PSA - hearing protection

[kaiser715]

Wear your ear pro!!!

My ENT sent me to an audiologist for a hearing test. After I told her I have had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, and can't hear any very high frequencies in my left ear. Like, when diagnosing a squeal or squeak, I always tilt my right ear forward, and get nothing on the left side. I know I've been doing that at least 30 years.

Well, my hearing test was great, mostly. Above normal at low and mids. At 4000Hz, both are well below normal. A common indicator of hearing damage from loud noise. I have been good for the past 30 years or so with wearing ear plugs, muffs, etc. Before that, not so much. For about the same time, have avoided loud concerts, etc...will usually leave a bar/restaurant as soon as I can if the music is cranked up louder than where you maintain a normal conversation. Have always worn protection when shooting. She asked what noises I have been exposed to. 99% of you would answer the same -- loud exhaust, no exhaust, machine tools, power tools, etc, etc.

My right ear came back above normal at 6000Hz and 8000Hz. Especially good for my age. The left, however, pretty much bottomed out at zero on both those points.

If you are young, protect your hearing at all costs. If you are older, protect what you have left.

 

[kaiser715]

One funnay --

You know how folks in the medical profession have pretty much seen it all and heard it all. It doesn't take many years for them to no longer be surprised at anything they hear. The audiologist asked me when I first got there "What brings you in for a hearing test?" She had to do a double take when I said "A colonoscopy." When I had my colonoscopy back in February, the anesthesiologist recommended I see an ENT, and that's the ENT that sent me to the audiologist.

 

[DirkaDirka875]

I just had a Bonebridge implant installed so that i can finally hear again on my right side. Its amazing how much you miss something when its gone. I have to go back at the end of June to get the transmitter set up and i cant honestly wait to finally be able to locate where stuff is coming from by sound again and also to be able to hear people again in big crowds...

 

[Blaze]

My wife lost her hearing completely in her left ear a couple years back after having a vestibular schwannoma (also known as acoustic neuroma) removed. Having your wife go through brain surgery and then completely permanently deaf will make you think twice about protecting your hearing. She has a CROS device that helps her pick up sound from her left ear and transmit it to her right, but that just helps her hear sounds over there and she can't identify where sounds come from still. It is frustrating to her that I still can't stop saying "over here" when she asks where I am. We were at Home Depot yesterday and I was literally 10 feet to her right and she asked where I was and I said "over here" and she said "I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT IS" :

 

[kaiser715]

My wife lost her hearing completely in her left ear a couple years back after having a vestibular schwannoma (also known as acoustic neuroma) removed. Having your wife go through brain surgery and then completely permanently deaf will make you think twice about protecting your hearing. She has a CROS device that helps her pick up sound from her left ear and transmit it to her right, but that just helps her hear sounds over there and she can't identify where sounds come from still. It is frustrating to her that I still can't stop saying "over here" when she asks where I am. We were at Home Depot yesterday and I was literally 10 feet to her right and she asked where I was and I said "over here" and she said "I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT IS" :

The doc mentioned the vestibular schwannoma as a possibility. High chance of it when there is a one-sided hearing loss. Later, then she said it was less likely in my case since I have been aware of the loss for many years. It usually progresses very quickly.

And minus ten point to the doctor for first nonchalantly saying "oh, it's probably a brain tumor" without leading into it.

And why do I picture Mel Brooks every time I read "schwannoma"?

 

[DSM Turbos]

I was dumb and went to way to many drag races when I was younger and I’m sure my hearing was impacted by it

Now I wear ear plugs cutting the grass, concerts, riding motorcycles.

Loop earplugs have been some of the most comfortable for me so far and I have tried a lot

 

[justjeepin86]

I wear ear plugs doing everything. I can't stand air nozzles blowing at work.

My dad worked art Shlitz/Stroh's brewing in Winston growing up. He had always told me i don't want to lose my hearing when i get old. That's coming from someone with one eye. Don't lose those either.

 

[Blaze]

The doc mentioned the vestibular schwannoma as a possibility. High chance of it when there is a one-sided hearing loss. Later, then she said it was less likely in my case since I have been aware of the loss for many years. It usually progresses very quickly.

And minus ten point to the doctor for first nonchalantly saying "oh, it's probably a brain tumor" without leading into it.

And why do I picture Mel Brooks every time I read "schwannoma"?

Did they send you for an MRI? My wife had some hearing loss and a tinnitus that came on fairly quickly so that's why she went. They were like "it might be an AN, but they are pretty rare so probably not" and then after the MRI....yup.....

And we heard Billy Madison more than Mel Brooks. "STOP LOOKING AT ME SCHWANNOMA"

 

[kaiser715]

Did they send you for an MRI? My wife had some hearing loss and a tinnitus that came on fairly quickly so that's why she went. They were like "it might be an AN, but they are pretty rare so probably not" and then after the MRI....yup.....

And we heard Billy Madison more than Mel Brooks. "STOP LOOKING AT ME SCHWANNOMA"

Talked about MRI. Going to wait six months first and do another hearing check and see if & how much it changed
.
I had a sinus/brain CT last week, but those aren't sharp enough to pick up a small schwartz.

 

[drkelly]

Yup, I had an extremely loud car stereo system for several years in my late teens, rode 2-stroke dirt bikes for MANY years, played drums in the marching band all through high school, mowed grass, and used power tools without any hearing protection for WAY too many years. I finally started wearing hearing protection probably around my late 20’s, so I’m sure a lot of damage was done. I never do anything anymore without wearing hearing protection now. I will not go to loud restaurants, bars or concerts anymore. I will sometimes double up and use plugs and a headset style if I am going to be doing something loud for a long time. My wife is constantly on me to get my hearing checked, but she also tries to talk to me from a different room facing away from me. I’ve given up on trying to cure her of that. I have told her MANY times if you want to talk to me, then you need to come to where I am instead of yelling across the house etc.

 

[Blaze]

Talked about MRI. Going to wait six months first and do another hearing check and see if & how much it changed
.
I had a sinus/brain CT last week, but those aren't sharp enough to pick up a small schwartz.

small schwartz

The good thing is that those things are usually extremely slow growing so 6 months won't be bad. They actually told my wife she had the option of waiting and just monitoring it, but she was worried about it getting into her facial nerve (which is common as they grow larger) so she wanted it out right away. She said she can deal with being deaf, but not being limp faced.

 

[Wes]

I qualify for a hearing aid in my left ear, and my right one isn’t far behind. I can’t make out what anyone is saying when there’s a ton of background noise. It’s annoying. Too many loud booms when I was on active duty. I’m pretty sure the most damage came from being a Close Quarters Battle instructor. All of the indoor breaching and shooting wreaked havoc on my ears, brain and body. The over pressure from an explosion in a tight space is rough. I had to step outside and throw up after one breach in a stairwell. All of that over pressure felt like a liver shot from a heavyweight. Times that by multiple classes a year for 3 years and doing it real world, I can’t hear shit. HUH!

 

[CasterTroy]

My wife is constantly on me to get my hearing checked, but she also tries to talk to me from a different room facing away from me.

Fawk-o-mighty I thought I was alone

That woman LOVES to start a very important sentence as she walks out of the room and on her way to the other end of the house.

Another favorite is asking me a question when I'm in the bedroom and she's in the bath (hallway between with closets on each side) and she's brushing her teeth

All this to say she believes my hearing needs to be checked but I can hear someone clicking their nails from across a crowded restaurant

 

[willness33]

Fawk-o-mighty I thought I was alone

That woman LOVES to start a very important sentence as she walks out of the room and on her way to the other end of the house.

Another favorite is asking me a question when I'm in the bedroom and she's in the bath (hallway between with closets on each side) and she's brushing her teeth

All this to say she believes my hearing needs to be checked but I can hear someone clicking their nails from across a crowded restaurant

Holy shit, same.


I do know that my hearing is shit though.

 

[trailhugger]

if you want to talk to me, then you need to come to where I am instead of yelling across the house etc.

See, also, my children.

 

[shawn]

will sometimes double up and use plugs and a headset style if I am going to be doing something loud for a long time

Ear plugs or muffs are usually good for 25-30 dB of reduction, so if you're using anything louder than about 115-120 dB, you need to double up. This includes pretty much all firearms.

 

[Atla]

Ear plugs or muffs are usually good for 25-30 dB of reduction, so if you're using anything louder than about 115-120 dB, you need to double up. This includes pretty much all firearms.

I've mentioned it before on here in depth, but shooting big guns in small spaces with minimal hearing protection messed me up pretty good. (Hey folks, if you pull the trigger and your vision goes blurry and you want to barf... don't pull the trigger 20x more.) It literally changed my personality for a few years and I'm still a bit wonky. (Post concussive syndrome is what they finally diagnosed me with)

Now I use only electronic hearing muffs at the range. If I'm inside, I shove some plugs in as well.

I even stopped listening to music at the gym, because I had a tendency to crank it up when I would lift heavy. (I also don't take pre-workout due to how it affects my damaged brain and I mix my proteins in water... I'm the gym-psychopath your gym coach warned you about.)

Protect your hearing. You don't get it back.

 

[mbalbritton]

Fawk-o-mighty I thought I was alone

That woman LOVES to start a very important sentence as she walks out of the room and on her way to the other end of the house.

Another favorite is asking me a question when I'm in the bedroom and she's in the bath (hallway between with closets on each side) and she's brushing her teeth

All this to say she believes my hearing needs to be checked but I can hear someone clicking their nails from across a crowded restaurant

Well I’ll be damned. I think your wife and mine have been sharing tips on how to annoy the shit out of us when it comes to “listening” to them. You described my wife’s actions to a T!

 

[mbalbritton]

100% loud music hearing damage here. For those with tinnitus, try this as a demonstration to those that don’t have it and don’t understand it. Down loud a Tone Generator App. Run that thing up in hertz until it just about dissappears. Then match the volume to how loud it is for you. That’s what tinnitus sounds like.

 

[DirkaDirka875]

You would have thought mine would have would have came from loud music and such but it was actually due to a cholesteatoma. It basically eroded all of my ear bones away and they tried to implant titanium prosthetics but its still not that great.