The key facts

  • A chainsaw produces noise of 100–115 dB — the level of a jackhammer or a rock concert
  • Trimmers and lawn mowers are dangerous during hours-long work due to the cumulative effect
  • Ringing in the ears after working at the plot is a signal that safe exposure levels have been exceeded

Garden equipment as a factor in hearing loss

In autumn, when dacha owners prepare their plots for winter, garden equipment becomes a real risk factor for hearing, warned audiologist and founder of the SlyshuVizhu hearing aid centers Nikita Dikopoltsyev in a comment to Gazeta.Ru. According to him, during autumn work — lawn mowing, sawing and shredding branches — a person receives an intense dose of hearing strain over a short period, and problems may appear immediately or accumulate from season to season.

Noise levels and the cumulative effect

The specialist explained the danger of autumn cleanup by a combination of two factors: high noise intensity and its duration. A chainsaw, when sawing dead wood or preparing firewood, generates sound at a level of 100–115 dB — comparable to a jackhammer or a rock concert. Trimmers and lawn mowers, including gasoline-powered ones, sound quieter, but when used for several hours in a row their effect accumulates. The audiologist separately highlighted garden waste shredders, which are gaining popularity on plots: they add a high-frequency component that is especially aggressive to hearing receptors.

How to reduce the risk

The specialist named the basic rule as using earplugs or protective headphones when working with any motorized tool — according to him, this measure should become as mandatory as safety goggles. He also recommended taking breaks: resting in silence reduces the total daily noise dose and allows reversible changes — a temporary rise in the hearing threshold and a feeling of fullness in the ears — to pass. According to the expert, ringing in the ears after a day at the plot is a sign that safe exposure levels have been exceeded; if it does not go away within several days, that is a reason to see a specialist.

Context

Earlier, according to Gazeta.Ru, the same expert, in a separate article, explained who is at risk when using noise-canceling headphones. No quantitative data on hearing loss among dacha owners were reported in the publication.