Hearing Protection

[Ed62]

I'm good at wearing my muffs. However, there has been a time or two when I just needed to trim a hair off a miter cut, and I do that on the miter saw, with no hearing protection (unless it's already on). But it's a very short period of time making the cut.

Ed

[LCHIEN]

i agree with Ed, hearing damage is proportional to both time and intensity.
Just making one quick cut I won't bother but a series of cuts for a while and I always use my muffs which are the HF electronics ones with the eletronics failed so they are now just just dumb muffs.

[Whaler]

I get a failing grade here. I wiped out my hearing many years ago shooting anything that would fire a projectile. By the time hearing protection started being stressed mine was past worrying about. Never wear any.

[Uncle Cracker]

I've had a raging case of tinnitus since my teens (when I had several severe ear infections). In my shop, I can't even hear my tools over my tinnitus...

[Wood_workur]

I hope you are referring to the ear muff style, because I have found these silencio's ear plugs
to be absolutely indispensable over the last 5+ years
And they do take down noise by about 26db which is comparable to some lower ranged ear muffs. I haven't noticed any ill effects so I guess you are referring to something else?

those are good earplugs. What I mean is there are specific shooter ear plugs that will block sound for a split second then let it all in again, so that you can have a normal conversation. If you use these with woodworking equipment they may not close the entire time, negating the effects of wearing ear protection.

Basically, if the earplugs mention a valve, its best to pass them up, they may not offer any protection.

[Uncle Cracker]

There are WW earpieces that allow normal conversation, but block out tool noise. They selectively block out high-pitched whine, which will let you hear everybody except your wife!

[LinuxRandal]

And guys, don't use shooting plugs, because they are designed to muffle for a split second and then let noise in at normal volume again.

The ear muffs (not goggles, long week), that are for shooting, work fine with my power nailer (concrete work). But what I want to know, is, will the woodworking ones, work for shooting?
I have seen different rated ones, for noise DB levels, as well as electronic ones that allow you to hear a normal conversation (always figured I would hook in a radio receiver to my current ones, if need be), but....

There are WW earpieces that allow normal conversation, but block out tool noise. They selectively block out high-pitched whine, which will let you hear everybody except your wife!

WHERE DO WE FIND THESE?

[LCHIEN]

Originally Posted by Uncle Cracker
There are WW earpieces that allow normal conversation, but block out tool noise. They selectively block out high-pitched whine, which will let you hear everybody except your wife!

WHERE DO WE FIND THESE?

Harbor Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92851

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Radians-Pro-Am...0872886&sr=8-8

basically these electronic muffs work on this principle. Like passive muffs, they block out 26 to 29 dB of noise by isolating and reducing it. Then they have a microphone pickup on the outside and pickup and play low level sounds at normal volumes on phones inside the earmuffs so you can hear the radio, conversations, the lawnmower two houses down, etc. When a loud noise happens, the fast acting electronics detects it in a few milliseconds, and either cuts off the electronic phones inside or sharply reduces the gain or peaks of the signal so that what goes to the phones is no louder than the low level stuff.

The advantage of these is that you can hear someone trying to talk to you or enjoy the radio (although the fidelity is definately leaves something to be desired) yet it prevents loud noises from coming thru. With passive muffs, everything is drastically attenuated so you might not hear someone trying to talk to you.

They usually have an sensitivity control so you can control when the noise reduction/blocking kicks in, normally you'd adjust it so you can hear ambient sounds but it kicks in when you turn on the saw or dust collector.

I had one of the HF ones - it worked fine for a couple of years then the electronics died so now it just functions as a passive set of muffs which I guess will do for now. I miss the ambient sound passing part but haven't sprung to replace them now as it does the primary part of hearing protection fine.

[dbhost]

I use a pair of Winchester shooters muffs I got at Wally World on a Hunting Season closeout about 2 years ago. They have them on sale again now... I will likely grab two more pairs. I meant to have this pair in my hunting gear!

Anything louder than a power drill, which is everything, deserves hearing protection.

[LinuxRandal]

Loring, I think you need to go back and read the quote again. I think you missed the part that makes you go or or .

[LCHIEN]

Loring, I think you need to go back and read the quote again. I think you missed the part that makes you go or or .

wuff. i saw that an laughed about the wife part but thought the request was for the muffs. sorry. sudda noticed it be unc cracker.

[Wood_workur]

The ear muffs (not goggles, long week), that are for shooting, work fine with my power nailer (concrete work). But what I want to know, is, will the woodworking ones, work for shooting?

Yes. They still reduce the volume. Most shooter muffs are passive if I'm correct. What you have to watch out for is ones that Loring posted where once its above a certain point it will block it. That's what I was warning you guys about, not those, but ones designed for guns because they may have a higher kick in point and they are only on for a split second.

The ones Loring posted are great if you are too lazy to take them off.

[Uncle Cracker]

wuff. i saw that an laughed about the wife part but thought the request was for the muffs. sorry. sudda noticed it be unc cracker.

Unlike the majority of my posts which are either all serious, or all bullsh!t, that one was both. I was serious about there being selective hearing protection devices, and your Amazon link shows the ones I use. But I couldn't resist the "high-pitched whine" gag, 'cause I'm still Uncle Cracker...

[ironhat]

Sound is transmitted primarily by air but also by bone conduction. That's how you still manage to hear even when using protection. Ideally, (dangerous word) you would wear plugs to block air transmission *and* muffs which cover a portion of the skull around the ears. I have tried it and there is a difference but it's not sizeable. So, do I? Nope. I feel that the returns were insufficient to make a difference - back to Loring and Ed's 'duration and intensity' observation.

[Richard in Smithville]

Being in an industrial environment I have been heavily involved in education and training regarding hearing protection. I can tell you that shudden, sharp bursts of noise can cause just as much damage to your ear as prolonged sound.