Ear protection when grinding ??

Britt_Askew

Britt_Askew

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
1,214
When grinding I know most of us use some type of mask and eye protection but have any of you used ear protection?? Its something I have never thought about. But I now have a piece of steel that has got "behind" the ear drum and am going to need surgery to get it out. Just one of those one in a million things that could happen, it could be worse. Thought I would share. Take care
 
For sure, that is important. I use hearing protection the whole time I am in the shop - not so much for protection against chips, but long term exposure to loud noises will damage your hearing from what I understand. And there are lots of machines in the shop producing those. So for sure, protect yourself. Bonus: if you get bluetooth hearing protection, you can listen to podcasts/audiobooks/music and such. Win/win.
 
Okay besides the bad joke about not wearing hearing protection which I typed and commented before I finished reading I am so sorry you are having to deal with that, I had a metal bb shot into my ear when I was a kid and luckily they got it out with no issues but was a very uncomfortable day at the hospital and took several people hours to figure out how to get it out of my ear. I’ve been meaning to get detachable ear muffs for my powered respirator and thinking maybe now I should just pull the trigger.
 
lol Joshua I probably have a bad sense of humor , It looks like something I would type , I didnt see it as bad at all.
I have had problems at times with swimmers ear and usually try to keep water out of my ears but recently when in the shower I decided to turn my ears towards the water to wash them out... mistake
 
I had a Bose noise reducing headset. It worked fine mowing the lawn, but wasn't suitable with my PAPR in the shop. I just bought a box of the foam ear plugs. They work fine. I Don't wear my hearing aids working in the hot shop anyway. Maybe I wouldn't need them at all if I had worn more aural protection from 16 to 60.

Seriously, gunshots, lawn mowers and grass trimmers, chainsaws, shop tools, power saws, revved-up motors, etc. put out a seriously high decibel level.
If you want to keep hearing like a teenager, wear hearing protection starting when you are a teenager.

I easily fired 20,000 rounds of ammo as a younger person. Most was from 30cal rifles and shotguns. They have a sound level of 150Db at one foot. Your ear is less than a foot from that huge blast. That alone is sufficient to cause deafness. Top that off with hundreds of hours hammering steel, racing motorcycles, yardwork, ... well you get the idea. I wore hearing protection sometimes between 14 and 25, but not all the time. I was in my 20'sr when it became something I did every time and required others to do as well. That earlier cavalier attitude is why I don't hear much above 5000Hz anymore (without my hearing aids).

Same goes for protecting your lungs!
 
Yeah I always wear ear pro. I like my hearing, and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't mind being uncomfortable or looking dorky. I have a pair of bluetooth 3M work tunes hearing protection. They're very comfortable and effective, and I can listen to podcasts or audiobooks that way. Highly recommended!
 
For listening I recommend:
Hardcore history podcast by Dan Carlin: dramatic story telling, a lot of military history, but also other topics. His series about the first world war is incredible.
History on fire by Daniele Bolelli: more philosophical and tame than hardcore history, but also very good. Check out his story about Miyamoto Musashi. Very interesting.
 
My hearing is shot to hell (literally). I usually still wear Bluetooth headphones or ear buds in the shop though. Not only does it protect the little bit of hearing I have left, but it also allows me to listen to music and hear my phone ring.
 
Britt, that's freakish about that piece of metal. Hope it works out okay for you. Good luck!

I bought a new Tahoe. I was bellyaching and bellyaching about the crappy EQ on that expensive sound system until my wife handed me my Siemens ears and suddenly it was much better. :rolleyes: I never wear 'em except to listen in doctors' offices (she carries them around as I'd never remember 'em), and my home music is all EQd to me, so I hear fine in my little world. LOL.

Rode Harley for years, shot a whole lot, hunted, rock music player, worked in the shop, etc. never wore protection except at work. Big mistake.

Trust me, you get tired of yelling at each other 100 times every freakin' day, "What was that you said?", to your wife.
We try now to conserve what little hearing we have. Sucks and no one to blame but ourselves. Cover 'em, lads...
 
I use isotunes at work. They are Bluetooth and according to how much you want to spend have active hearing and microphone for phone calls. Pretty handy; however, in my experience I get headaches because the expandable silicone in my ears plus the weight from the device. They do work well though. Maybe I'm just a p****. The foam in ear don't bother me and if it's not hot I use predator over ear.
 
My biggest regret was my indifference to heeding advice for using hearing protection when I was young. By the time I was 14 the schools sent me to an audiologist because I had already ruined my hearing.
Hope things work out for the OP.
 
have a hard time functioning properly in the shop without music playing. A friend gave me some iso tunes a couple years ago, which solved that problem plus the bonus of not having to hear a 36 grit belt at 90%
 
i Always use hearing protection in the shop … my shop vacs ( for dust collection) are the biggest noise producers. A couple options: noise cancelling headsets ( Bose and Sony) work really well. If you want to really deaden almost all sound, wear foam earplugs inside of the headphones. Foam earplugs by themselves are pretty good. Recently I have been really surprised at how well the apple AirPods Pro cancel ambient noise (and they are a much lighter/smaller option. I think 3m also makes a headset that also has some internal music-playing capability.

i am also n the club of need-hearing aids, and can’t hear much above 5000 hz. A lot is just age … but exposure to loud noises definitely accelerates the process.
 
I’ve been wearing a Sennheiser Momentum 3 wireless noise cancelling headset in the shop for about three years now. It’s been so nice. Only downside is I have to sort of juggle the eyewear and mask depending on what I’m doing, since it can feel like a lot to wear. It passes the time real nicely though, listening to audiobooks and documentaries while I work.
 
I've been using foamies for years. They bother some fokls but I guess I'm use to em.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I had a Bose noise reducing headset. It worked fine mowing the lawn, but wasn't suitable with my PAPR in the shop. I just bought a box of the foam ear plugs. They work fine. I Don't wear my hearing aids working in the hot shop anyway. Maybe I wouldn't need them at all if I had worn more aural protection from 16 to 60.

Seriously, gunshots, lawn mowers and grass trimmers, chainsaws, shop tools, power saws, revved-up motors, etc. put out a seriously high decibel level.
If you want to keep hearing like a teenager, wear hearing protection starting when you are a teenager.

I easily fired 20,000 rounds of ammo as a younger person. Most was from 30cal rifles and shotguns. They have a sound level of 150Db at one foot. Your ear is less than a foot from that huge blast. That alone is sufficient to cause deafness. Top that off with hundreds of hours hammering steel, racing motorcycles, yardwork, ... well you get the idea. I wore hearing protection sometimes between 14 and 25, but not all the time. I was in my 20'sr when it became something I did every time and required others to do as well. That earlier cavalier attitude is why I don't hear much above 5000Hz anymore (without my hearing aids).

Same goes for protecting your lungs!
Click to expand...
Stacey, if you use the 3m faceshield helmets (like the m205) then any headphones work just fine with them 👍
 
No, it is a full PAPR hood. The headset I had was an older type before Bluetooth. I had my I-pod strapped to the headband and plugged into the earpad. The earpads were very large, too.
PAPR Hood.png
 
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