Question Ear Damage from Printers

[Notarealsignguy]

I'm not gonna give my opinion, until I hear what Robert has to say about listening. Maybe you've all gone overboard with your listening lessons. For me, I just shut the door to my office and the loudest thing I hear.......... is air.

Hot air? You talking to yourself again?

 

[ewded]

I'm not gonna give my opinion, until I hear what Robert has to say about listening. Maybe you've all gone overboard with your listening lessons. For me, I just shut the door to my office and the loudest thing I hear.......... is air.

 

[Baz]

Quickest solution for you is either ear plugs or noise cancelling headphones.

 

[Pewter0000]

I've got ear ringing since long before working in the shop. I sit beside our XR and I don't find that it makes it worse, but I do find that the shop noises (printers, fans, take-up roller, radio, phonecalls...) can get grating when I'm trying to design, etc. Sometimes I do wear headphones without music just to tone everything down a bit. At the end of the day, sometimes I enjoy my commute home in silence.

You should go to a specialist and get an ear check. I did that, and found out my tinnitus comes from a jaw problem. Do you chew gum/clench your jaw or grind your teeth? If you're curious, try going on a soft food diet for a week or so. The lack of chewing/grinding, combined with jaw massage at night, 100% removed my tinnitus (of course, it came back, because I like to eat lots of different kinds of foods!)

 

[GAC05]

I'm not going to lie. At times when printing overnight I will lay down right in front of the takeup reel and the running printer would put me to sleep (maybe it was just the eco-sol fumes). When it finished the silence would wake me up for the next run.
I got early training when my mom and dad would load us kids up into the back of a station wagon and drive at night from California to Las Vegas for a weekend of gambling & drinking. Had to go at night - no AC.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

(1) i think you were a lot more fun in the first post

(2). there are all sorts of ear. protection that let you avoid hearing damage.
(no, i never used them, even when i went shooting)

(1) Thank you!
(2) I was trying to think of an out-side-the box suggestion. Obviously some ear protection would be the first suggestion, I figured many would offer that advice up. Maybe the earphones, ear covers, ear plugs, ear muffs whathave you - won't work because they have to answer the phone, or as also mentioned you gotta talk to the people your working with. Absorbent sound panels really can help cut out certain sounds and frequencies if strategically placed.
I don't know that it's a realistic solution to the OP, but it's a genuine suggestion.

+1 for the peeps that pointed out the what could be tinnitus, and could just get worse if you don't protect those eardrums.

We have an XR-640, it's right by my desk.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

there are special videos on YouTube that you can listen to that really do help with tinnitus. Ear plugs are uncomfortable for long periods for me so I wear big earmuffs

 

[astro8]

Are your ears actually ringing or can you still hear the printers when you go home?

When I was 'the print guy' I could hear the printers in my head for hours after I went home, until I passed that job onto others.

Now all I hear is the routers, lasers, spray booth, dust extractor etc etc and when not hearing that, my tinnitus fills in the voids.

I remember driving across the Nullabor, hundreds of miles from any man-made noise, pulling over, jumping out and all I could hear was my heartbeat and the ants crawling around on the ground. The silence really was deafening. My ears were ringing.

Those foam earplugs are good for blocking out unwanted sound but allow you to still hear others speaking to you.

 

[MJ-507]

Can you still hear normal conversation? I need to hear/answer student questions when the lab is in full production mode.

With the noise-cancelling enabled, it can be difficult but it's still possible to hear people talk. The ANC works, in my opinion, to block out the background noises like machinery power tools, etc. but not direct noises like someone talking to you and you can always turn off the ANC or take them off completely when you need to have a discussion. I typically wear mine w/o ANC (just music or TV or whatnot) and I can definitely hear fine enough to have discussions w/ co-workers but the droning background noise of the fabrication equipment fades away to almost nothing.

 

[rjssigns]

With the noise-cancelling enabled, it can be difficult but it's still possible to hear people talk. The ANC works, in my opinion, to block out the background noises like machinery power tools, etc. but not direct noises like someone talking to you and you can always turn off the ANC or take them off completely when you need to have a discussion. I typically wear mine w/o ANC (just music or TV or whatnot) and I can definitely hear fine enough to have discussions w/ co-workers but the droning background noise of the fabrication equipment fades away to almost nothing.

Thank you for answering my question.

 

[Z SIGNS]

Put in some ear plugs and get back to work.

 

[karst41]

Hi Guys,

I work in very close p[roximity to a couple of printers an HP 365 and a Roland XR.

These can be going for hours a day and I've noticed that my ears will be ringing at the end of the day.

Does anybody have any advice, information or recommendations on what is safe for your hearing?

TIA
Roto

I do not think you will wear headphones all day, and these machines are not that loud.
But 8-14 hours every day, is death of a thousand cuts to your ears.

I agree with the musician, you just need to dampen the room.
Offices have shut down and there is a glut of office furniture.
Get you some Cubical dividers that they use in call centers.
You will need maybe 4. Open gap the front, as you need toes the printer
You are Done prob solved?

If noise is reverberating from the back wall to ceiling them buy the eggshell audio foam
45 deg the wall ceiling with this and or call a company like SweetWater (Musical)
Ask for Pro Audio. These guys will tell you exactly what to get.

You can also use 2" x18" x 18" boxes and pattern those on the walls.
Use a contrasting color and you will flatten the room and will look very cool.
Web Search recording studio images.


Cheers

 

[GranceSuth]

I fully agree that headphones won't help you much. You rather need to install the printer in a locker or purchase a divider. This will help to remove some of the sound.

 

[HendersonClaire]

I totally agree that headphones won't help you much. They will certainly absorb the nasty sound of the printer, but it is almost impossible to work in them for a long time. At the end of the working day, you will still suffer from ear pain.

 

[SoniaEllison]

I myself tried to work with headphones, but I could only stand a week of such work. My ears were very sore in the evenings. Rather, you need to install the printer in a locker or purchase a divider. This will help to remove some of the sounds, as the wood this furniture is made of absorbs sounds. An excellent solution would be to glue the inside with a cork since it is a natural sound insulation. I've recently ordered some furniture for my home office on https://www.office-furniture.com.au/. I liked the quality of the furniture, I hope it will last me more than a couple of years. Maybe try to find something for yourself on this site.