The very best hearing protection

[indy2tall]

For those of you who want the very best, this is what you want. These will probably knock 45 to 50 decibels off outside noise. Many of you have bought the Shure earbuds to listen to music while mowing and those by themselves will be OK for almost everyone. These are made to attach to the end of your Shure earbuds or other high end earbuds and are the type of plugs most rock musicians use on stage. They are custom molded to your ear canal by an audiologist (ear doctor) and will run in the area of $100 to $140. With these in your ear you can listen to music at a normal volume and you will not even hear your mower at all. They are practically indestructible so you will only need to buy them once. Both right and left plugs are in the picture with one shown attached to an earbud.

[LawnBrother]

Hey, thanks for posting that, I have been wanting something exactly like those but didn't know they existed.

[HighGrass]

Okay...what do you do with the cords? Don't they get caught on stuf like branches and stuff?

[jmurphy]

Originally Posted by HighGrass

Okay...what do you do with the cords? Don't they get caught on stuf like branches and stuff?

I run the cords under my shirt.

[Idealtim]

eventually the headphone itself will wear out and get scratchy though. But I trust you know what your talking about and if I was on a mower as much as some of you are, I would buy them to.

[jt5019]

I like to be able to hear my mowers just a little bit just incase something isnt running right or about to break or i run over something i can hear the difference.

[eruuska]

Up until a couple weeks ago I was using Stihl muffs and if I wanted to listen to music I'd use my iPod buds under them. They always popped loose due to sweat or just bouncing around. Now I use those foam earplugs and an inexpensive set of noise reducing headphones. MUCH less outside noise. I too was concerned about not hearing the mower properly, but I can hear changes in engine noise as long as I'm paying attention. Plus they're much more comfortable.

Foam plugs I've been using provide 29 dB reduction, versus the Stihl muffs at about 22 or 24 (if I remember correctly).

[ed2hess]

Isn't it a safety problem if you can't hear anything while you are mowing. And what if the engine runs low on oil, normally you could hear the valves pinging.

[eruuska]

Define "safety issue". I think it's a safety issue to screw up my hearing. If you check the oil regularly you should never run low. I can hear changes in mower tone, for example I can tell if I've got a bit of plastic bag on one of my blades, and if there is some serious malfunction I'd be able to hear it.

[tacoma200]

Originally Posted by ed2hess

Isn't it a safety problem if you can't hear anything while you are mowing. And what if the engine runs low on oil, normally you could hear the valves pinging.

Yes it can be dangerous with or without protection. The sound of the motor alone can keep you from hearing cars, people, etc without hearing protection. With hearing protection (with or without tunes playing) you have to learn to use you eyes and be very vigilant about what's going on around you. No matter which way you do it your hearing is impacted and you must use other senses to compensate. Hearing protection is not really an option if you care about your long term hearing. So with or without music your are in more danger and must rely on vision more. I use an MP3 with Sony Futopia ear buds with a 30 db noise reduction set of Bilsom cans when I want to listen to music. But if I'm in a dangerous area I just use foam ear plugs. I did hear of a teen walking in front of a bus while listening to his ipod so it can definitely be dangerous. But no matter which way I do it my hearing will be affected and I must be very conscious of whats going on around me.