On a related note I finally got around to looking at the latest issue of Wood Magazine and they had an article on hearing protection. It seems that most hearing protection knocks about up to 30 db from machine noise. I think it is even less than that, as the article mentions, in real life applications and depending on the fit of the protection, etc. I had questions from that article – if I am running a planer that generates 100+ db, it seems that hearing protection is not going to prevent some hearing loss.

Also, I am very interested in the issue of noise because living in a residential neighborhood, like most hobbyist woodworkers, I am interested in reducing noise. However, it is very hard to find noise ratings when shopping for machinery. Hopefully one day your efforts in raising awareness will generate that kind of information by the manufacturers or someone will keep a database. I am hoping that some day a product reviewer will use decibel levels as a criterion for rating a product. I know you sort of referenced it when reviewing a sprayer, a tidbit of info I picked up on and remembered. Keep up the good work – Tom.

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