Motorsport Composite Fundamentals: Hearing Protection
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Hearing Protection
03.27
| 00:00 | Our hearing is almost as critical to our everyday lives as our eyesight. |
| 00:04 | And while not necessary for every practical task in the construction of composites, hearing protection is imperative with the use of noisy power tools. |
| 00:13 | Hearing damage is cumulative and the risk really depends on the noise level, the distance from the source of the noise and how long we're exposed. |
| 00:21 | This means that damage may not necessarily be apparent immediately, but over time can end up affecting our hearing with partial or complete hearing loss. |
| 00:31 | There are plenty of fabricators, engineers and mechanics that have learned this lesson the hard way later in life, at which point it's too late. |
| 00:40 | It's for that reason that we should be prepared with hearing protection. |
| 00:43 | Industry standards suggest that a noise level of 85 decibels is the point where we need to have hearing protection fitted. |
| 00:50 | If this noise level rises to over 100 decibels, then we put ourselves in real danger of doing permanent damage. |
| 00:57 | A good example of what creates 85 decibels is a cordless angle grinder switching on. |
| 01:03 | Once grinding and cutting, this decibel level can easily exceed over 110 decibels. |
| 01:09 | Of course, there's no sense in putting ourselves at risk and it's always advisable to err on the side of caution. |
| 01:16 | One of the tricky parts to understand about the decibel scale is that it's logarithmic rather than being linear. |
| 01:22 | This means, for example, that a 20 decibel sound is not twice as loud as a 10 decibel sound, it's 100 times louder. |
| 01:30 | This means that even the seemingly small changes in a decibel rating can actually result in vastly different noise levels. |
| 01:38 | For composite related jobs, this mostly concerns trimming, cutting and drilling cured parts as finishing touches. |
| 01:44 | Electric hand drills and die grinders with cut -off discs tend to be the go-to for these jobs, although we might incorporate orbital sanders and angle grinders as well at times. |
| 01:54 | The two most common types of air protection are air plugs and air muffs or air defenders as they're also known. |
| 02:01 | Air plugs, also known as earbuds, are small soft plugs that you insert into your ears and, if effectively positioned, can reduce the noise by over 25 decibels. |
| 02:11 | The most effective earbuds are those which are custom made to suit your outer air canal and secured with a headband. |
| 02:16 | They're useful for the majority of noise emitted from fabrication processes and work with composites, but not all. |
| 02:24 | They're also comfortable to wear and relatively unintrusive. |
| 02:27 | Air muffs have a similar effect but are placed over the ears. |
| 02:30 | These are available in a number of different ratings and reduce noise levels by over 30 decibels. |
| 02:36 | If you work in a communal workshop, it's a good idea to have your earbuds in your ears at all times and then double those up with earmuffs when you're cutting, grinding and hammering. |
| 02:47 | These will protect you from noise generated by others that you might not be expecting. |
| 02:51 | In summary, hearing protection is critical when working with power tools on cured parts. |
| 02:56 | Noise level, the distance from that noise and exposure time all lead to cumulative hearing damage. |
| 03:01 | While earmuffs arguably reduce noise levels more effectively than earbuds, either is better than nothing and it mostly comes down to comfort and practicality. |
| 03:10 | Both solutions allow you to reduce or completely eliminate the damage you'd be doing to your hearing if you were to go without them. |
| 03:17 | It's a great idea to have these placed with your eye protection in various locations around your garage or workshop. |
