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hearing protection; unwanted advice for the younger set...

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by atch, Feb 24, 2013.

  1. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,626

    atch
    Member

    i posted this a few minutes ago on the jockey journal, and am reposting here. it's reworded somewhat, and it applies here, too.

    i thought that there was a similar thread a year or two ago, but can't find it. anyway, regardless of what age you are please consider using ear plugs when driving your roadster or building a hot rod. i started using them about 15 years ago (i'm 61 now), but by then i had already lost a good percentage of my hearing. the doctors told me then that i needed hearing aids, but i just wouldn't give in and get them. i finally relented and started wearing hearing aids last week. i sure wish i had prevented the loss instead of having hearing aids now.

    in my life i've lost hearing due to some combination of:

    loud hot rods
    riding motorcycles
    lawn mowing
    chainsawing
    woodworking
    metalworking
    rock-n-roll music
    etc.
    etc.

    i suggest you use hearing protection when doing any of the above or anything else that makes a lot of noise. if you're too vain to wear earplugs, what are you going to do when you need hearing aids? they sure ain't very cool looking either.

    i wear a half helmet when riding and the wind is my greatest bugaboo. my scoot is fairly loud but the wind is louder.

    i buy the foam plugs in boxes of 100 or more; use them 'til they quit staying small when squeezed (at least for a few seconds); then get out another pair.

    moral of the story: it would be better to keep your hearing than to wish later that you had done so.

    b-t-w; i'll be posting the same thing on the garage journal.

    now we return you to your regularly scheduled programing.
     
  2. ^^^^^^what he said, I have constant ringing. I don't know what silence is any more.
     
    rockable likes this.
  3. PKap
    Joined: Jan 5, 2011
    Posts: 593

    PKap
    Member
    from Alberta

    Thanks, I'm down about 40-50% too, only 45 y o. Wear them all the time now to try to keep what is gone. When I get grand kids, I really want to be able to hear them! Eye protection too, a buddy just lost one using a grinder.


    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     
    VANDENPLAS likes this.
  4. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,626

    atch
    Member

    yeah; i didn't mention the ringing in the ears. i also haven't heard silence for many years now.
     
    j3harleys likes this.

  5. X4 very good advice. Mowing the lawn is a good time to heed his advice.
     
  6. young people just don't get it and by the time they do they can't hear it. You can hear little noise with hearing protection better because all the back ground noise is gone . Need to wear eye pro also
     
  7. All of us older guys have some hearing loss from everything mentioned by the OP. HRP
     
  8. Malcolm
    Joined: Feb 9, 2006
    Posts: 8,032

    Malcolm
    Member
    from Nebraska

    I hear ya, Mike (no pun intended.. haha)

    I'm 33 and have some hearing loss. It sucks not being able to hear people when there is background noise. My dad's hearing isn't that great and my grandpa's hearing was pretty bad when he was still with us. Part of it is hereditary, but I know some of my loss is from many loud concerts, working on cars with loud tools, and riding motorcycles.

    Now I always wear hearing protection when working with loud tools in the garage and when driving my roadster. Trying to preserve what hearing I still have.

    Thanks for posting this!


    Malcolm
     
  9. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Eh? What did you say?

    All kidding aside, all you young cowboys take care of your lungs, your hearing, your teeth, everything. Don't take chances. No one will thank you for it. When your health is gone it's awful hard to get back.

    Or, as Eubie Blake put it, if I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.
     
  10. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,626

    atch
    Member

    much better said than my OP and with about 2% of the verbiage...
     
  11. Hearing damage accumulative and permanent.
    That means if you suffered 0.005% hearing damage once everyday, you'd be completely deaf in 55 years.
    That also means if you did something 55 times a day that caused 0.005% hearing damage you'd be deaf in one year.

    Problem is you can't tell if its doing such small amount of damage until its too late.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2013
  12. johnod
    Joined: Aug 18, 2009
    Posts: 799

    johnod
    Member

    The OP is right, I did all that stuff too.
    I'm 57 now hearing isn't good, at least i don't have the ringing tho.
    I wear hearing protection all the time now, trying to save whats left, hope that works.
     
  13. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,264

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Listen.

    I am 'just' 43. I am ~30% deaf in both ears, and have constant ringing. Granted, some of this was due to an absurd number of ear infections as a child (later found to be caused by a milk allergy), but most is from being just plain stubborn and stupid.

    Don't make the same mistake that I did. Just don't.
     
  14. I'm a candidate for hearing aids down the road. Too much exposure to fireworks, guns, stock cars, concerts etc. My left ear has been ringing since 1990 when I had a bad ear infection.

    You know you're in trouble when after a hearing test, they ask if you've ever been in the army... in artillery.

    I now wear ear plugs to stock car races, concerts and for any other exposure to loud noises.

    Bob
     
  15. Yep, 67 with 70% high tone loss on one side and 30 on the other...thats 100% out of 200. I do use head phone type protection. Grinding and cutting is my big enemy but can't just sit down and do nothing.
     
  16. TexasSpeed
    Joined: Nov 2, 2009
    Posts: 4,631

    TexasSpeed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Texas

    Ain't nothing wrong with being deaf.. I like it. :)


    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     
    210superair likes this.
  17. tommyd
    Joined: Dec 10, 2010
    Posts: 11,948

    tommyd
    Member
    from South Indy

    Riiiiiiiing! I have to have a fan,tv or radio on at all times to keep my sanity!
     
  18. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    Same here. Sometimes just as I'm losing consciousness at night it seems to go away but then just noticing it's gone makes it come back. I actually hear pretty well but you have to talk above the ringing. Never tried the OTC pills, doc said forget it. Anyone?
     
  19. Bill in Al
    Joined: Sep 26, 2011
    Posts: 72

    Bill in Al
    Member

    I've had the ringing for so many years that it no longer bothers me.Shorty straights on a shovelhead.
     
    210superair likes this.
  20. EasyBake
    Joined: Jun 13, 2010
    Posts: 141

    EasyBake
    Member
    from Bedford IN

    With a wife and 2 kids sometimes being deaf is nice! But I am only 32 and I have to wear hearing aids in both ears! Mainly from shooting a machine gun for a living for 10 years and getting blown up didn't help either, but the music , cars, and motorcycles didn't help either! Sometimes I have to sleep with music playing cause the ringing in my ears is so bad, you won't miss it till its gone! Protect your ears!
     
    Sandgroper and 210superair like this.
  21. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,626

    atch
    Member

    mine said the same thing and then gave me a medicalese explanation that i didn't understand. but the short version was that if they worked every doc in the world would be pushing them.
     
  22. Huh? Too late for me.

    For me a lifetime of air tools in big ol' stinky shops, muzzle brakes n' drag pipes.....

    Last year's CDL physical exam results: 95% loss left 65% loss right

    The Missus swears it's worse'n that....

    My ears 'been ringin' since the late 70's.

    Already got glasses, false uppers an' enough hardware in my back to build a small applaince.

    I'm not ready for a hearin' aid.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2013
  23. 117harv
    Joined: Nov 12, 2009
    Posts: 6,589

    117harv
    Member

    I rode sport bikes in the 80's, lots of high speeds and ran a concrete removal business for 15 years, wore ear plugs all the time. I still find it abit hard to hear with alot of background noise, but certainly would have been much worse had I not used the ear plugs.

    On a side note the sun is a killer literally, it took my brother as well as a couple friends. I have severall other family members and friends that have had to have cancerous spots removed. Always cover up, it could save your life.
     
  24. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,264

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yup. Already had that too. There is always room and time to take better care of yourself. Doing things the hard way sucks, and it's expensive.
     
  25. nwbhotrod
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 1,243

    nwbhotrod
    Member
    from wash state

    what what what
     
  26. 41 C28
    Joined: Dec 17, 2005
    Posts: 1,772

    41 C28
    Member

    Hearing protection is a good thing to wear when cutting, welding or grinding too, it only takes a second to put it on or a second to burn your ear drum out.
     
  27. 41GASSER
    Joined: Aug 2, 2009
    Posts: 188

    41GASSER
    Member

    I have my share of hearing loss as well. Years of factory work, shooting guns and loud music. The wife gets upset regularly as I need the tv or radio set pretty damn loud to hear it. I dont know about the younger Hamb readers but I would not listen to anybody in my youth just too stuborn. Hold on I think the wife is yelling at me. She has threatened to make me learn brail and sign language. Eye & ear protection is no joke I have also had metal drilled from my eyes more that twice.
     
  28. waine
    Joined: Oct 18, 2012
    Posts: 35

    waine
    Member

    Ran heavy construction equipment most of my life besides motorcycles and loud cars .Never really thought about my hearing till it was to late.Ringing in my ears is something I live with now everyday and if there is background noise I can't really have a conversation without saying what a 100 times.Finally broke down an got hearing aids recently at the cost of $4000 and I hate them. Take care of it when you are young and you will thank yuorself later in life.
     
  29. KRB52
    Joined: Jul 9, 2011
    Posts: 1,077

    KRB52
    Member
    from Conneticut

    Get some good hearing protection, too. Don't rely on the cheap foam plugs and if you do, use them only once. I used to work at a power plant and they had the packs of the foam ones all over the place. Our Third Shift Security Lieutenant was so afraid that he would not be able to sleep during the day that he wore them when he went to bed. Unfortunately for him, he was a cheapskate and kept reusing the same pair (mind you, these were FREE at the plant.) He got a nasty double ear infection, then compounded it by not going to the doctors for almost two months. Had ear and hearing problems ever since.
     
  30. silversink
    Joined: May 3, 2008
    Posts: 916

    silversink
    Member

    65% loss here and can't aford hearing aids. If you don't want to take the precausions ,get ready to go through life saying huh, or what every 5 seconds or get used to shaking your head yes when you didn't hear a word of what was being said. Oh ya you learn to read lips real good.
     

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