Thread: Hearing

After being a silly bugger in my younger days (still in my young days you are saying!) with target and bunny shooting and time spent playing soldiers, I have sustained some pretty serious hearing damage for someone my age. The damage is mostly in my right ear, naturally.

I vaguely remember a lecture early in my army career about hearing protection and the effects of sound on our hearing. The man explained to us that the ringing we get in our ears is in fact the small hairs 'dying' as a result of sound abuse. This past month I have noticed a lot of ear-ringing and from time to time have difficultly identifying where sounds are coming from (what direction) and even tonight not even hearing something my partner has heard quite clearly.

Does anyone else here suffer from hearing loss? What have you done about it? There are the obvious tactics to reduce the effects of loud sounds on our ears like ear muffs and plugs and just turning the radio down, but do you have any other ideas to protect your ears and prevent hearing loss? Sometimes the nature of our work means long exposure to medium level sounds that can actually damage our hearing in the same way that a loud event can in a small space of time.

Does anyone else get this horrible ringing? What about the hair dying thing - does this sound familiar? I also remember some myth (prove me wrong!) that the ringing you hear is the last time those hairs will 'hear' the frequency of that noise before they become completely useless.

I would be interest to hear your thoughts (pun not indended!) as sometimes hearing safety isn't something we naturally think about as firearms safety.

Wat?????????? speak up!!!!

Bush hunting with a 308 and marriage has hammered the hearing in my left ear

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Bush hunting with a 308 and marriage has hammered the hearing in my left ear

Yes marriage + two daughters = selective hearing matter of survival at times

Dougie, I have had Tinitus a.k.a. "gunner ear" (the high frequency ringing in your ears) for at least the last three decades and have learned to ignore it even though it is there continuously. I attribute it entirely to noise exposure while in the army (rifles, machine guns, howitzers, thunder flashes, grenades, etc). Interestingly, I had a hearing test just 4 months ago and apart from the Tinitus my hearing is in the normal range.

The bugger about that is now my missus knows that I am able to hear OK, she just accuses me of being an ignorant bastard. I don't know about your time in the green machine but ear plugs/muffs were not provided when I was in.

I get a basic medical check for work every year (acc / osh related) and for some reason it always seems to be just after duck shooting open weekend.
I am always down in one ear... After a medical last week for raceing my hearing was fine....???
As far as i was told once your hearing is gone thats it..
Its got me buggered!
Best advice i can give you dougie is PREVENT further loss!

We had plugs but didn't use them really...I usually tried to chuck one in my right ear during fire manouvers but there is always a lot of shouting and other shite going on that you need to hear! So the plugs didn't last long.

It's annoying for me as I used to have great hearing. I have very good eyesight which seems to make up for it. But still it is slightly embarassing when I can't quite recognise the direction in which someone is yelling from or even today I could not hear my dog barking only 100m away.

I prefere it wen my missus thinks im some kind of diffrent batsard/mungrel/pig .....becuase it means im doing nothing wrong.Its wen she thinks im ok or great thats when i wonder whats going on.Army fucks your ears/back/ ankles and any other thing it can dougie, for a grunt you come out with more than a couple of old or reacurring pains somewere hearing is just the start of it.Your sweet wait till you tip over thirty which by rushys veiw is still the puppy years and you wonder why your sore for some reason you cant figure out?????? then you think........... fuck surely it cant be from that little walk i just did 3 days ago.

Ahh Neckshot if only I was thirty and knew what I know now. Like the old adage says, "you have to be young and dumb before you can be old and wise"

I dont know if ill will make it to wise when im retired acc to my wife!

I wear earmuffs over 80hrs a week while at work in 145+db
Tinnitus, yes - very much so, however hearing tests come back at 95% as its not a major frequency.
At a pub, some peoples voices I cant understand at all - and I dont mean when Phils pissed and slurring
Sounds like they are under water.
What I do find, is those that work in the same environment, I can hear clearly as their speech/tone avoids the tones that are an issue also.

Your brain can turn your ears off so to speak, when you're wearing muffs all the time, your ears arnt needed and your mind will ignore them - takes a week to come back properly when I get home.

There is a herbal brew from Europe which works and Ginseng apparently helps.
The brew was used by a friend that developed VERY bad Tinnitus from a side effect of some chemo drugs - reacons it worked very well, however maybe a different type of damage.

Things that will give you Tinnitus without you even knowing it are fans, AC units etc - basically anything thats runnings at a constant frequency even though the amplitude isnt high will also damage your hearing.
Engines for eg wear your ears out, loud noises like guns hammer them - 2 slightly different damages.

i am off for an acc hearing test tomorrow. i have very bad ringing in right ear and also i find it hard to hear sometimes wot direction the sounds are comming from. this is a result from a work place accident. it is bloody pain because up until a few months ago my hearing was fine.. could hear a deer fart at fifty meters. it seems that i am stuck with this crap ringing and poor hearing now. test tomorrow is for a hearing aid. arse.. i going to look like an old poppa!!

sako kid, sounds like you are in the same sort of position as me! How old are you bud, if you don't mind me asking? Btw you won't look like an old pop if you need an aid, seriously some of the new ones are so tiny you can't even tell!

I have had throbbing in my right ear (one with the damage) and ringing. Maybe I should do the old free assessment thing!

Originally Posted by Spanners

I wear earmuffs over 80hrs a week while at work in 145+db
Tinnitus, yes - very much so, however hearing tests come back at 95% as its not a major frequency.
At a pub, some peoples voices I cant understand at all - and I dont mean when Phils pissed and slurring
Sounds like they are under water.
What I do find, is those that work in the same environment, I can hear clearly as their speech/tone avoids the tones that are an issue also.

Your brain can turn your ears off so to speak, when you're wearing muffs all the time, your ears arnt needed and your mind will ignore them - takes a week to come back properly when I get home.

There is a herbal brew from Europe which works and Ginseng apparently helps.
The brew was used by a friend that developed VERY bad Tinnitus from a side effect of some chemo drugs - reacons it worked very well, however maybe a different type of damage.

Things that will give you Tinnitus without you even knowing it are fans, AC units etc - basically anything thats runnings at a constant frequency even though the amplitude isnt high will also damage your hearing.
Engines for eg wear your ears out, loud noises like guns hammer them - 2 slightly different damages.

+1 Iv been in a noisy environment all my working life (very simmilar to yours for a lot of it spanners) plus messing with explosives as a kid(what else do you do on a farm) motorcross bikes, v8s with straight exhausts, at least ten years of extreme party boy and 20k plus of sounds in a small flat.
My hearing tests as good for my age.
I cant hear a fuckin word with any sort of background noise. The pub, the kids the tv etc I need to see lips moving.
A couple of days of quiet(IE bush) its like someone turned on a switch and I can hear again. Like hearing the click of a deers ankles as it gets up out of its bed.(how many of you have heard that and recognized it?)

"and even tonight not even hearing something my partner has heard quite clearly."

My partner calls that selective hearing. The reality is after 10 hours of noise and coming home to more noise unless there is eye contact its automatically shut out.

bit older that u dougie.. u should get it checked out. i have seen the hearing aids and u are quite right they are tiny. tiny in size but huge in price. about 6000.00 so i am told. lucky for me it will be acc funded. unlucky that i need one tho. in a room full of people i find it very hard to talk to people because i am unable to hear wot the hell they are saying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!