I remember a picture in Trains magazine from probably the early 90's that showed the conductor of a I believe a Wisconsin Central locomotive wearing a David Clark radio headset. This always seemed like a blindingly obvious answer to both hearing damage and effective communications. Is there any reason other that cost that kept this from becoming SOP?

On diesel: Personally, I wouldn’t use anything that covered my ears like a headphone style headset in the cab. Half our moves are backing moves and I need to be able to hear what the guy in the left hand seat has say as he’s basically my blind spot spotter. He would need to be plugged in to both me and the radio for that to be considered and his comments don’t need to be transmitted to others elsewhere in the crew.

On steam: Never ran one but as I understand it, listening to and hearing how the engine is working is pretty important in how you run it. If you were isolated from the sounds you should be listening to, you’re gonna have a hard time running. Same as above, you need to be able to talk to you firemen outside of the radio chatter.

BC Rail also had radio headsets for crews. That ended after the CN takeover.

New GE locomotives come with a headphone jack built into the speakers above both the engineer's and conductor's seats. It would seem that cost is indeed the only obstacle to their use.

A few guys at work have bought noise-cancelling headphones, but these may run afoul of the ban on personal electronic devices while at work, so if caught with one you could possibly be subject to discipline and/or dismissal, just like if you had been caught using your cellphone.

I don't wear earplugs while outside switching (I need to hear the handheld radio and other ambient noises) or while in newer soundproofed locomotives, but I do in older units with loud cabs.

I recently rode around with a switch crew on the Denver Rock Island, a small switching RR near me. They were using headphones for their radio communications, which also cut out most ambient sounds. It seemed to work pretty well, since they just have two man crews. (Sometimes you just have to get up out of your comfortable seat, and go look out the window on your blind side.)

Disclaimer: I came into this world already seriously hearing-impaired; I need powerful hearing aids to be functional (not the hidden ones in your ear canal).

Years ago, I managed to snap up a set of Sony noise-cancelling stereo monitor headphones, designed for use in a concert mixing-board environment, for essentially nothing (the pawn shop had no idea what they had--price at that time was around $450). In addition to listening to music, I used them for monitoring radio scanner traffic within a 30,000-person convention and a 12,000-person rock concert. I let other security staffers listen to what was coming in over my personal scanner and those headphones, and it was like watching those clips of a child with a cochlear implant hearing for the first time--"OH, MY, GOD, I NEED THOSE!!!! NOW!!!!!!" Even the best Motorola headsets came nowhere near the audio quality. For me, it was the difference between being able to understand the communication or not; for them, as one said, "It's like going from one of those tinny transistor radios to quadrophonic sound!"
My hearing aid earmolds block all of the most dangerous sound levels from damaging my hearing further; with the aids turned off, I could get within feet of a full-blast steam whistle or air horn (and have). The noise-cancelling effects of the headphones bring dangerous constant noise--a diesel engine, air compressor, etc.--down to mere annoyance levels, but doesn't do away with them completely.

The strictness of the ban on "personal electronic devices" aside, I'd be most curious to hear (heh) from an experienced steam or diesel engineer--the kind who says they need to "hear the engine's performance"--who tries such a set of phones and ask if they can still "run by ear" even with the noise-cancellation. It would seem to me that "noise cancellation" rather than ear plugs, tied in with an ability to hear radio communications, would be the best of all possible worlds.

I know for a fact that some of the more recent "big steam" engineers or other crew members have used headsets with microphones on mainline operations. Maybe I should ask Ed Dickens what the current "state of the art" is..............

Both of my kids decided to become pilots, one fixed wing, one rotary wing. After trying various headsets, both, still very early in their careers, craved what seems to have become an industry standard, noise cancelling Bose A20's. In the interest of protecting their long term hearing, they seem to be good investment.

Both reported they had to readjust how they perceive how the aircraft is handling, especially engine noise, but also, airframe noise, various whistles and rattles after moving to the A20s.

Recently both sent me a meme of a photo taken this spring after a warbird had an engine failure and ditched in ocean surf right off the beach. The photo is of the pilot climbing out of the cockpit as the water rises, clutching his A20's with a caption "when your insurance doesn't cover your A20's."

A note about the personal electrics rules. Some of these headsets allow bluetooth connections to other devices. Under some conditions, they use this to make phone calls for clearances but also to listen to music on long flights or when they might be along for the ride. I could imagine some in management seeing this feature as reason to ban them, as they allow access to a phone that could be in a bag or elsewhere.

Bob

I value my hearing quite a bit so I ALWAYS wear hearing protection when running steam and have done so for the past 15 years. Those who have had the pleasure of running/firing a stoker-fired locomotives know that the table jets are quite deafening. I find that hearing protection, especially foam earplugs are exceptionally good at filtering out the "white noise" (turbo generator especially) on a locomotive. This allows me to focus in on the more important sounds and easily discern between what is normal and what is not. All this aides in running a better train - contrary to some theories out there. Not to mention, going home at the end of the day without ringing ears or a headache is an added benefit.

I'm sure the majority of those out there will find fault in my justification and that's fine, I don't care. You do what works for you.

DC

I have never operated a locomotive, steam or diesel, but I have been all around all kinds of loud thundering machinery all my life, farm and construction equipment, big trucks, race cars you name it. I have a natural physical aversion to obnoxiously loud noise, so I ALWAYS wear hearing protection, even while mowing the lawn. My experience, even with cheap headphones (I really can't stand anything jammed IN my ears), is that they really don't kill the sound, it just takes the edge off it, and that I actually FEEL the equipment I am running more than I hear it. Once I get to know a machine, my feet, hands and butt tell me pretty much everything I need to know.

After I rotted the original linings out of my old Bilsoms, I ended up removing those and stuffed the shells full with multiple layers of polyester batting. Now, they work even better than they did before but anyone could use the same concept to customize theirs to achieve the appropriate level of noise attenuation personally desired.