Open headers, air tools, hammering, ringing in the ears head count, young gun warning

After many years of no ear protection and open headers, air tools, hammering, rock music, shotguns, rifles, and hand guns, my ears ring constantly (tinitus). Can anyone relate and how do you deal with it? I was told there are new hearing aids that cancel the ringing?? To all the younger gearheads out there, use ear protection! My son was recently testing out his HO stereo in his car. I knocked on the window and told him some day he would be sorry - he said 'no problem, I'll just get a more powerful stereo' - goofball!

 

sorry, can Ya repeat that?

 

I am 38. While in the service I was tested and told I had something like stereoperfect hearing. That was 20 years ago. I still hear shit that cats cant hear. I keep gun muffs on my tool belt. I dont try and get a tan.............at that time, working construction the daily beat down of Mr sun made me tired, I learned young.

 

I used to have super sensitive hearing,and started
wearing ear plugs around the time I started working.

But I still remember when i was a kid,my ears ringing after
coming home from the race track.Nitro cars are LOUD !

Tinitus can also be caused by medications.

 

If you're that concerned about it, buy stock in Beltone and sleep well at night. With all the loud stereos and exhaust, you'll retire early and wealthy...

Vance

 

Im only 28, and I already have that problem. I wear ear plugs every day in the shop for the last three years or so. It has not gotten any worse in those years. All the shop time, races, loud cars, and loud concerts did it quick.

 

Not only am I fighting the abuse I have inflicted to my hearing, I am fighting heredity as well. My doctor told me that the guns and air hammers did the most damage. I usually only notice the ringing when my surroundings are quite, however I have noticed it is getting worse. At the rate things are going I wont be able to hear my wife at all by the time I am 50, hmmm, 2 1/2 years isnt all that long to wait.

If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken much better care of myself. This getting old crap aint for sissies!

 

Gotta wear the muffs. My ears hum and ring from sun up til sundown.

 

Loud cars,music,tools,tractors, guns...what an idiot I was! Is that the phone!?! In the imortal words of Frank Sinatra- "ring-a-ding-ding"!

 

Lotta support for the idea from here, too!
I'm one of the lucky ones.....after nine years doing maintenance in an industrial setting, started having problems. Muffled hearing, constant tone, the typical symptoms. Doc gave me some pills and gave me the "chewing-out" I deserved, and things came back to almost normal for me, but it took six months. NOW, though, I don't go in a building without plugs, and also wear them mowing my own lawn. Bought my own supply to keep in the garage.
I did not care for having this...watery-echo thing going on in my right ear, and don't want it to happen again.

Roger

 

Can relate - unable to enter the service because of left ear. Always wear ear protection. Hardass my guys on safety glasses - have one set with one side taped over. When I catch them w/o I make them wear these for a couple of hours - reality sets in real quick.

 

I'm one of the young ones with it. Years of artillery, rifles, small arms, automatic weapons, claymores, getting IED a couple of times, parachuting (Wind at 220 is loud!) aircraft, on the hard standing ducking under the wings of fighter jets as they taxi out, C-130s and the back of Caribou's are FUCKING loud (The loudest sustained work area in the RAAF!)
Then the tools, cars, open headers, drag strip, music(roadie) finished it off. I had great hearing once now my most used word is 'pardon?'
Yup, look after your hearing.
Doc.

 

Yeah, I've got it, too. 51 YO. You CANNOT believe how annoying it is to hear that ringing ALL THE TIME. Now sometimes I think the phone is ringing when it isn't.......

 

I've had the same type of malady since my Army days (of listening to field artillery at close range) in the 60's. My ears have been ringing ever since! I finally broke down and got hearing aids last year at an out-of-pocket cost of approximately $2500.00. The common myth about hearing aids is that they only amplify sound;....actually they SEPERATE sounds;.....which allows you to distinguish the background noises you're hearing from the foreground sounds. I should have gotten these things YEARS ago! The ringing in my ears is almost completely gone now. I hardly notice it at all! It was worth the cost to me to simply be able to reduce the ringing as much as I did! I encourage you to have your ears tested like I did ASAP. Most hearing clinics have a payment plan of some sort if money is an issue for you. Take care of your ears!..you only get one set in this life, and they can't be replaced! My 2 cents only.

 

That's OK til one of the chops off a finger

 

I have seen the Who, Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers in concert too many times. Add the drag race weekends and loud tools equals selective hearing! I can hear a fan motor running in the next room but can't hear annoying jabber from my co-workers. Life is good!

 

My ears have been ringing for 40 years, I don't think 4 years in the Air Force helped. "Will somebody answer that damn phone."

 

I think some of it is hereditary. My mother complained about it in her later years and I know she was never exposed to loud noise or medication. Mine was compounded by working in a loud chemical plant. I take it with a grain of salt by saying when I am bored I just listen to my ears ring.

 

I'm 44 and have had the ringing in my left ear for a few years.
loud cars,music have taken it's toll.

 

I have always protected my hearing...partly because my dad was so deaf, and it was irritating having to yell to be heard. When I met my wife, I asked her to start protecting her hearing when using a hair dryer. She said that after a few months of that she lost the hum in her ears.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

 

Yea, me too. Sometimes I really don't notice it, but since I clicked on this post the volume seems to have gone up. Thanks a lot!!!! (G)
Larry T

 

Huh??? Dude your lips are movin but nothing is coming out. I circle track raced for years and tryed the plugs but it felt as if i was racin with my head in a bucket of water. Engine made the stupidest sounds. Just didn't sound right and the whole effect was just wrong. Just wear an I-pod with zepp on it turned up real loud. Those other noises won't bug you then>>>>.

 

Ringing both ears 24/7 for years. On a volume scale of 1-10 for loudness mine is about a 4. Anytime it begins to bother me I just close my eyes and its like being on a camping trip at night with about 10,000 Cicadas around. For the unfortunate that don't know what a Cicada is, it's like a giant grasshopper/cricket mix that's noisy as hell. Was way too macho to wear sissy ear protection back when it was needed. In my latter years I have found out macho and dumbass are the same thing.

 

No open headers? You have got to be kidding! While i know we must use caution we have in recent years gone nuts. Besides, a deteoration in earing is normal regardless. Lots of little ol church ladies can hardly hear a thing and have never beeen around anything loud. We have in North America become scared of of everrything. We see a wolf (or terrorist) behind every tree, We are sure everyone has a sinister plan to get us when in truth they dont know or care we exist. We get upset when someone is making a profit on Ebay. We are politically correct to the point of being stupid. Me I am sick of it. I watched a friend using his chain saw the other day. Orange safety pants , a yellow helmut, ear muffs , gloves . Absolutey ridiculous. Use common sense yes but we are way way way beyond that . We have gone besurk!
just my 2cents

 

Huh, what? Can't hear you for that pesky ringing in my ears. As a kid, my Dad and I spent hours shooting skeet, hunting, and driving noisy equipement with no hearing protection of any kind, and I'm plagued by the tinnitus as well. I have a little bit of hearing loss as well, at 53, but the ringing is sort of annoying at times.

 

"Listen to what the man said" - Paul McCartney

I'm also a Tinitus victim but I'm a little lucky as mine sounds like a flock of Sparrows or Finches.

 

ya what he said

 

I can remember the day I caused myself to have Tinitus!I was cutting something with a grinder.It was held in a vice,but the bit I was cutting was nowhere near the vice jaws.What a fucking awful sound that was!No ear defenders on either(Dick Head)
I'm 42 now and that was nearly 20 years ago now!Just been to the doctors,I'm going for a hearing test.I wish I had used hearing protection sooner.

 

Sounds like ive survived quite well.

Used to use ear protection all the time, at work in the workshop.

Most people thought it was a bit sissy. But you couldnt even here yourself think.

My best mate has it, from a nice loud stereo he used to have.

i do run open headers, but its still quite quiet out on the road.

Cheers guys, hope the ringing stops for you.

 

Was in a touring rock band for four years, woke up one morning and could not hear out of my left ear at all and barely out of my right(28 years old). Went to the doctor who said no more loud noises even with earplugs. Stopped playing and started wearing earplugs for everything now. The hearing came back after two days(it was a horrible two days that scared the crap out of me) The ringing is pretty much gone and only get the weird squeel in the ears once a month or so. Its all fun and games untill you wake up and cant here.