Expanding the HEARING Project: HEARING in Practice

Abstract:
Across School Based Agricultural Education (SBAE), specifically within agricultural mechanics-based programs, safety in laboratory and classroom instruction is a significant concern. While hearing safety has been discussed for numerous years as a shortcoming, it has been identified that attitudes and perceptions of noise levels are a considerable deficiency within agricultural settings. This research builds upon the findings of the HEARING project to focus on student application of hearing safety concerns within an agricultural mechanics environment. Through the use of direct and indirect exposure to noise levels, students will reflect on and identify their use and intended use of hearing protection. Pre- and post-instructional data will aid in establishing student's thresholds to use proper personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as identify their perceptions to the decibel outputs of commonly used power tools in the agricultural laboratory setting. Pre-course data has previously shown a wide range of intended thresholds and understanding of decibel outputs. Course reflections aim to show connections between intention and practice by examining how many students utilize hearing protection throughout the course. By observing the frequency of threshold responses, the project can evaluate alignment with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's recommended hearing protection threshold.