Thread: Protect the ears from timber dust

As a matter od course I wear ear muffs when using my machinery. The only exception is the lathe as I like to hear the sound of the tool on timber to indicate if (or more accurately when) things aren't quite right.

Dunno Greg, your doctors theory as to how the condition occurred sounds suspect to me. Woodfast lathes run rather quietly, and dust extractors are also fairly quiet. Now if you were using an angle grinder for an extended period cutting rio or roof iron then perhaps, and your dust extractor picks up the dust down to about 25 microns, and the minuscule amount of smaller particles exhaled from the DC bag would be pretty unlikely to gather in you ear canal in such quantities as to cause infection. Water left in the ear canal after swimming of having a shower etc is the main culprit for ear infections leading to perforated drums. No charge for my on-line consultation. Dr Pariss

Pariss

Its not the sound of the machines that cause it. It is the microns of dust from the timber floating around the air and entering the ear that can cause an infection. Chemicals and various saps (acidic, etc) contained in the dust entering the ear and causing an infection which weakens the ear drum and then it is easy to perforate it. However, I will give up swimming in water holes and taking showers so you will be able to tell when I get near your house in a couple of months. Leave the deoderant on the doorstep

I found this somewhat surprising but I just did a google search and found 141,000 hits of +"wood dust" +"ear infections" -asthma (if the -asthma is not there it is >300,000!)

But a search for "causes of ear infection" +"wood dust" only yields 5 hits

So I'm not convinced it causes a problem but perhaps exacerbates an existing problem.

Greg's Dr. is right. A buildup of dust irritates the lining of your ear canal and causes an infection. Like Greg said, the ear drum also becomes infected and self-perforates. I've seen a few, especially in patients where they work in an environment where metal is ground. Seen ENT Dr's use magnets in this scenario before. Weird.

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Pariss

Its not the sound of the machines that cause it. It is the microns of dust from the timber floating around the air and entering the ear that can cause an infection. Chemicals and various saps (acidic, etc) contained in the dust entering the ear and causing an infection which weakens the ear drum and then it is easy to perforate it. However, I will give up swimming in water holes and taking showers so you will be able to tell when I get near your house in a couple of months. Leave the deoderant on the doorstep

Well, that sounds feasable mate !. Anyway, use you condition to the MAX, no lawn mowing or whipper snipping, no having to take the misses to noisey shopping centers, no noisey dish washing or potato mashing. Most important, no listening to harping or nagging !. Get well soon mate.

Damn. Does that mean I can not use the excuse that I have wax in my ears and can not hear the missus.

I have a trouble with accepting that the risk for dust to cause these problems in your ears to be high, the risk of wearing ear protection that then limits your hearing, would be far more dangerous for a wood lathe IMHO. That split second you have when you first hear that minute change in noise before you see that ~10kg lump or chisel flying past year ear can save your life

Plantagenon, are you a fulltime woodworker and spend all day in the workshop or is your exposure time less than that? How many years have you been woodworking. How long do you think there was something wrong with your ear drum?

Gary

Have to agree with Neil, blocking out the sound while turning is something I don't like. Have to hear the chisel cutting the timber clearly and the lathe as well.

I got a little foam earplug that will stop dust getting in but I can still hear, albeit reduced a bit. Still, my hearing is reduced at th moment anyway until it heals. I just can't afford to get dust into the perforation although I really don't know a lot about the medical aspects of it. Anyway, time will heal it.

Ear Ear !

Wish it was hear hear. My right ear is a bit deaf from rifle shooting (.308" long range competition shooting many years ago at Belmont rifle range). The drops the doctor has given me are working for my left ear but feel like a wad of wax in the ear. TV is turned up to almost max volume

[QUOTE=plantagenon; My right ear is a bit deaf from rifle shooting (.308" long range competition shooting many years ago at Belmont rifle range.

Yeah Greg, I know how you feel. I was a keen trap / skeet shooter using Beretta under & over shotguns for quite a few years. Re-the expelled dust. I have a list of all the bad woods, and I wear a dust mask as well when doing pens with these woods.