Protect Your Hearing While Mowing the Lawn

Spring is in full swing, and with it comes a long list of outdoor chores. In addition to cleaning out the gutters, painting the fence, and tending to the garden, we bet one item on every homeowner’s list is mowing the lawn. Before you put on your favorite ball cap and crank up your mower, be aware of the effects this springtime chore can have on your ears.

Not only is the noise mowers make displeasing to the ear, it can actually cause damage to your hearing. Most lawn care workers understand that protecting their ears from all those noisy motors is an occupational necessity; however, many homeowners and teenagers mowing lawns for summer jobs may not think to wear ear protection.

Gas-powered mowers can produce anywhere from 90-106 decibels (dB) of sound, and these levels of noise can be harmful. Even 85 dB may cause damage to your ears with prolonged exposure, surpassing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for permissible sound levels over an 8-hour day. With every increase of 5 dB, those permissible hours are reduced by half (so 90dB for only 4 hours). In addition, if you are standing arms distance from a person and must shout to be heard, it’s possible this competing noise can also cause auditory damage. The same goes for leaf blowers and power tools.

Many people listen to music with earbuds while mowing and must increase the volume level much louder than normal to hear the music over the equipment noise. This provides constant and harmful exposure from two sources rather than just one.

Here’s what you can do to prevent hearing damage this spring:

• Remind friends and family to wear protective ear-gear or headphones when working in any noisy environment.
• Strictly limit the continuous exposure of dB levels above 85-90 and keep iPod levels low – no more than 60% of their max volume.

Remember these tips to protect your hearing at all costs this spring, and happy mowing!