Workshop Hearing Protection. Why bother?

It's so easy not to bother or just forget to wear any protection. Hearing Protection that is. Sometimes it seems like too much trouble to find the muffs, dust them off and wear them.

Or you become so involved in what you’re doing that you don’t even think of them until the drill or lathe is at a screaming pitch, driving you mad and you can’t stop right in the middle of a cut or everything so far goes down the drain. So you keep on rather than jeopardize the project.

If the noise level is high enough, your vision can even start to lose focus and then things really begin to get dangerous.

The highest decibel level that normal hearing should have to tolerate is 85 decibels for 8 hours. If the decibel level gets above that, then the permissible time exposure level drops dramatically. If the level increases to 91 decibels then you only get 1 hour before damage can begin to occur. These levels and times have been set by researchers from Universities and Hearing Specialists but I sometimes wonder if the researchers had any hearing problems when they did set these levels as there are occasions when some sudden noise in my shop, that doesn’t appear to worry anyone else, goes through my eardrums like a sharp pin.

Too much constant noise, even on lower decibels level than 85 also becomes annoying, particularly if the noise is being made by another person on the site.

Why is it we can put up with the noise we’re making yet not tolerate noise created by someone else?

And becoming annoyed or tired by constant noise leads to lack of concentration.

If you put on a set of hearing protection ear cups, the ones that connect over the top of the head like head phones, after you’ve had them on for a short time you seem to go into a little world of your own. Your focus and concentration tighten right down onto the areas or project you’re working on and that’s great for getting the job done right.

And that guy that always wants to talk is marooned outside your little world.

Although you might not worry about a bit of loud noise now, later in life it’ll catch up with you.

I know.

I ended up with Ménière’s disease.

A set of good hearing protectors, used constantly, would probably have avoided this.

Listen to the voice of experience, get hold of and wear good hearing protection all the time you’re in the shop. The first thing you should do before turning on any machinery is reach for the ear muffs.

Let it become an automatic start to the day's work and avoid trouble later on in life.

Details of some types of Hearing Protection are over at Metal and Wood Lathes Hearing Protectors