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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. mike in tucson
    Joined: Aug 11, 2005
    Posts: 520

    mike in tucson
    Member
    from Tucson

    Until I bought some hearing aids about 3 years ago, I thought the Beach Boys were all bass singers and they only played drums. HOWEVER, think of the money I saved since I only needed cheap radios since 1969!!
     
    Flathead Dave likes this.
  2. Flathead Dave
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 3,959

    Flathead Dave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from So. Cal.

    I have ignored my hearing loss as long as I could. Just from playing in a couple of garage bands and listening to loud music, the military and age progression. When the Army Audiologist told me that I needed a hearing aid due to back ground noise and the loss of high pitch, I ignored it. The ringing in the ears is a constant. It's hard to tune my guitars. I'll tell you one thing, it's scary as all hell when you don't hear that car honking from behind you at the light because you're too busy head banging and playing air guitar to CCR in your car with the volume almost all of the way up so that you can hear the music. Fuck it! Rock on....Hearing is like sex. You still have to wear protection.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2016
    VANDENPLAS likes this.
  3. RoadkillCustoms
    Joined: Jul 10, 2008
    Posts: 270

    RoadkillCustoms
    Member
    from Mesa, AZ

    Solid Advice. Hearing (and sight) loss sucks...
     
    Flathead Dave likes this.
  4. I never used hearing protection until I worked someplace that used them for OSHA compliance (about 20 years ago). I found them extremely uncomfortable.

    Let me explain, I suffer from Tinnitus. I have for pretty much all of my adult life. It runs in the family. Covering or plugging my ears makes the ringing and or *static more pronounced.

    That said, Atch is not wrong. Hearing loss is a bad deal and if you can avoid it that is a good deal.

    *A common misconception is that Tinnitus is ringing of the ears, often it is more of crackling or roaring like a bad connection of the telephone or radio. Another misconception is that it is caused by high blood pressure. Blood pressure can be a cause of it, but is not the cause of it.
     
  5. jeffd1988
    Joined: Apr 12, 2016
    Posts: 537

    jeffd1988

    This thread im in page five. I feel my input is that I am 27 and i apriciate this thread and i will really start on my ear protection alot more i have all the others gloves and eyes. But ears i always a bit protective but not as much as im supossed to. Im not exposes to loud elements but aome what i am. Lime lawn mowing weed eater loud music ocasinaly and my truck alil bit. But thank you for this eye opening thread
     
  6. jeffd1988
    Joined: Apr 12, 2016
    Posts: 537

    jeffd1988

    Lol true
     
  7. chargin03
    Joined: Jan 8, 2013
    Posts: 516

    chargin03
    Member

    What did you say ?
     
  8. malcolm1943
    Joined: Sep 28, 2011
    Posts: 239

    malcolm1943
    Member

    I'm in my early 70s and have worn hearing aids since my mid 30s. I spent better than twenty years as an Operating Engineer (heavy equip. operator), as an apprentice we were told of the danger of hearing loss, and how employers were required to provide hearing protection. I wore those little sponge ear plugs every day and within seven years had lost about 75% hearing in both ears. At that point my then employer recognized my symptoms and took me for a hearing test, and I got hearing aids and custom made earplugs at that time and wore them every day after. Now some 40 years later and on my third set of aids, my hearing tests at 98% loss in both ears, this is due to the years of bad hearing protection, and the fact the nerve damage continues to deteriorate. If your young with good hearing go to a hearing provider and ask about getting some custom made ear plugs, they are not very expensive, and will save hearing better than the cheap foam plugs.
     
    pirate likes this.
  9. At least most of you guys had unassisted hearing for most of your lives, I never had the option to save and protect it.
     
  10. 01mikep
    Joined: Jul 26, 2014
    Posts: 125

    01mikep
    Member
    from California

    As applied to hot rods, if you need ear plugs for a street car...you're doing it wrong.

    I'm 20 years Air Force fighter aircraft maintenance and my hearing isn't as it should be as hearing protection was seen as weakness when I started out. My left ear is worthless and my right ear my wife swears is selective. I've been to racing events of all types across is planet, nothing equals a f-15 or f-16 on a trim pad running ground. AF MXvets can voucher for this.
     
  11. 340HilbornDuster
    Joined: Nov 14, 2011
    Posts: 1,985

    340HilbornDuster
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My tinitus is 3,600Hz...that's what the hearing study said. ..
    Like someone said it's not really physical...it's a "wiring" problem...
    I can meditate (no laugh) and "turn it off" temporarily...
    Listen to lotso music....!...or sounds like rain , river etc...

    Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  12. Engine man
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,480

    Engine man
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    When using a grinder I wear safety glasses and a full face shield. I figure I'm ugly enough without taking a wheel in the face.
     
  13. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Ditto Beaner, mine rings loud since a bad ear infection a long time ago, took the hearing out of that ear as well. All in about 48 hours. No fix...medically.

    I cant afford them yet but there are new hearing aids on the market that are the next generation beyond Bluetooth technology and they work via your iphone. You can take and receive calls, listen to tunes, if someone whispers in your deaf ear - you hear it your good one, and they reduce the tinnitus by electronically masking it. I tired them and they are clever, just $8000 more than I feel like spending.
     
  14. Engine man
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,480

    Engine man
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Vibrations also cause the hairs in the inner ear to fall out.

    OSHA requires hearing protection for noise over 85 decibels then they require louder back up alarms so they can be heard while wearing hearing protection. Everyone gets accustomed to hearing the back up alarms that they don't pay attention and operators assume they don't need to look while backing up because the back up alarm will get people to move out of the way.
     
  15. Dino 64
    Joined: Jul 13, 2012
    Posts: 2,400

    Dino 64
    Member
    from Virginia

    OK, my hearing mess. Chronic middle ear infections as a child. In the 50's they didn't have antibiotics, so the doc cut open my ear drums and flushed my my middle ear with a suction bulb. It's the loudest sound you'll ever hear, I was awake, he put cocaine mixed with water in my ears before to help with the pain. I had this done about 3 or 4 times to each ear. My ear drums have scars. Plus 35+ years of grinding lenses as an optician. What? Is my favorite word. Drives my wife nuts, revenge is sweet !!
     
    Bandit Billy likes this.
  16. My hearing has improved over the past year, no explanation and I've been playing with cars again. Part of it is probably due to less ear infections. I do have a narrowed ear tube and my ENT eventually wants to open it up.

    At concerts I wear these ear plugs called Hearos. Otherwise the music sounds like an old scratch 78 LP.

    My brother has hearing aids, his hearing is terrible. My dad, his hearing got better once he retired from Grumman. He thinks all the years exposed to loud air tools was the cause of his loss. I can't stand the hissing of a bad air hose any more myself.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  17. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,625

    atch
    Member

    It's been 4 years since the last response to this post. So, in the interest of reaching those who have joined in that time, here's something to chew on...
     
    VANDENPLAS and chryslerfan55 like this.
  18. leon bee
    Joined: Mar 15, 2017
    Posts: 798

    leon bee
    Member

    My hearing aids are interesting. They allow me to hear a little bit of what I need to, and everything I don't need to. Ears been ringing hard since spring of 1971, Lam Son 719.
     
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  19. I hear pretty well considering what I had done in the past. Probably not as good as I think I hear...

    At the shooting ranges, I wear good dB rated soft foam plugs plus good name brand ear muffs. I can lift an ear muff if I need to talk to someone for a second. When I grind something or use an air chisel, I have an old dirty pair of ear muffs I wear.

    I had my hearing checked maybe 15 years ago and the technician asked if I was ever in the army... namely ARTILLERY.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  20. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    Hard ringing here too, couple decades now. Got hearing aids finally last year, good prescription ones (after trying the HF $10 ones, lol). Wore them a couple months, drove me nuts. The audiologist adjusted them, I played with them.. Somebody drops a spoon, I jump out the window. I don't even know where they are anymore.

    I get at least one tinnitus spam email per day. Someone ever finds something that works they can have my next born..
     
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  21. Ahh, tinnitus my constant companion. Unfortunately I can't leave home without it! I have found something though that my pharmacist recommended that, at least for me, seems to help some. It's a dietary supplement that I take three times a day.
     
  22. Gman0046
    Joined: Jul 24, 2005
    Posts: 6,256

    Gman0046
    Member

    Tinnitus Sucks. I keep hoping someone would come up with a cure but no such luck. Totally deaf in my left ear along with Tinnitus. My Dad had Tinnitus and I never realized what he was going through until I got it. Paying the price for being around jet engine for 40 years.
     
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  23. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member

    I ruined my hearing in one day when I was 14. I when plinking with a .22 H and R revolver at a dump site near my house. After about two boxes of .22 shells my ears were ringing real loud, you know like when you hear a very loud sound. Most of the time it goes away after a short time. Mine kept ringing , so when I tried to sleep, I hope it would be gone in the morning. When I woke up they were still ringing just as loud as the day before. 55 years later they are still ringing just as loud as the day I fired that revolver!
    My point is, it doesn’t have to be a long session of loud noises to ruin your hearing, mine happen in a couple of hours and have given me a lifetime if misery.
    I was anal about my son’s hearing and protected it, maybe too much. But today , at 45 , he still has perfect hearing!
    If you think it can’t happen to you and you act like a tough guy..... you will pay the price!
    PROTECT YOUR HEARING!!!!! AT ALL TIMES!!!!










    Bones
     
  24. pirate
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 1,024

    pirate
    Member
    from Alabama

    I worked for a company that for insurance reasons adopted a very strict safety program. Mandatory safety shoes, eye protection, and ear protection among other things. Anyone in manufacturing areas rather full time or those visiting on a regular basis had to have hearing tests the first time to establish a base line and then yearly after that. After my first test the technician giving the test said. “You are probably over 50, right handed and were in the military” I asked him how he knew that and he said everyone as they get older loses hearing and it becomes most noticeable after 50. Right handed and in the military because my left ear had 50% less hearing from muzzle blast from shooting a rifle right handed.

    Of course it didn’t hurt that I had been around loud cars, machinery and manufacturing all my life. I too have constant ringing and been told I could benefit from hearing aids.
     
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  25. 51504bat
    Joined: May 22, 2010
    Posts: 4,754

    51504bat
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've always had good hearing but due to old age, 22 years as a LEO going to the range to qualify once a quarter, and wearing the crap plastic ear plugs the Army used in the early '70's, my hearing isn't as good as it used to be. I'll admit I don't use ear muffs for everything but I do for really loud situations especially a wood chipper I own. I do know 3 Vietnam vets who have moderate to extreme hearing loss. One who was in the artillery and then became a contractor was told by the VA that his hearing loss was do to using a Skill saw without hearing protection. It wasn't till after the war in Iraq/Afghanistan and the hearing losses suffered by returning vets that the VA realized that it was his 18 months in Vietnam that was the real cause of his hearing loss and fitted him with hearing aids. Another who was a piston engine air craft mechanic in Vietnam has hearing loss so bad none of the hearing aids available help much. Its heart braking to see him shut out of conversions especially with his grad kids because he can't hear what they're saying.
     
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  26. 34Larry
    Joined: Apr 25, 2011
    Posts: 1,701

    34Larry
    Member

    I ditto all the comments about hearing loss. Boeing and shop heavy steel work caused mine through the years. Ever stand next to a commercial airplane while a couple of riveters and their buckers drive rivets in an aluminum structure or work build steel bridge/buildings with all the hammering, grinding?
    It ain't pretty and no one ever thought of hearing protection until along cam OSHA in the early 70's.
     
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  27. ken bogren
    Joined: Jul 6, 2010
    Posts: 1,056

    ken bogren
    Member

    I know I'm having more and more trouble with background noise in restaurants etc as my hearing gets worse, and the ringing is constant, TV all night just to provide a little white noise, seems to help getting to sleep.

    This looks interesting.
    https://www.android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe/
     
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  28. 2OLD2FAST
    Joined: Feb 3, 2010
    Posts: 5,215

    2OLD2FAST
    Member
    from illinois

    I feel for you and am in the same boat for the same reasons plus a few ! If your hearing is still good , if you're smart , you'll protect it
     
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  29. stanlow69
    Joined: Feb 21, 2010
    Posts: 7,348

    stanlow69
    Member Emeritus

    Had my hearing checked at age 35. The Doc said I never could hear. Been wearing hearing aids ever since. So get checked out by a professional if you can`t hear and buy the good ones. $1500 a piece or more. Don`t cheap out on crappy ones, just a waste of money.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  30. rockable
    Joined: Dec 21, 2009
    Posts: 4,429

    rockable
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Besides being genetically programmed for the hearing loss that both parents had, I also exposed myself to way too much noise. I've been wearing aids for over 20 years and am now 66. I wish I had known what I know now. I sure would have tried to take better care of my hearing. I also have tinnitus and it sucks.
     

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