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

I hear ya on the ear protection. I've used muffs for lawn mowing, chain saws and such for ever. About 5 years ago my left ear went completely dead, couldn't hear anything. A week later I could hear about half or so, constant ringing especially in the evening. I still can't hear a dial tone or phone conversation in my left ear. I can't stand sportsbar type surroundings. All I hear is the backround NOISE, can't hear the person acroos the table. Dr. advised me not to waste $$ on hearing aids.

 

I am 26, worked for a car stereo shop for a little over 11 years now (its a part time job now) and now work full time in a auto manufacturing plant here in Texas. I never really wore ear plugs before I started working in the plant, now when we start running for the shift, I put them in and don't take them out till we're over. It has helped a lot with headaches, ringing in my ears and being able to understand people while having a conversation. My dad was in radio and television for 30 years and it really affected his hearing later in his life. All I can say is protect your hearing, its really important and you its hearing damage is permanent.

 

comes and goes for me. ill be sitting there watching tv and all of a sudden it sounds like someone taped cotton balls over my earhole, and the ringing will start. itll ring for an hour or two, then go away. i suppose i should at least wear plugs when shooting, or working with a compressor. but im pretty stupid,and lazy so what ya gonna do eh?

 

The genetic thing must also be a factor. My mother had this problem also, back in the 60's or 70's she used to think the TV was on all the time - remember how those old tube types had that high pitch scream. At 94 she says the tinitus no longer bothers her but now her response to everything is 'WHAT'. Maybe my loud ways as a youth affected her too.

 

I now wear ear plugs when on the farm tractor. After 5-6 hours on the tractor with a baler behind me before the plugs my hearing was funky for 3-4 hours afterward. Sounded like I was underwater.

 

i cant hear shit!!!!!!my ears ring nonstop!!!

 

It must be a consequence of our hobby! At least for those of us that thought ear protection was for sissys. Again, young guns take heed!

 

Mine isn't so much a ringing as a constant hissing.If it wouldn't be for constantly redirecting my attention to something else it'd drive me apeshit.
Metal-on-metal,sandblasting and weld shop time didn't do any favors.

 

I heard that! wait a minute...no I didn't huh? what the...

 

Thanks to my dad. i dont have this problem. hes an audiologist (ear doctor) and knocks on me everytime he catches me without ear protection or any safety equipment for that matter. i suggest goin out and spending a few dollars on hearing protection to save thousands on surgery and/or hearing aids down the road.

 

OK sorry to bump another old thread today but man this is serious stuff and I only WISH I'd had a flipping clue 20 years ago! Tinnitus is NO JOKE! I'm just glad at least I did a little something sometimes to protect my hearing. Now I don't run any tool really without the muffs on, and I SHOULD have the ear plugs in too.

People suicide over this stuff, it drives them that nuts. Thank god I usually don't notice it, except if I'm somewhere that is extremely quiet then that ringing can get
L O U D! And when I read threads like this I hear it too

Notice that everyone that's mentioned tinnitus describes it as a torture? it IS. For you young guys, *please* be smarter than we were and use hearing protection.

 

great thread! i worked at a tire shop for awhile and finally started wearing ear plugs cause I noticed my hearing was going... glad i did, wish i wouldve done it sooner

 

i just turned 26 and ive noticed the 'ringing' for as long as i can remember. suck major ass!!!! been around drag cars, drag strips and harleys for that long too... the days of the gianormous stereos in my cousins chevette prolly didnt help either!!! and as said before its never quiet in my world. it seems like the more quiet it is around me, the louder the tone is. kinda.... like.... NOW!!!! hahah any way just thought id add my worthless two cents

 

I'm only 30, but as everyday passes, I catch myself saying "huh" or cupping my ear and saying "I'm sorry, can you repeat that" more and more often. My gal doesn't like the loud stereo in the car, so when it's at her desired level, I can't even make out what the music is. When we're out somewhere, I can't distinguish sounds in the distance, everything sounds like a buzz and I can only hear what's in front of me. I blame it on all the loud music, engine backfiring, drag racing, open headers, air tools, and LOTS of ammunition shot through guns without hearing protection.

I've learned my lesson and now use ear protection when shooting, in the shop grinding, or at the races/live music events.

It's kinda like when I got a piece of metal in my eye that was in there for 2 days and started to rust. I had to get it polished out with a micro Dremel thing. This has happened twice, and I don't ever want to go through that agonizing pain again in my lifetime. Even though it's goofy looking wearing pair of big goggles over my prescription glasses, or a nuisance to have a big face shield when you're in a tight spot, it's alot better than digging rust out of your eye or risking losing eye sight completely.

To the youngsters... don't be stupid, it's alot easier to poke your eye out and go deaf than you realize.

 

I'm 53 and have done just about everything possible to mess up my hearing,high frequency is pretty bad,I have not heard silence in 20 years I guess.I've pretty well learned to live with it don't really bother me as much as it doe's other people that have to put up with me.

 

I'm 47, and my hearing has been weak for about 10 years now. I don't have the ringing except on occasion, but I have such a lack of clarity that in crowded restraunts, etc;, I can't understand what the person across the table is saying. I do wear ear protection a lot more now, especially when my big compressor is running, using the air tools, even doing yard work sometimes with the loud equipment. My biggest problem is that I have been around grinding machines in optical labs for nearly 30 yrs. now, and the machines are very loud. Way back, when we made all the lenses out of glass, it was REALLY loud, high pitched noise. Hell, we just turned up the radio louder so we could hear it.....I wish I would have had ear protection then.

 

I think im going to contact marshall amps about some compensation
But in all seriousness, I have the same issue, If there is any background noise , Im screwed, all I hear is a blur of noise, I hate having to ask people to repeat things. I always bring ear plugs if im going to see bands play or work on the car with tools. We just got some ear muffs for the little kid too, so she can come to the track now. It really is important to protect your hearing.

 

20 years in the Navy. The ringing in both ears never goes away and it's just white noise to me unless I'm given a reason to think about it, like this thread...

 

I think this is nonsense and an urban myth perpetrated by doctors who really dont know. I know many older folks who are hard of hearing. One was even a librarian. I know factory workers who hear fine and many mechanics who ran an air gun daily who have no noticable loss and I know other who have some. In reality there doesnt seem to be a corelation despite all the myths, My wife has poor hearing and spent her time as an elementry school teacher. I have been around noise all my life and have some hearing loss but not much and i will be 60 soon. I think it is old age more than the other stuff. If this was so that noise caused hearing loss then every kid i know will be deaf by thirty listening to their boom boxes. I see my buddy who is into this idea trying to cut wood with his orange chainsaw pants ,protective jacket and gloves and goofy earmuffs. I think "why dont you just put on a skirt" You now have so much on you arent safe to work around because the stuff gets in the way and you cant hear nothin. Like trying to make love wearing gloves and a hard hat. I would not want to have lived never having heard open headers. Never having heard an indoor tractor pull , never having heard the snarl of a tuned pipe expansion chambered snowmobile at 10000rpm . Face it! Some of us get deaf later in life and some dont. It does not seem to be work related because it is universally spread accross the population. I think it is an urban myth based on what seems plausible but in fact i dont think it is so. What's that you say? I cant hear you! My minds already made up. I am tired of overprotected undernourished worriers.
Thank you Don

 

After 26 years in racing, I have a constant background eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee soundtrack going...

 

LOts of people who have never seen a race car do to it is caused by nerve damage, bad back soine injuries etc etc . too much signal on the line. Often found in folks who been in a car rollover as well.Sort of like an overload phone line.

 

I read an interview with J Mascis , from the band Dinosaur Jr. , he said they played so loud that he'd step on the Wah pedal during guitar solos and watch people fall down. If you lose your balance, thats freakin' loud. Trying to say that being exposed to loud sounds doesnt damage your hearing is BS.

 

I've been suffering from tinnitus for about 10 years now. Too much loud music and fast bikes.

You can find some help here http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

 

Thanks, I could have gone all day with out reading this and not noticing the ringing. Well mine is more of a quiet static instead of ringing, and I only notice it if it is quiet or something reminds me of it.
Most of mine is caused by me making my own fire cackers (actually more of a noise maker than a firecracker) when I was a teenager and now and then having one go off in my hand while I was making it. Stupid kids.

 

I grew up working in body shops, put food on the table for many years. Never gave a thought to ear protection. (and gave damn little thought to lung, skin, eye protection as well). About 5 or 6 years AFTER I got out of the trade I started losing my hearing. Docs said it was nerve damage/ scar tissue from the old days. I've lost roughly 40% of my hearing because I was to stupid to do what I knew needed to be done. I've had a constant ringing in my ears since about 1988.... If there are no immediate effects to the problem (loud noise, breathing paint chemicals, etc,) most people tend to ignore the warnings.

This stuff creeps on you over a long period of time and can ruin your quality of life and maybe even shorten your life by many years long after the exposure.

Pay attention when them beat-to-shit, all stove up old timers tell ya to be carefull, 'cause there's no turnin' back

The good news is that crickets, high pitched dogs, sirens, etc no longer annoy the shit out of me, 'cause I can't hear 'em.

Rich

 

I don't have the ringing, I hear voices all the time but it's O.K. they know me and really have good ideas sometimes .

 

I'm 22 and my most used word is huh? Or what? I still do what I can to slow it down but I guess there is no stopping it.

My Dad got hearing aids at 45, I guess it runs in the family.

 

Even with ear plugs, 30 years of fuel racing took its toll on my ears. The ringing never stops.

 

I'm 26 going on 27 and thanks to loud Stereos,Big subwoofers,air tools,grinders and engines with open headers i have problems hearing at times.I will be talking to someone and sometimes i will go deaf in my right ear and hear a loud like whistle sound and after a couple minutes it will go away.So now whenever i am in the garage or working i use earplugs and earmuffs.I was running an engine dyno in a test cell for caterpillar and would have to go into the test cell while that diesel engine was spinning at Full speed and load and even with plugs and muffs you could still hear that engine running!I was working in a factory for 3 years building heavy equipment before that and never used hearing protection and was always using an 1 inch impact with that banging away i wouldn't notice a difference in my hearing until i would get home at night.

 

I recently found a great aid for my hearing I take my index finger stick it by my ear and ask who ever to speak up I can't hear you... our car club meets every Wednesday for breakfast 25 to 35 guys all asking who? what? with most of them wearing 3 thousand dollar hearing aids I think I'm going to stick to my SPEAK UP aid.at least for time being........