hearing protection with tunes and safety glasses

[curly]

I gotta wear ear muff style hearing protection at work while operating the crusher and well I like having tunes to pass the time. Right now I am using ear bud style headphones and they work well enough as well as reduce incoming noise a little bit but they like to come out of my ear as they have to be flipped upside down. I am trying to find ear muffs with 25dB or better reduction that would have speakers in them but only finding AM/FM and well I got an MP3 player that I prefer using. I am thinking about taking a regular cheap set of headphones and yanking the speakers and putting them inside but I'm a little worried about them staying put and such. Any help is appreciated.

Oh, when I'm wearing my safety glasses they push the foam out enough that some sound gets in while wearing the ear muffs. Can anyone recommend a good brand of muffs, hard hat mount or on their own would work as a hard hat is not really needed.

 

[95zIV]

mp3 compatable muffs

Here's some muffs for you.

http://www.aearoweb.com/sites/worktunes/default.aspx?kw=Peltor+Digital+Worktunes

http://www.elvex.com/com-muffs.htm

 

[curly]

Thanks for those links!

 

[surfer-joe]

Bad idea listening to tunes while working around heavy machinery. If one is not concentrating on the machinery and work at hand, it is endangering oneself and others, not to mention the health and welfare of the machine and quality of work. Heavy equipment operators do not get paid to listen to tunes or bobble-heads. Old fashioned line of thought I know.

 

[curly]

I understand what your saying, and if I was running loader or whatever I would tend to agree however I am running a jaw crusher. I control the feed speed and watch the belts to make sure everything is still moving smooth. Not too much thought needed other than the material going in and making sure it doesn't plug up and that garbage isn't going in.

 

[tylermckee]

I often listen to my mp3 player with the in ear style headphones when im running equipment, works great for hearing protection. I don't crank the volume up that loud, so its no worse than wearing ear plugs. If i'm in a machine with a tapedeck i just use one of those cassettes that plug into the headphone jack.

 

[curly]

Sounds like a nice setup! I know I have my volume down a fair bit more on the crusher than when I'm riding the bike. Do you wear ear muffs as well?

 

[qball]

i use to use muffs with walkman speakers jerry rigged inside. then i progressed to the all in one stereo muffs. they were better but not great. now i use sure ec2 in ear stage monitors. absolutly fantastic noise reduction ans sound quality. i never use them while working on a sewer crew or around people on a crowded site but for truck loading or mass wory they are great.

 

[curly]

Would you happen to have those muffs around or tell me a little more about them as far as quality? I'm not looking for bose sound, just something that I can hear alright without cranking the volume?

 

[Red Bank]

Curly, I have a pair from RadioShack that is set up as am/fm and has a MP3 jack built in the side of them. I use them when I am riding the tractor, mowing, running the excavator and the loader. They have a good sound to them and last a long time on two AAA batteries. I think I paid around $50.00 for them. I am now on my second set, the first set lasted 5 years, gave them to my Dad, the antenna messed up but will pick up his station. As far as running equipment listening to the tunes, why does my companys excavator and backhoes have factory installed stereos? If I am listening to music I can sit on equipment all day, music goes off and I am ready to quit.

 

[surfer-joe]

As I mentioned in my other post, it's a bit of an old school thing. I, and many others, were taught to listen to the machine working. We didn't have radios, cell phones, or any other distractions except the occasional cloud of mosquitoes or hornets in those days. If we did show up with some kind of transistor radio, it was left in the car or we were sent home. No radios on the job for us.

As a result, many older operators can tell more by sound alone what's going on inside a machine than the latest computerized test equipment. Now, with powershift or hydrastatic transmissions, computerized engine and other controls, super quiet exhaust systems and fully insulated cabs, you can't hear crap from anything with regard to how the rig is working. I think seat of the pants feel has become more important because of the loss of the noise factor.

None the less, I know of operators whom have hurt themselves or others by not paying attention whilst listening to radios or walkman. Any distraction can cause an accident to happen or cause the operator to wake up too late to prevent one. I had a buddy some years ago that was watching pit run go into a jaw crusher. In those days and at that place we were using good old DuPont dynamite for blasting purposes. Ole Forbes was about half asleep when he thought he saw a few sticks go by on the feeder conveyor. Sure enough, before he was fully alert and thinking he stuck his face over the jaw to double check -- just as the dynamite was crushed and blew.

Forbes wasn't a good looking guy to begin with. He was a hell of a lot worse looking after the rocks and dirt were blown into his face. He had to be med-evac'd and is actually still alive today I heard. Had to have an awful lot of plastic surgery you know. Lost one eye and half his lower jaw.

Job I had punching scrapers a couple of years ago -- one of the scraper hands always wore earphones listening to talking bobble-heads and music. He never paid attention to what was happening in the cut and I often had to tap him a bit to get his attention. I got tired of that after a few days and hit him going full bore in 2nd with a D9N. He paid more attention after that and we got down to business moving dirt.

So if someone is sitting fat and happy on an excavator seat bailing muck, and he has headphones on or has the cab radio blasting away with some Metallica, how does he hear a laborer yell that he's about to hit something or hurt someone? How does someone with earphones stuck in hear a final drive bearing going bad or a belt starting to rip? Hard enough to hear a person even without additional sound interfering.

Just a few thoughts and memories from an old dirt stiff.

 

[Grader4me]

I'm all for hearing protection when operating equipment. I wish to hell I would have been smart enough years ago to wear it all the time then maybe my hearing would not be so bad now.
I just wasn't comfortable operating unless I could hear the sound of my machine. Even with the hearing protection which I did wear in the later years I could still hear my machine although muffled of course. Alot of times on the grader I was working around other machinery, trucks, and workers. I had to stay focused and pay sharp attention to what was around me at all times. In those situations even hearing protection was not an option for me.
I guess my point is and I'm from the old school as well... hearing protection with tunes..well.. I think surfer-joe summed it up. Just my 02 cents

 

[Red Bank]

Surfer-Joe, I understand completely what you are saying and after thinking about it you are right. Whenever I run equipment I am by myself with no one around. As far as on the job then yes I do not want someone jamming to some tunes while laying pipe in a trench, or digging with others around.

 

[RocksnRoses]

I'm all for hearing protection when operating equipment. I wish to hell I would have been smart enough years ago to wear it all the time then maybe my hearing would not be so bad now.

I spent many years on open farm tractors with straight out exhausts about three feet away, before I bought a set of ear muffs, when they first came out. My old man went absolutely balistic, saying I wouldn't be able to hear the harvester if something went wrong, but I found after a while, the muffs cut down the surrounding noise and if you knew the machine you were operating, you could still tell if something wasn't quite right. In latter years he started wearing them and eventually darn near wore them all the time. I just wish I had started wearing ear muffs sooner, because I have suffered some hearing loss. As for music or talk back radio, I dont have a real problem with that, a good operator will still concentrate on the job, but it does annoy me with some of the young blokes, when the first job for the morning is to tune the radio, you have to have your doubts about their commitment then.

Rn'R.

 

[95zIV]

I gotta wear ear muff style hearing protection at work while operating the crusher

What about getting a booth to be in? They are very sound deadening and you can get them with heater/AC units built into them and they make life a whole lot better on crusher duty. But I don't blame you at all for wanting music on that job. We put a radio in ours that we listened to and it made life a whole lot more bearable.

 

[curly]

What about getting a booth to be in? They are very sound deadening and you can get them with heater/AC units built into them and they make life a whole lot better on crusher duty. But I don't blame you at all for wanting music on that job. We put a radio in ours that we listened to and it made life a whole lot more bearable.

HAHAHOHO oh man your a funny guy! :drinkup Well anyhow we do have a cab or sorts on the jaw, it looks like it's from an old grader or dozer. The top door window is gone, the "front" window fell off and there is a nice hole near the back that looks like it was sized for an a/c unit :Banghead. I would love to have a cab like your talking about but alas the company is too cheap to buy the nice stuff for the old equipment. The gyro crusher does have a nice cab on the genset though, thing pops up out of the trailer!

 

[stock]

I'm all for hearing protection when operating equipment. I wish to hell I would have been smart enough years ago to wear it all the time then maybe my hearing would not be so bad now.

DITTO

I'm from the old school as well... hearing protection with tunes..well.. I think surfer-joe summed it up. Just my 02 cents

I concur wholeheartly

 

[alan627b]

Nose For Trouble

I agree with the point Joe made about hearing what the machine is doing.
I also have found problems on a machine I have been running by the smell believe it or not.
I was running a tractor with a pull roller, and kept smelling burning rubber. I checked my machine and it had no problem, so I started watching the scrapers going by. Sure enough, one had a piece of concrete wedged in between the sidewall of a rear tire and the frame. Saved the company some bucks there! Operator didn't smell it, A/C cab 627E.
Leaking hydraulic oil has a sweetish smell to it, and we all know what burning motor oil smells like!
Just wondered if anybody else had experiences like this?
Alan627b

 

[95zIV]

I agree with the point Joe made about hearing what the machine is doing.
I also have found problems on a machine I have been running by the smell believe it or not.
I was running a tractor with a pull roller, and kept smelling burning rubber. I checked my machine and it had no problem, so I started watching the scrapers going by. Sure enough, one had a piece of concrete wedged in between the sidewall of a rear tire and the frame. Saved the company some bucks there! Operator didn't smell it, A/C cab 627E.
Leaking hydraulic oil has a sweetish smell to it, and we all know what burning motor oil smells like!
Just wondered if anybody else had experiences like this?
Alan627b

Alan,

Why we're at it, what about feel? Has anyone else here ever gotten on a machine and there was just something about it that didn't feel right? I'm talking just a little vibration or a hesitation or anything else like that, that just makes your SPIDEE sense go off?

 

[bigrus]

Alan,

Why we're at it, what about feel? Has anyone else here ever gotten on a machine and there was just something about it that didn't feel right? I'm talking just a little vibration or a hesitation or anything else like that, that just makes your SPIDEE sense go off?

Yes that's called a "seat of the pants skill" along the "smell/odour" sense issue Alan627b raised. All part of being alert on the job.
"Getting in the zone" (or a smooth cycle) is another skill gained with experience.
The hearing protection issue has always been a priority with me. Starting out on 15yd3 Michigan elavating scapers, the scream of a 6V71 detroit & with a crackly AM radio would be enough to test a saint Then running a grader, more sedate & quieter, I didn't use ear protection for a while & I started to notice "ringing in the ears" after work each night. So the disposable soft hexagonal earplugs were used & have been "standard kit" since 1980.
We did a noise test at TAFE (an Austrailian government training facility) between a 4" hand grinder & an 8" pedestal grinder. We all thought the pedestal grinder was alot quieter. Surprise surprise (sorry Gomer ) it was nearly the same dB but a different pitch.
The moral of all this is, that replacement isn't as good as the OEM stuff so look after it.