Ear Protection ?

Wesspur
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purdyite said:
I wear plugs AND muffs--also use the ones with connecting cord, but I cut the cord off and leave about 1/2 inch on the plug, sort of a little stem to remove them easily. Doesn't tickle the back of my neck that way. Dad is very hard of hearing, I want to protect what I have left. It's getting hard to have a conversation with him. Good on you for wearing them.
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I too wear both. In the skidder or just running a saw.
I wear ear plugs when I ride my (brother's!) motorcycle, when I groom the snowmobile trails in the Tucker Terra, and when I ride a snowmobile. Oh, and when mowing the lawn.
I have fairly "loud" tinnitus in the right ear, and a little touch of it in the left too. I broke my right ear drum when I was 13, so that doesn't help- I am partially deaf in the right ear because of that.
Not willing to lose any more by being careless.
Anyone who does blow off hearing protection when around loud stuff is a fool.
 
One more thing:

The "muffs" on a helmet will save you from getting your bell rung in the skidder / dozer / backhoe..I know that in the skidder I have smashed my head off the side of the ROPS hundreds of times..and the ear muff saved me a LOT of pain, and maybe even saved my life..
One time I was in a hurry, pushing the logs to the truck on the landing...no helmet.
I drove over a button, and when the rear tire came off it- WHAM!
I saw white, almost passed out..and if I had I would probably have fallen out and the skidder would have run me right over..my head hurt for months after.
 
Oldtimer said:
One more thing:

The "muffs" on a helmet will save you from getting your bell rung in the skidder / dozer / backhoe..I know that in the skidder I have smashed my head off the side of the ROPS hundreds of times..and the ear muff saved me a LOT of pain, and maybe even saved my life..
One time I was in a hurry, pushing the logs to the truck on the landing...no helmet.
I drove over a button, and when the rear tire came off it- WHAM!
I saw white, almost passed out..and if I had I would probably have fallen out and the skidder would have run me right over..my head hurt for months after.
Click to expand...

I second that about the muffs in the skidders. I have been knocked out several times from other endeavors, and once I came darn close in a skidder when one tire dropped off into a hole, the B pillar on the right about knocked me out of the left hand doorway. If I wouldn't have had earmuffs on to ease the blow, I'm sure I would have been knocked out and driven over, possibly a painless way to go, LOL.

Its smart to just wear the whole helmet and earmuffs in the skidders.

Sam
 
Joe46 said:
When I started shooting as a young lad the best you could do was toilet paper rolled up and stuffed in your ears. In the Navy on a Destroyer during Nam there was no such thing except for the gunners mates. During GQ I was a first loader on a 3" 50 gun mount. The mount capt ( a GM) wore head phones which offered some protection. When I started falling I was taught you needed to hear what the tree was doing, so no ear protection. I guess I'm really fortunate that I can still hear OK. Now I don't even start up a circular saw without ear plugs .
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Did you ever sign up for Veterans medical benefits? I go every year for a physical. This year I told my doctor I was loosing my hearing and he set me up with a hearing test at the V. A. hospital. I went and the doctor there told me my hearing was borderline needing hearing aids. He said discuss it with my family and if I wanted a pair I was eligible at no cost. I was in the Army in Nam but I am sure the Navy would get the same benefit especially the job you had.
 
Working in a machine shop for twenty plus years then working on or around sprint cars 10 plus years = what you say

I would have ear plugs made to form to my ears and it still didn't help I have lost hearing in my right ear
 
Mike Griffin said:
Did you ever sign up for Veterans medical benefits? I go every year for a physical. This year I told my doctor I was loosing my hearing and he set me up with a hearing test at the V. A. hospital. I went and the doctor there told me my hearing was borderline needing hearing aids. He said discuss it with my family and if I wanted a pair I was eligible at no cost. I was in the Army in Nam but I am sure the Navy would get the same benefit especially the job you had.
Click to expand...

Somewhere i have a VA file number. Had back surgery at the VA hospital in Long Beach, Ca. several decades ago. My real job on the TinCan was a boilerman. It was noisey in the fireroom also:msp_smile:
 
Huh? Real men don't wear ear protection. You know them. Those old cat skinners that are always yelling because they can't hear a damn thing.

40 yrs now running a saw. Not everyday. 15" worth I may just shine it on & run low rpm on firewood or something.

Then there's times I wear plugs to mow the grass.

I can still hear the highs & lows when I turn it up.

One of these years I'm going to string some wire across the draw & hook some speakers up. Then I'm going to TURN IT UP!
yup, one of these days.
 
The corded ear plugs from 3M. I wrap the cord around the suspension in my hard hat which makes it easy to pop them out and not lose them. Radio head phones in the skidder cause I like some tunes when I'm tired and loading.

Now for the eyes- I've worn nothing for a long time until twice in the last week I got chunks of wood in the right eye. First time my eye bled and I could see red for a few minutes. Had to take a pic of myself just so I could see the damage. Only 4th tree of the morning and I was pist. Busting out the face. I closed that eye and let the tree loose and sat on the stump for a little while. Second time choppin out my saw from a small branch that had more tension on it then I realized. Chunk hit me square like a damn baseball. Just bruised er up good this time. I may look like a super dork, but I'm getting some bugz goggles on order. I've tried all manner of glasses and don't like them. And no I will not be getting a forestry screen/muff/hat combo ever.
 
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I tried a few low cost options, and then bought some better quality stuff when I figured out what I liked. Whatever you choose, good on ya for using them.

I know so many guys who worked hard all their lives who walk around hollering "Huh?" 20 times a day.
 
Gologit said:
Yup. I finally gave up and went to an audiologist earlier in the week. It was a rather ugly experience. I knew I'd lost some hearing over the years but I wasn't aware of how much. It was a bunch.

A good set of hearing aids, not dime-store junk but digital quality, costs about 2500 bucks. Per ear.

My first clue that I'd lost a lot of hearing was listening to music that I've listened to for years and having it sound weird. I couldn't hear the high notes. I'd been automatically adjusting to the decrease in my hearing for so long that I wasn't really aware of how bad it had become.

So...I won't preach, people will do what they want to do. But if they want to hear their grandchildren singing they might want to think about hearing protection.
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Only 2500 an ear. Good ones round here can set you back 5 grand per ear.:bang:
 
Didn't read all of this but... A custom molded set of plugs around here runs about 60 to 80 buck. If you have any trouble with the standard everywhere plugs try out some of the custom jobs. They are worth their weight in gold. Some have filters like mine that I can talk and hear people but the saw and anything big is squelched out to almost nothing.

Nothing like loosing you hearing. Nobody to blame but you and your stubbornness. You don't get it back no matter who says what or what they try to do for you, just like lots o body parts you only get one chance and then your screwed for life for the most part other than treating the symptoms.

Plug'em or cover'em.



Owl
 
dhskier2 said:
Hadn't seen these before... slick stuff!!

PlugsSafety.com

[video=youtube;1kKMFvTeiT0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1kKMFvTeiT0[/video]
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting idea maybe for some perhaps not me, I see down sides but always good to have new options .


Tis shame he saves his ears yet care less for his legs oh well its sales vid not real world.
 
Spotted Owl said:
Didn't read all of this but... A custom molded set of plugs around here runs about 60 to 80 buck. If you have any trouble with the standard everywhere plugs try out some of the custom jobs. They are worth their weight in gold. Some have filters like mine that I can talk and hear people but the saw and anything big is squelched out to almost nothing.

Nothing like loosing you hearing. Nobody to blame but you and your stubbornness. You don't get it back no matter who says what or what they try to do for you, just like lots o body parts you only get one chance and then your screwed for life for the most part other than treating the symptoms.

Plug'em or cover'em.



Owl
Click to expand...

This what I had for over thirty years; the machine shop covered the cost of them and when I left there and then when I worked on and around sprint cars I keeped getting them and wearing them the filtered ones

Working in a screw machine shop (with 47 B&S screw machine in it) the first 15 years sure missed up my hearing; when they tested the noise in the shop it was lound like the jets next door in Everett Washington at some small jet airplane shop

But I still have a hearing lose
 

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