Lawn Mowing with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?

[Jason37]

Can I still mow my lawn with noise-induced hearing loss?

 

[jay777]

Good excuse to get the Mrs to do it.

 

[Jason37]

She hates me as it is.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Can I still mow my lawn with noise-induced hearing loss?

I think there is too much at stake to take this risk. If your wife won't do it, it would be worth it to pay someone to do it.

If you end up deciding that it is a good idea to risk making your body uninhabitable, I hope that you will at least use double protection - wear earplugs underneath ear muffs.

 

[jay777]

@Jason37 how much are you paying? my body is already uninhabitable.

 

[Tex]

I mow every week, but with good ear plugs. The plugs prevent more damage. However, the mowing is just another distraction from Tinnitus, which is a good thing.

 

[New Guy]

Good excuse to get the Mrs to do it.

Are we allowed to make wife jokes on this site?

I'm trying to figure out the answer to mowing the lawn myself. I have no experience mowing lawns with T.

My gut tells me once things settle down a bit with the T and the H it will be ok with doubled up protection. I have noise induced hearing loss from 30 years of exposure with hearing protection. I'd love to hear how the veterans make out with this.

I currently have earmuffs with 30 NRR and when coupled with earplugs they can really get my T screaming.

 

[TinA#7oct]

There might be a quieter muffler you could use for your lawnmower.

 

[JohnAdams]

Use earplugs.

 

[coffee_girl]

Use plugs than cover it with a muffler. Just to be safe =]

 

[robHing]

I use hand push lawn mower.
It is very quiet and doing exercise is good for health.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7K4BN...9de2-0fd20fdd00a1&ie=UTF8&qid=1535064091&sr=1

 

[Nonna]

electric mowers are very quiet and dont jar u around

 

[rdz]

Will it be safe to use NNR24 db ear muffs. The time to mow the lawn has come and I'm worried that maybe I might need something better. This will be my first time mowing the lawn since I got tinnitus early this year.

 

[GSC]

Will it be safe to use NNR24 db ear muffs. The time to mow the lawn has come and I'm worried that maybe I might need something better. This will be my first time mowing the lawn since I got tinnitus early this year.

Do you have to mow it? No one else can do it? You can't hire a kid, or someone? If not, plugs and muffs maybe with breaks?

 

[rdz]

Do you have to mow it? No one else can do it? You can't hire a kid, or someone? If not, plugs and muffs maybe with breaks?

I can have to. I still live at home with my parents and its something that I have always been in charge of taking care of. I never use ear muffs before when I mowed the lawn and I'm not sure if mine is noise induced. I'm thinking I'm going to risk it and see what happens.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm thinking I'm going to risk it and see what happens.

In the Worst case scenario:

don't worry you will habituate to living in the hell

 

[Bill Bauer]

I still live at home with my parents and its something that I have always been in charge of taking care of.

If you have any money, instead of using it to buy clothing or pay for a meal, you could use it to pay a kid to do this for you.

In any case, if you feel like you must do it, at least use the most protection you can get: X5A muffs over 3M 1100 foam earplugs. You would also want to do it for one minute and then wait and see what happens. Personally, I would wait 24 hours before getting exposed to noise again. Do what feels right to you. During your second attempt, you could use your lawn mower for 2 minutes, followed by a long wait to see whether there is any impact on your T. I would keep adding no more than a minute, each time.

Good luck!

If it doesn't work out for you, please share your experiences with us, so that we could learn from your mistakes.

 

[Sebastians]

I use one of these, hardly makes any noise and is better for the environment, plus a good workout.

 

[OnceUponaTime]

I'm thinking I'm going to risk it and see what happens.

How big is your lawn??? If you are going to do this, please use good ear protection. Good luck!
When they are mowing my lawn...I leave the house! The blowers are the worst! NO thanx!

Once

 

[Emperor-Drax]

Doesn't Bill hate lawns?

I use a battery operated Ryobi lawnmower (and a few other items in the Ryobi ecosystem like a chainsaw, whippersnipper, etc.). One of the very best purchases I ever made years ago. Just a miracle machine. Still might be a bit loud for some folks here, but it beats those stinky petrol driven monstrosities.

 

[rdz]

I'll update if anything happens to my tinnitus. I'm not going to be exposed to the lawnmower sound for a long time, the most will be 15 minutes so I'm thinking it wont be too bad.

 

[Contrast]

I can have to. I still live at home with my parents and its something that I have always been in charge of taking care of. I never use ear muffs before when I mowed the lawn and I'm not sure if mine is noise induced. I'm thinking I'm going to risk it and see what happens.

don't risk it.

 

[sirhand]

Maybe if I could mow it in like 10-15 minutes. But mine takes 1 1/2 hours. It's so loud, and it's not just sound, I can feel the vibrations going through me, making me feel like the hearing protection isn't doing anything. And then after even though I did protect my ears the anxiety of thinking that maybe I didn't is still enough to give a spike.

 

[erik]

I have mowed with blaringly loud T. I use a good pair of ear muffs which give you around 25 db reduction. Sometimes I paired them with foam ear plugs for the ultimate protection though you cannot hear anything at that point

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm not going to be exposed to the lawnmower sound for a long time, the most will be 15 minutes so I'm thinking it wont be too bad.

Sometimes all it takes is a fraction of a second to get T (or to get a T spike).

 

[JohnAdams]

Good excuse to get the Mrs to do it.

lol no. Just use ear protection.

 

[rdz]

I spoke to my parents and for now I wont have to mow the lawn. I've been thinking about it all day and I'm not going to risk it. They think it's my wisdom teeth that are causing the ringing because all four them are coming out.

 

[Digital Doc]

I spoke to my parents and for now I wont have to mow the lawn. I've been thinking about it all day and I'm not going to risk it. They think it's my wisdom teeth that are causing the ringing because all four them are coming out.

This is more likely from the noise of the mower, and other noise exposures, than your wisdom teeth.

I got my T from lawn equipment, a combination of the mower, weed trimmer, and blower, all gas powered. My lawn takes almost 3 hrs to do on a weekly basis.

I was not sure if I should keep doing it after the T developed, but as it was Fall, and hard to get a gardener at that point, I proceeded with the addition of earplugs. My T would increase just slightly for about an hour after, and then go back to baseline.

This year, I upgraded the protection, after going through several earplugs, and now use Howard Leight Max1 (NRR 33), along with low profile ear muffs (NRR 20). I have done it twice the season, and no spikes after, and my T continues to improve. I find the ear muffs useful as not only does it make it quieter, but also it helps to keep the earplugs from getting pushed on by the branches of passing trees, which can start to dislodge them.

Each of us needs to decide if we wish to do this type of noise exposure, but I have enjoyed the activity for many years now, and plan to continue doing it, taking reasonable and appropriate precautions.

I would strongly caution those that have T from using a lawn mower with no protection, even for a few minutes, as it is high risk to make the T get much worse.

 

[Chris S.]

One should never measure the noise of the lawn mower in dBA, and one should never take the NRR value of the plugs/muffs for granted. I would use the C-weighting on a calibrated SPL meter or a Z-weighting on a calibrated phone app. If you measure the noise in dBC, you need to divide the NRR rating by 2 and then add 5 db more for the extra pair of ear muffs you wear.

Example: my battery-operated lawn mower generates around 85 dBC. Wearing earplugs with a NRR of 33 and ear muffs with a NRR of 26, gives me around 21.5 dBC of actual protection. Wearing a pair of anti vibration gloves could help reduce further the risk from a permanent spike.