How Loud Is Your Job?

I was just wondering what everyone does for work and how loud it is and what you do to cope with it.

And if you don't mind, could you let me know if running a chainsaw all day is stupid or not, with hearing protection of course.

 

I work for a renovator. There are power tools involved. For a while I figured as long as I protected my ears with these great ear muffs I would be fine. What I have learned though is though I am protected my ears from further noise damage, I am isolating my brain from outside noise. What happens then is my brain is like hey, where is all the natural sounds of the world? Its starved for some stimulus so then it acts on my T and it ultimately makes my T worse. Its similar I think to when people get T from hearing loss. If you cant hear anything because you have the muffs on then the T spikes. Hope that makes sense. I tried anyway right? I dont think running a chainsaw is stupid because we gotta pay bills but your not doing yourself any favors. Do you notice when you take the muffs off tha you are super sensative to noise aka hypercusis? Im looking for a job that I dont have to wear muffs anymore. WHen I have a few days with them off my T seems to chill a little.
Good luck Jake.

 

My t gets impossible loud when I have to plug my ears, I only plug them when I have to fire up the chainsaw, I don't plug them out and about. Sometimes sounds seem louder than they should but it's not to much of a problem. I wish I could find a quieter job to, but the pay cut would be to drastic. Thanks for your reply willpowered.

 

My office (more of a control room) is kind of loud. There are some old servers in the room and there are industrial steam pipes just above the ceiling tiles. It's ~65 db which isn't too loud, but sitting in it all day really bothers my ears with my hyperacusis so I wear hearing plugs almost all day. It's also some high frequency noise which I kind of doubt the db readings on. There are some areas I have to go into that are probably around 70-80db, I always wear hearing plugs. There is one area where I have to go into infrequently (maybe twice a month or so) that's a constant 95db of some lowish tones (not bass but think of a huge compressor in a small room). It really feels like more than 95db. I double up on the best hearing protection when going into that area and try to keep my time in there at a minimum, but I still don't like it. It's low enough and loud enough that I'm sure there's some bone conduction going on.

@Jake007
Do you have hyperacusis too? I would for sure double up on the best earplugs and ear muffs you can if you are running a chainsaw. I think that a gas powered chainsaw would be too loud for me even with double protection.
Like you my tinnitus gets much louder when I put earplugs in, and it doesn't seem like it's just from blocking out sound because it doesn't seem to be as bad when I put earmuffs on. If I have a lot of noise exposure that day even while protecting my hearing as much as I can my tinnitus will be louder in the evening and the next day.

Work caused my tinnitus and hyperacusis, and I completely understand wishing you could get a quieter job. I feel stuck too, but I have bills to pay.

 

At times sounds seems louder than they should, and I get this overwhelming feeling when around a lot of noise, like a restaurant or things like that. My ears don't hurt, but it's just very uncomfortable. My work truck is a constant 65 to 70db, for ten hours. I don't plug up for that, I don't know if I should be? I get scared to death when I have to make a lot of long constant cuts. My ent says my T didn't come from the chainsaw. But I've also been doing this for 17 years. My right ear is ok. So I don't get it. My t floats to it sometimes but nothing like my bad ear. But with plugs in its insane. I can hear it over the chainsaw. It sucks we are stuck, but as you said, we have to pay bills and find a way to live.

 

I work on web software for a large multinational corporation. I live 500 miles from my office.

Excluding the four times a year that I travel to the office, this is my work environment:

http://i.imgur.com/78n3H1f.jpg

 

Wow i am so jealous!! A short journey to your job and a nice view!!

 

it's pretty great. It's not quite as quiet as you might imagine though because it turns out that tiny babies are basically 24/7 100db noisemakers

 

I don't know how your ENT can be sure it was not the chainsaw. Chainsaws are loud and with unprotected use over long periods of time I would expect it to do some hearing damage.

 

In my job I might have to use chainsaws but most of the time I use a crosscut saw. Today it was super windy and I started thinking is the wind too loud? T is making me paranoid. My advice would be to double up on ear pro also get a helmet equipt with earmuffs. Keep on keep in on Sawyer.

 

I always have used protection when running a chainsaw and chipper. I won't even dare go near the chipper.

 

It makes me paranoid to, having the window cracked driving down the highway, I'm like is this bad?

 

Daaamn! nice view, can you land me a job there, I'm also a software engineer and I've had enough with my 1 and a half hours commute hahah. Regards.

 

Hello Jake !

Do you have to use the chainsaw everyday at your work ?

Otherwise, after a work day, do you feel having spikes or not ?

 

Yeah I have to use a chainsaw, but the chipper is worse for me. Yeah it gives me spikes, the last one lasted well over a week. I try to use them as less as possible.

 

It gives you spikes even when you protect yourself with earmuffs ?

 

It gives me spikes even doubling up with plugs and muffs.

 

Could you change the way you work ?

To be more in a office or with less loud machines ?

 

I can't afford a pay cut, I'm stuck for now. I'll figure something out eventually.

 

I hope you will find a way !

And how is life with your son and wife ?

Can you enjoy happiness with them ?

 

In the beginning it was bad, it's gotten better though. I just wish we could still do the things that we used to.

 

depending on your skillset and what you're looking for, maybe? We do have some openings on my team, which are potentially open to remote workers. If you want to PM me here with more details about the technologies you enjoy working with, we can go from there