Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturning

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Dick Hines

>I don't think woodturning per say is to bad on your hearing but things like saws and dust colectors sure make lots of noise.

My DC sounds like a C5 comming in to land. This summer I am going to put it in it's own room along with the air compresser.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Don Henthorn

>Considering the music? that the majority of people listen to today, I don't think I would worry much about hearing deficit caused by woodworking machines.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Thanks for responding guys. What I'm looking for though is more about communication problems and their soloutions than about noise in the shop.

Dick, you would be surprised at what kind of noise can hurt your hearing. High frequency sounds that you can't even hear can do alot of damage. Back when I still had my hearing the dust collector drove me nuts. So much so in fact that I rarely turned it on. Very very stupid on my part.

Don, LOL When it comes to "music" my deafness can be a blessing for sure. Also served me well when it came to dealing with my ex-wife too. ;>) But to be serious for a moment its a very frustrating problem for many more people than we normaly think of. It's an invisiable disability.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Dan Bailey

>I cant hear very well anyway so I just turn up my tunes on my Sirus Boombox and let the world go by.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Fog Tanner

>I would think the biggest problem that someone with hearing problems would have is when the wood is trying to tell them something. Those sounds that we get when the walls are getting thin or when you are trying to hollow endgrain and the wood is being tortured and you know you should stop.

I think the article should touch on some of the issues that can lead to hearing damage and or loss. Such as the sound level of various dust collectors or other turning related machinery. I would be interested to know what the frequency is of various cutting actions and if this falls within that range of "noise" that can do damage. There are certain frequencies that can damage your hearing, while not possesing that irritating quality that causes you to wear hearing protection. I would be interested in more of the practical numbers, such as the difference in frequency at the rim of a 14" bowl versus a 6" bowl.

As far as people communication, those are no more than any other activity. We have a couple of members in our club that have a hearing aid in each ear or deaf in one and a hearing aid in the other. There is no difference in communicating with them and any of the other members. They do have the advantage of course of being able to turn their hearing aid off when its starts getting deep.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Ryan McMullen - Memphis

>Spence,

I have little/no hearing in my left ear and perfect hearing in my right. I work with a friend who has normal hearing in both ears. There are no communication problems, unless there happens to be a piece of unusually loud equipment running (my portable planner is one of them). We can even talk with chainsaws running and both of us wearing our ear muffs.

As far as "hearing" the sound the wood makes while turning, I gave up on trying that, I will instead focus on the feel from the tool that I'm using. It may not be as good as the sound, but it works from me. I think you will find a number of people that either have very little or no hearing make up for it in their other senses, in my case I tend to pick up on the smaller vibrations of the tool.

This is just MHO, and probably isn't worth $.02

Ryan

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Stuart Johnson

>With the exception of a ringing I have lost all hearing in my left ear and partial in my right. This has had no effect on working in the shop but a great impact on communicating.

I must concentrate to fully understand what is being said. If I am at a demo or other event and the person on my right tries to make comments I don't understand what either they or the demonstrator are saying. There is a very similar effect when I'm in a busy room with a lot of movement and convesation. After a few minutes I actually have a slight form of veritigo and can become confused. This is the reason I don't belong to a turning club or go to any of the symposiums.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Pete in Holland, MI

>When turning a lot bowls, I usually don my ear muffs. Can hear the turning well enough with them on. Envrioment has a lot to do with the noise. My shop is small with hard walls and little to absorb generated noise. What your ear is exposed to will be different in an accoustically dead room (heavily carpeted floor & walls for existance) and an accoustically live room (concrete floor, drywall walls & ceiling).

Don't be tough. Protect your hearing. Way too many people are sensly losing their hearing these days due to the machines we play & work around.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Jerry Whitaker

>WHAT??

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Russ Fairfield

>A selective loss of hearing in the 60Hz range is common to folks who have been around electric motors for any length of time. It may not be the answer you want, but that can be a good thing. Without the background noise of the electric motor, the sounds associated with our woodturning are easier to hear.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

David Lykins - Marietta GA - guitardude

>I'm assuming that you're talking about situations like someone coming up behind you while working on a machine, they speak to you but you don't hear them, but once you realize they are there you could get startled and injur yourself.

In many noisey shops people have installed items such as a strobe light that flashes whe the phone is ringing. You could do something similar, in otherwords a visual form of contact versus a verbal/physical form of contact to get someones attention while in the shop.

Just some thoughts........

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Thanks Stuart! This is the exact same place I find myself in. I am very much the extrovert but find it impossible to take part in things like clubs, demos or even conversations with more than one person at a time. Very frustrating isn't it?

Thanks for sharing.

Spence

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Thanks Fog. You bring up some very good points that I will consider for the article.

Thanks again

Spence

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Thank you Ryan. It's amazing how we all find ways to cope with things. I rely heavily on the vibration and feel of the tool while turning. Vibration is also the only way I can tell if my dust collector is running too. LOL

Thanks again

Spence

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Interesting info about accoustics. I'll have to look into that more. Your warning about hearing can't be repeated enough!

Thanks

Spence

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>HUH?? LOL

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Spence in Rhode Island

>Always a silver lining if you look for it,eh Russ? Thanks for contributing.

Spence

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

Bruce Wiseman

>Hi,

I am HOH and when I am in the shop I remove my hearing aids and wear an electronic set of ear muffs. I crank the volume up enough to hear most everything that I would with the aids but the muffs cut off any sound above 75db. The darn things were expensive (around $90). I have seen cheaper versions but don't know if I would trust them. I hope this is helping me keep what hearing I have left.

Bruce

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

adrien

>It's not clear to me just how deafness would affect wood turning: not hearing the sound of a smooth slicing cut, not hearing when the hollowed bowl is getting too thin? It would seem to me that deafness carries a rather universal handicap rather than one specifically related to woodturning.

It goes without saying that the noises of a shop, especially a small one with hard walls can be damaging to one's hearing and precautions should certainly be taken to minimize that risk.

Re: Opinions needed on Hearing Loss and Woodturnin

John Lucas

>Spencer Cone and I have been discussing hearing impairment. One of the biggest problems seems to be interacting with other turners. We are looking for solutions. There are several solutions for hearing impaired. Totally deaf is another problem altogether. If anyone has any experience in this area please e-mail me and I'll pass it on to Spencer.

Obviously prevention is the best solution. Any solutions you have for this will also be greatly appreciated. John