long ago while de-nailing some lumber from this barn we rebuilt, had a 16d common fly right up and hit under my eye, you never know when or where it can happen, just wear the darned protection, you will be thankful, or that is how I see it LOL !

Hi Tom: You likely have less hearing in one ear compaired to the other. That's a sign of background sounds afecting sounds you want to hear. I've got badly damaged hearing & have spent quite a bit of time learning about various problems related to hearing. It's quite a system we have inside out ears and how the brain uses the info detected by each ear. The brain is constantly comparing the sounds recieved from each ear and we rely on that to focus on a specific sound and tell direction it is comming from. All programed in at birth by God. ag

I run a lawn mower 5 days a week in the summer, I always were ear plugs, usieng just about anything with a engine on it. Hedge trimmer, string trimmer, backpack blower, tractor, snow blower chainsaw,,,ect, ect, Believe me its a good idea. My father, and father in law are both suffering from hearing loss, from never wearing any hearing protection. Its not sissy or uncool to wear it, but it is when you dont wear any.
Let me also add wearing safty, or sun glasses, especially useing a string trimmer, we take the gaurd off at the bottom, so debris can fly off it in any direction. J

WHAT?

One of the things that amazes me is that more of the younger generation aren't completely deaf from the loud music they play in their vehicles. I had one pull up beside my F-250 once and the lanyard hanging from the mirror started dancing.

Say agin, in my udder ear!!

I try to as much as I can. If I have to wear them for an extended period of time, I'll switch between earplugs and earmuffs to give my ears a rest.