How loud is it in the truck when you are driving?

The doctor thinks it was damaged from the noise of the truck as it is my left ear that has lost the most. I was told it was probably from having the driver's side window down all the time. I have taken to wearing soft ear plugs when I drive now.

 

Crank up the jam....you won't notice the truck!!!

 

Well in my old Freightshaker, it was about the volume of a good redneck roadhouse on payday Friday...... minus the bar fight of course.

 

It really is not that loud at all in a modern truck. older rigs would have less insulation and rattle a bit more, but new ones really are comfortable and drive quite nicely.

I drive a Peterbilt 379 day cab with exhaust mounted to the cab, only on the passenger side. no worries.

 

My truck has the exhaust mounted on the side of the cab right next to the windows and yet....It's very quiet.
I don't like a lot of wind noise so I run with my windows up all the time but if you have a decent muffler the exhaust shouldnt make much noise!

As far as not attaching to the cab or the frame....What do you plan on mounting it to?
It's got to attach to something and that's usually the cab or the frame.

 

I mounted my deer whistles on my Turbo 3000 along side my Tornado air supercharger.

 

I'm from an aviation background where data is important and health and safety are a religion. Everybody wears hearing protection. When I came into trucking I noticed nobody wears hearing protection and all of the old timers are deaf or going deaf.

I'm not clear on the legality of wearing ear plugs and this is a public forum so I'm not going to recommend or admit to wearing ear plugs in a commercial vehicle. But if I experimented with a dozen or more different brands of ear plugs I'd probably discover that the AOSafety Sleep/Rest Ear plugs are the most comfortable for long-duration wear. Just Google "AOSafety Sleep/Rest Ear plugs" and "earplug superstore". I hear they are a reliable source.

All of the other foam ear plugs a hypothetical driver has tried are OK for short periods but their coarse texture will irritate the ear canal pretty quickly. The hypothetical driver recommends that whatever ear plugs you try, roll them tightly between your fingers, moisten them with a little lick so they are lightly lubricated, and insert them a small bit into the ear canal. It may take days, weeks, or months before you feel comfortable wearing them all day. Always take them out when crossing the scales just in case DOT wouldn't want you wearing them.

The hypothetical drivers says he can listen to the am/fm, CB, and other audio sources at a slightly lower volume while wearing ear plugs since the engine and wind noise is greatly reduced, but not eliminated. The hypothetical driver says the biggest benefit is to be noticed when driving in heavy rain. Without ear plugs you may not be able to hear the radios. With ear plugs you may hear little or no rain noise.

Walk into any driver's lounge with a TV operating and tell me if truck drivers are losing their hearing. There are 2 basic ways to go deaf hear a very loud noise for a short time or a moderately loud noise for a long time. Truck driving will destroy your hearing, even a Volvo. You are in the elevated noise environment for 1-2 dozen hours per day, almost every day for years. Notice, I didn't dispute one truck might be quieter than another truck or that modern trucks are quieter than older trucks. None of those things contradict the fact that even modern and more quiet trucks or brands of trucks will eventually cause permanent hearing loss. Notice also the fact there are drivers that don;t recognize their hearing loss yet doesn't mean their hearing loss isn't present. Most drivers I work with have the am/fm or CB so loud that when they park and idle I can hear their radio while I'm outside of their truck, say parked next to them.

One way to tell if you are in a higher noise environment is do you have to raise your voice to be heard in that environment. Sit in your truck with the engine off and play the radio at a low volume, not so low you have to strain to hear, but low enough to be heard and then start the engine. You will need to turn up the volume to overcome the engine noise. The wind noise is probably just as loud or louder.

The hypothetical driver says he can hear sirens, horns, etc better while wearing properly inserted ear pugs than without. You're the captain of your truck and you will be held responsible so make your decisions accordingly.

 

Here is a link to a study discussed at the FMCSA web site.

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/tb99-001.pdf

One thing confirmed what I remember reading years ago. Most trucks are louder than drivers expect, loud noise is something you get used to over time.

The study at the link above indicates the average sound level in the CMVs tested was at 89 dB which is at the threshold for the OSHA definition of "loud". Add to this the fact you will be exposed to that sound level, plus whatever audio you add, for many hours, and most days out of the year.

The link above is pretty basic and only 4 pages. If you are busy just read the last 2 pages to see the conclusions and recommendations. If you don't protect your hearing you will lose it driving a truck. It's been my personal experience and my observation that many drivers already have significant hearing loss but don't recognize it for 2 reasons; they work alone so they can "turn up" the volume to compensate and as hearing is lost they just turn it up a little more. That will creep up and up before you recognize how much louder you are playing the radio than you used to. My volvo's radio shows a number for the volume control so I can see if I'm increasing the volume. Other radios just increase the sound and there is no way to objectively see an inching up of the volume over time. The second reason many drivers miss earlier stages of hearing loss is drivers are mostly around other drivers who also have hearing loss so nothing they are doing seems out of place in the people they are temporarily around.

Try this when you get home. Have a spouse or child, especially a younger child pre-ipod, turn on the TV and turn the volume to a low but comfortable setting and see if the truck driver in the family can hear the TV as easily.

Many experienced drivers confuse a modern truck that is quieter than older trucks with a truck that is quiet. The new trucks are not quiet, even if they are much much quieter than older trucks. Even a new Volvo sleeper truck will steal your hearing, it will just take longer than some older truck. I'm sure almost nobody in trucking has had a real hearing test in a very long time, if ever. If you think people are mumbling or you are regularly asking people to repeat things it's almost certain you have early stages of hearing loss. The truth is if you lived on a deserted island you will have hearing loss as you age, the little hair cells in your ear do "die" over time. But the total amount and the level of sound over your life will accelerate that hearing loss. Ear plugs are cheap and effective. You can re-use the very comfortable AOSafety Sleep/Rest ear plugs for a week per pair if you don't lose them. They are mich cheaper and convenient than even the best hearing aid.

If you do start wearing ear plugs expect they will become uncomfortable over time until they become second nature. That's why the hypothetical driver recommends the very soft and very comfortable AOSafety Sleep/Rest ear plugs with a 31 dB noise reduction ratings. He also recommends the novice user only insert them a slight distance into the ear canal until they become second nature. The more they are inserted into the ear canal they more noise they reduce, but that increases the chances of them feeling uncomfortable until your ear canal is accustomed to wearing them. All other brands and even other sleep/rest ear plugs are stiffer and become uncomfortable, in the hypothetical driver's opinion.

The hypothetical driver has no financial or business interest in the specific brand/model/source of the ear plugs mentioned. He is recommending them as a short circuit to the right answer so you don't have to waste time and money doing the experiments. He has already experimented with all of the E.A.R. brand ear plugs, as wells as all model ear plugs sold at Wal Mart and the national drug stores. None of them are as comfortable as the recommended ear plugs. Please don't try some random brand, find those ear pugs uncomfortable, and then conclude all brands are too uncomfortable to wear. Every month or so I find another brand or ear plugs that look identical to the AOSafety Sleepr/Rest plugs, except for the color, and those alternatives always turn out to be too stiff to wear for expended periods. I don't look for alternatives any more.

I buy these plugs for about $1/pair and can get 1 week of use per pair. That's cheap and it's cheaper than any hearing aid.

 

Great info....after many years flying freight and sleeping in a bunkroom (adjacent to a hanger, with air-tool use, rivet bucking, etc) I came very much to the same conclusion on quality earplugs. One thing that I found works well (when sleeping) is the use the in-ear type (like many skull candy ones at bestbuy, etc) of ear-buds with the rubber seal around them...it will block out the noise, and also give you something to listen to on an i-pod when you try to sleep. Quality units sound great...and come with 3 different sets of rubber seals...S, M, and L....if you ear feels uncomfortable...switch to the smaller, and it is great.

Short of wearing an full set of ear-muff style hearing protectors with Active Noise Reduction (ANR), like the BOSE quiet comfort, you can find a good combo that works for days, and nights...and keep your hearing.
My personal suggestion if I were an Owner Operator would be to add maybe $100 worth of soundproofing...a product like Lizard Skin, which is sprayed onto a surface, and drys hard like bed-liner....simpler application than dynamt, and could even be applied to the underside of the cab!! it might add 20 pounds...but the extra quietness, and the added thermal insulation would be a big plus!!
For an company driver...ear-plugs, and quality in-ear ear-buds will do wonders, especially in a team situation!!

In ear is the style you want...for noise stopping
"brands like Sennheiser, Etymotic, Shure, Denon, Sony, and Skullcandy. Some fit deep into the ear canal and provide the best isolation, while some are shallower and provide less, but still substantial, noise blocking. In ear headphones not only sound very good, but they also help ensure safe listening because they isolate extremely well and you don't need to play your music too loudly to overcome noisy environments. Most in ear headphones come with a variety of different sizes and materials of ear tips, and it's important to experiment to find the tips that works best for you."