MChalkley
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2000
- Messages
- 3,198
- Location
- Eastern Virginia
- Tractor
- EarthForce EF-5 mini-TLB (2001)
(All of the information in this posting is from my recent posts in the "Hello EarthForce, Goodbye Kubota" thread in the "Other Brands" forum, so if you've read it there, you don't need to read this.) Since this hearing protection issue is really safety related more than it is EarthForce related, I thought I'd relocate this discussion here. I've pasted information I posted elsewhere over the past few days below, including a special price for TBN members on the headset I decided to get.
(From 3/28/02): After looking at all the different brands of active electronic noise suppression headsets, I've finally ordered a set. I anguished between the Peltor and the Ridgeline Pro-Mag Dimension 2 (picture on <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pro-ears.com/seriesmodel.html#top>this page</A>, second model from top) from Shooters Safety Products in PA. I selected the Pro-Ears model sight-unseen (or hearing-unheard, in this case) because: 1) They use Sound Compression technology instead of sound "clipping". They will amplify anything below 70db (from 0 to 8x in 4 levels), and reduce the level of anything above 72db. The net effect is that you can hear everything all the time, whereas clipping cuts everything off when a loud noise is present. 2) Independently adjustable volume, instead of a single volume adjustment 3) 5 year warranty, instead of 6 months 4) Howard Leight, a highly respected presence in the ear protection field, has licensed the Pro-Ears technology for use in their own headset. 5) 200 hour battery life instead of 50. 6) NRR of 26, instead of 24. So much for the theory. I should have them sometime next week, at which point I'll know how well they work in practice. An interesting sidelight is that the Dimension 2 has provision for radio input, so you can control its volume using the radio, and the volume of everything else with the volume control knobs on the headset. Sure would be cool for listening to a scanner at a NASCAR race...
(From 4/9/02): I got the Pro-Ears noise suppression headset and had a chance to try them out for several hours yesterday. It was a pretty good test, because I was doing some very heavy work with the EF-500 and Brush Brute. More on that later.
The Pro-Ears worked great! You can hear as much or as little of the ambient noise as you want by adjusting the amplification of the headset via a jumper inside the ear cup. This isn't as simple as it could be, and you need a small set of needle nose pliers to do it, but at least you can adjust it. Also, both ear cups are totally self-contained, so you have to do it twice, unless you want one hear to hear different things from the other - or have hearing loss in one ear, and need to set one ear different from the other.
Using these things is a really unique experience. At first, you get the feeling they aren't working, because you still hear everything. And I mean everything, even some stuff you couldn't hear without them, if you have the amplification feature turned on. This causes some strange sensations, but you get used to them quickly. For example, I was running over quite a bit of brush, and I could hear the bushes scrape along the bottom of the machine so well that I thought they were rubbing harder than they were. Several times, I got off the machine to check for damage because I could hear brush scraping sounds that I couldn't hear before, because they were drowned out by the engine and hydraulic system noises. You get used to that quickly, though, and I really like the idea of hearing everything so well - it could save some major damage to equipment if you have a habit of listening for strange sounds, like I do.
There are independent volume controls on the outside of each earcup - the typical knobs you're used to seeing on regular headphones - which also function as on/off switches. Again, you can adjust each ear independently. It's very important to understand that these controls are completely different from the amplification jumpers I mentioned earlier. The amplification jumpers control whether and how much very low volume sounds are boosted in volume, while the volume controls determine how loud everything sounds to you. If you turn the volume control off, that ear cup functions as a simple 26db noise-reduction muff. If you turn it on, sounds are played back to your ear at whatever volume you want. Obviously, this is in addition to whatever sound makes it through the 26db reduction of the padding.
There is no control over the noise damping function, nor do I think there should be. Anything over 72db gets damped, louder sounds more than softer ones. Obviously, anything that loud is going to make it through the padding, too, so you'd be able to hear it even if the internal system didn't transmit it at all, but it does anyway. I used them a few minutes with my Stihl 038 chain saw and they worked at least as well as the Stihl ear muffs I've got.
All of the above adds up to this: I'm very pleased with them. I don't like headsets, and I like ear plugs a lot less. But I particularly dislike losing my hearing. The headsets didn't give me the "stuffy" feeling that ear plugs do, and I was able to hear normal conversation easily, even while the tractor was loud. At first, I didn't think I was going to like them at all, but I quickly decided that they're standard equipment for me when using the machine. For me, the safety aspects of being able to hear what's going, or hearing somebody shouting, are more important than the safety aspects of losing my hearing, so I've been very reluctant to wear hearing protection while using equipment. Not any more. These are the perfect solution to the problem, in my opinion. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: I tried the Peltor noise reduction headsets at a sporting goods store over the weekend. It's not quite the same as the thorough thrashing I gave the Pro-Ears yesterday, but I didn't like them nearly as well. The main thing I disliked was that they cut out completely when you're exposed to a loud noise, so I think you'd be missing all the lower volume sounds, including safety related ones, most of the time, especially when operating at higher engine speeds.
(From 4/11/02):I've only been researching the noise reduction headsets for a couple weeks, but it's been a busy couple weeks. I've listened to three different kinds of active ("electronic") headsets, as well as compared them to passive types (plain old "muffs" and ear plugs), and I don't think anything else out there comes close to the Pro-Ears.
Here's another anecdote to add to my earlier review: Yesterday, during the land clearing project the pictures I posted yesterday were taken of, I was wearing the Pro-Ears and all of a sudden, when pushing a particularly large pile of dirt/brush/logs and climbing a pile of the same kind of stuff at the same time, I noticed a rumbling sound. So, I backed out of the pile, and looked everything over - I looked for a loose plate vibrating, stuff like that - but didn't find anything, so I went back to work. As soon as I started though, I heard the rumbling again, so I took the Pro-Ears off and then I couldn't hear it - or at least I wasn't sure I could still hear it. I thought maybe it was something strange about the Pro-Ears themselves, but I was certain I hadn't heard the rumbling sound earlier. So, I checked everything again - nothing. Went back to work, but it was still bugging me, so I stopped again. This time, I opened the hood, and started listening very carefully, cupping my hands over the microphones in the Pro-Ears, just like you'd do with your ears. I distinctly heard the sound more clearly and it was coming from the direction of the muffler, but I didn't see anything wrong. A very careful inspection revealed that a piece of flexible stainless exhaust pipe that provided the connection between the turbocharger and the muffler had pulled out of the connector it was fitted into - there was a 1/16" gap between the end of the flex and the connector. The really strange part was that neither of the other two folks who were working with me, including the one who took the pictures I posted, ever heard the rumbling sound. Suffice it to say that I'm sold on the Pro-Ears.
The other thing I noticed was that after wearing them for about 3 hours straight, when I jumped on the tractor to load it on my trailer, I decided not to put them on, because I'd only be running it a couple minutes. I couldn't believe how loud it was, and even more so, that I've been using it for more than 80 hours and didn't really think too much about it. I was really tempted to put the headset back on for just the minute or so remaining while I loaded it. The Pro-Ears are now standard equipment, and so is an extra set of the 4 "N" batteries that it takes, even though they're supposed to last 250 hours - I want to be sure I'm not without them on the job.
I heard back from John at Shooter's Safety Products today. Here's the deal: He'll give everybody at TBN a 20% discount (that's 5% more than I got). Here's what you do to get the special price. You can order them one of two ways:
1) Call John at 724-628-2437 and tell him you want the "TBN price" on a pair of Pro-Ears.
2) Order them online at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.shooterssafetyproducts.com/ProEarsInfo.htm>this link</A>. This is the info page, and there's a link to the order page at the bottom. When you place the order, put "TBN" in the comments field, and he'll deduct the discount when he processes the order. Your discount will not show up in the online screen, but he will deduct it before your card is charged.
For what it's worth, I ordered the Pro-Mag model, which is a little heavier, but gives you 26db of noise reduction instead of 24db. I also ordered the Dimension 2, which you might want if you're going to hook a radio up to them, but the Dimension 1 is cheaper because it doesn't have the radio input jacks.
P.S. I just noticed hours after posting this message originally that the links didn't copy across. They're working now.
(From 3/28/02): After looking at all the different brands of active electronic noise suppression headsets, I've finally ordered a set. I anguished between the Peltor and the Ridgeline Pro-Mag Dimension 2 (picture on <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pro-ears.com/seriesmodel.html#top>this page</A>, second model from top) from Shooters Safety Products in PA. I selected the Pro-Ears model sight-unseen (or hearing-unheard, in this case) because: 1) They use Sound Compression technology instead of sound "clipping". They will amplify anything below 70db (from 0 to 8x in 4 levels), and reduce the level of anything above 72db. The net effect is that you can hear everything all the time, whereas clipping cuts everything off when a loud noise is present. 2) Independently adjustable volume, instead of a single volume adjustment 3) 5 year warranty, instead of 6 months 4) Howard Leight, a highly respected presence in the ear protection field, has licensed the Pro-Ears technology for use in their own headset. 5) 200 hour battery life instead of 50. 6) NRR of 26, instead of 24. So much for the theory. I should have them sometime next week, at which point I'll know how well they work in practice. An interesting sidelight is that the Dimension 2 has provision for radio input, so you can control its volume using the radio, and the volume of everything else with the volume control knobs on the headset. Sure would be cool for listening to a scanner at a NASCAR race...
(From 4/9/02): I got the Pro-Ears noise suppression headset and had a chance to try them out for several hours yesterday. It was a pretty good test, because I was doing some very heavy work with the EF-500 and Brush Brute. More on that later.
The Pro-Ears worked great! You can hear as much or as little of the ambient noise as you want by adjusting the amplification of the headset via a jumper inside the ear cup. This isn't as simple as it could be, and you need a small set of needle nose pliers to do it, but at least you can adjust it. Also, both ear cups are totally self-contained, so you have to do it twice, unless you want one hear to hear different things from the other - or have hearing loss in one ear, and need to set one ear different from the other.
Using these things is a really unique experience. At first, you get the feeling they aren't working, because you still hear everything. And I mean everything, even some stuff you couldn't hear without them, if you have the amplification feature turned on. This causes some strange sensations, but you get used to them quickly. For example, I was running over quite a bit of brush, and I could hear the bushes scrape along the bottom of the machine so well that I thought they were rubbing harder than they were. Several times, I got off the machine to check for damage because I could hear brush scraping sounds that I couldn't hear before, because they were drowned out by the engine and hydraulic system noises. You get used to that quickly, though, and I really like the idea of hearing everything so well - it could save some major damage to equipment if you have a habit of listening for strange sounds, like I do.
There are independent volume controls on the outside of each earcup - the typical knobs you're used to seeing on regular headphones - which also function as on/off switches. Again, you can adjust each ear independently. It's very important to understand that these controls are completely different from the amplification jumpers I mentioned earlier. The amplification jumpers control whether and how much very low volume sounds are boosted in volume, while the volume controls determine how loud everything sounds to you. If you turn the volume control off, that ear cup functions as a simple 26db noise-reduction muff. If you turn it on, sounds are played back to your ear at whatever volume you want. Obviously, this is in addition to whatever sound makes it through the 26db reduction of the padding.
There is no control over the noise damping function, nor do I think there should be. Anything over 72db gets damped, louder sounds more than softer ones. Obviously, anything that loud is going to make it through the padding, too, so you'd be able to hear it even if the internal system didn't transmit it at all, but it does anyway. I used them a few minutes with my Stihl 038 chain saw and they worked at least as well as the Stihl ear muffs I've got.
All of the above adds up to this: I'm very pleased with them. I don't like headsets, and I like ear plugs a lot less. But I particularly dislike losing my hearing. The headsets didn't give me the "stuffy" feeling that ear plugs do, and I was able to hear normal conversation easily, even while the tractor was loud. At first, I didn't think I was going to like them at all, but I quickly decided that they're standard equipment for me when using the machine. For me, the safety aspects of being able to hear what's going, or hearing somebody shouting, are more important than the safety aspects of losing my hearing, so I've been very reluctant to wear hearing protection while using equipment. Not any more. These are the perfect solution to the problem, in my opinion. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: I tried the Peltor noise reduction headsets at a sporting goods store over the weekend. It's not quite the same as the thorough thrashing I gave the Pro-Ears yesterday, but I didn't like them nearly as well. The main thing I disliked was that they cut out completely when you're exposed to a loud noise, so I think you'd be missing all the lower volume sounds, including safety related ones, most of the time, especially when operating at higher engine speeds.
(From 4/11/02):I've only been researching the noise reduction headsets for a couple weeks, but it's been a busy couple weeks. I've listened to three different kinds of active ("electronic") headsets, as well as compared them to passive types (plain old "muffs" and ear plugs), and I don't think anything else out there comes close to the Pro-Ears.
Here's another anecdote to add to my earlier review: Yesterday, during the land clearing project the pictures I posted yesterday were taken of, I was wearing the Pro-Ears and all of a sudden, when pushing a particularly large pile of dirt/brush/logs and climbing a pile of the same kind of stuff at the same time, I noticed a rumbling sound. So, I backed out of the pile, and looked everything over - I looked for a loose plate vibrating, stuff like that - but didn't find anything, so I went back to work. As soon as I started though, I heard the rumbling again, so I took the Pro-Ears off and then I couldn't hear it - or at least I wasn't sure I could still hear it. I thought maybe it was something strange about the Pro-Ears themselves, but I was certain I hadn't heard the rumbling sound earlier. So, I checked everything again - nothing. Went back to work, but it was still bugging me, so I stopped again. This time, I opened the hood, and started listening very carefully, cupping my hands over the microphones in the Pro-Ears, just like you'd do with your ears. I distinctly heard the sound more clearly and it was coming from the direction of the muffler, but I didn't see anything wrong. A very careful inspection revealed that a piece of flexible stainless exhaust pipe that provided the connection between the turbocharger and the muffler had pulled out of the connector it was fitted into - there was a 1/16" gap between the end of the flex and the connector. The really strange part was that neither of the other two folks who were working with me, including the one who took the pictures I posted, ever heard the rumbling sound. Suffice it to say that I'm sold on the Pro-Ears.
The other thing I noticed was that after wearing them for about 3 hours straight, when I jumped on the tractor to load it on my trailer, I decided not to put them on, because I'd only be running it a couple minutes. I couldn't believe how loud it was, and even more so, that I've been using it for more than 80 hours and didn't really think too much about it. I was really tempted to put the headset back on for just the minute or so remaining while I loaded it. The Pro-Ears are now standard equipment, and so is an extra set of the 4 "N" batteries that it takes, even though they're supposed to last 250 hours - I want to be sure I'm not without them on the job.
I heard back from John at Shooter's Safety Products today. Here's the deal: He'll give everybody at TBN a 20% discount (that's 5% more than I got). Here's what you do to get the special price. You can order them one of two ways:
1) Call John at 724-628-2437 and tell him you want the "TBN price" on a pair of Pro-Ears.
2) Order them online at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.shooterssafetyproducts.com/ProEarsInfo.htm>this link</A>. This is the info page, and there's a link to the order page at the bottom. When you place the order, put "TBN" in the comments field, and he'll deduct the discount when he processes the order. Your discount will not show up in the online screen, but he will deduct it before your card is charged.
For what it's worth, I ordered the Pro-Mag model, which is a little heavier, but gives you 26db of noise reduction instead of 24db. I also ordered the Dimension 2, which you might want if you're going to hook a radio up to them, but the Dimension 1 is cheaper because it doesn't have the radio input jacks.
P.S. I just noticed hours after posting this message originally that the links didn't copy across. They're working now.