Hearing safety--Something to think about

Mort

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This is a topic nobody talks about and I think its should be brought up, most people don't take it seriously enough.

We all get excited to be in the field shooting at what ever, but one never thinks about hearing protection.
I'm speaking of experience myself. Not going to shy away to let you all know I'm hard of hearing, so I wear hearing aids. Well about 2 weekends ago, I shot about 6 rounds total that day out of my 12 ga and I was trying to get in the habit of turning my aids down when I get out of truck to shoot, came up on some roosters and had to act quickly getting out of the truck after seeing a rooster go into a brush pile, walked alittle bit, and flushed more than one, emptied my gun, got 1, going back to the truck realized my right ear now ringing....shit not what I wanted. So, since then I haven't been out, but the ringing in the right ear is there and now its at the point, if I hear something really loud, it will make me lose my equilibrium alittle bit and thats not good. I did this before in the past and it healed, but it takes time, now I'm on that road again. So going forward, I'll have to wear my hearing muffs\turn the aids off when I shoot in the next outing.

Nice thing about todays hearing aids, they are all controlled through the Iphone/cell phone with an app.

Sometimes it makes me feel like I can't hear out of the right side, but I can, weird and don't like it.
I use my hearing muffs sighting in my rifle but never when I'm out shooting in the field, I will be going forward. I hope I can share with you my experience and hopefully educated someone, as this is not a fun experience I'm having right now and I'm hoping it'll pass in a couple of months I just have to now be careful of the noise around me, keep setting it off is the hard part.

Something to think about. Wearing hearing aids is not fun, but have had them all my life, I was born partially deaf due to mother having the measles, I don't like talking about this. Because when people find out about my deafness I feel they seemed not to want to be around me, I dunno, maybe thats just me.
 
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guywhofishes

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Yep, worn them all my life. Thank goodness. I have great hearing.

My mom's boyfriend is in his 80s. Worked heavy machinery all his life. Guns, drills, grinders, impact drivers, mowers, hammers, etc.... never wore hearing protection and still doesn't.

But he has excellent hearing. Figure that one out! :;:huh
 

Mort

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Yep, worn them all my life. Thank goodness. I have great hearing.

My mom's boyfriend is in his 80s. Worked heavy machinery all his life. Guns, drills, grinders, impact drivers, mowers, hammers, etc.... never wore hearing protection and still doesn't.

But he has excellent hearing. Figure that one out! :;:huh

Thats crazy....
 

Allen

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I generally don't wear hearing protection while hunting, but I wear it religiously when target shooting or operating heavy equipment. So far, so good...I think. I hear very well in quiet settings, but in noisy places I often think I have trouble holding a conversation with people because I think the background noise is too loud even though I see others having what appears to be less of a problem with carrying on a conversation. So I don't like going to loud places, or if I do I may wear ear plugs. $40-$70 buys some pretty nice electronic ear muffs nowadays.
 


JayKay

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I don't shoot a lot, but when I was a kid, shot indoors a lot. Between that, and loud music, and operating equipment, my hearing is terrible. It frustrates me all the time. I walk around, half in a bad mood, mad, because nobody speaks up. It's not fun.

When I'm in a restaurant, I can hear everything, but understand nothing. To compound matters, I have had a tympanoplasty twice, and still have reduced hearing in my right ear. Ossicular reconstruction too, this summer.

Hearing loss is serious. Does it kill you? No, but it sucks. And after walking around grumpy for the past 20 years, my wife might kill me. So, you could say it's deadly.

Seriously though. Concerts and loud music, shooting, even mowing the lawn. A person really should wear hearing protection.
 

johnr

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I nod a lot, and agree with people constantly, as it seems polite'r than constantly saying "what?"

effn sucks not hearing 40-50% of the conversations in a loud group, or event
 

SLE

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….. So far, so good...I think. I hear very well in quiet settings, but in noisy places I often think I have trouble holding a conversation with people because I think the background noise is too loud even though I see others having what appears to be less of a problem with carrying on a conversation. So I don't like going to loud places…………. ,

Thats a tell tale sign you have hearing loss. This was my problem also. Couldn’t clearly hear anything in a restaurant/ bar setting. Went in this summer at the ripe age of 41 to find out I have lost about 60-70% of my hearing in my left ear. The right was in pretty good shape thankfully. The audiologist knew immediately that I did a lot of shooting and I was right handed. I left that day with a demo set of hearing aids to try and I ordered a custom molded set molded ear plugs with filters. It sucks hunting with them, especially when I have relied on my hearing so heavily to hear birds getting up or the dogs beeper collar. Deer hunting this year has been done with full set of muffs, which is a must with my muzzle break. I wish someone would’ve harped on me more when I was younger as I’m paying the price now and I hope to have a-lot of years in front of me yet. It’s not just shooting though either, it’s loud music, concerts, power sports & heavy equipment. I used to be the guy with chrome straight pipe stacks on my tractor, and loud exhaust on all of my power sports equipment, not any more. The only thing I own that’s remotely loud now are the sleds but those are responsible compared to what I used to run.

I’m lucky as I don’t have ringing in my ears. And as an FYI for those that don’t know, there isn’t a thing they can do for you other than hearing aids and they aren’t a magic wand either. And FWIW, a set of hearing aids are around $5k+- and typically your insurance doesn’t cover them!

hope someone can learn for this, good topic.

- - - Updated - - -

The 3000 watts of amplified speakers in my pickup didn’t exactly help things either, lol. I do still crank it up on occasion but I’m much more mindful than in the past.
 

Colt45

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Right ear is at about 90% hearing capacity, left ear at about 40%, at least according to the hearing test tech dude, I get tested every year at work........... I attribute my left ear hearing loss to shotgun shooting, shot a ton in my youth, both hunting and some trap, never wore hearing protection so its my fault. I guess it is what it is, when I am out camping and the crickets and frogs and bugs are chirping and buzzing, I just put my right ear on the pillow and I don't hear a thing. And if I really want to hear of follow a conversation I have to lean in with my right ear, other than that I guess I just live with it.

For all you youngsters on this site, take care of your ears and wear protection when shooting or operating load tools and equipment, you wont regret it.
 


Mort

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This awesome guys, at least I'm not alone, and yeah, I used to listen to loud music...guilty as charged, but never got the ringing ears from that...think age plays a factor as to why they do now, damn sensitive now.

Keep sharing your insights.
 

Airwolf1972

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Lost most of my hearing while I was in my teens working construction, I believe it's around 75% loss if I remember right. Bit the bullet at around 35 and got hearing aids and it's 15 years later, and yes wearing them still does suck. I'm very guilty about not wearing them from time to time and the wife hates it and I get very annoyed with everyone and crabbier that fuck. Even with the hearing aids I find myself staying away from crowds and social events nowadays.

Wish I could go back and take better care of my hearing, but we are beyond that bridge.... hopefully some of you younger guys don't have to learn the hard way.
 

guywhofishes

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While my hearing is good, I loathe loud bar settings. I too can’t hear conversations in them.

And 90% of them are way louder than necessary. WTF… seems dumb to drive business away like that.

Its one of the key reasons we never go out to bars. The noise makes it unbearable for many people.
 

snow1

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I’m probably in trouble......

- - - Updated - - -

The 2 worst sounds: crying babies and grain Vacs.

Well windage,some guyz use lack of hearing as an escape,I call it selective hearing,most guyz have selective hearing iffin they've been married for a long time,either nod yes when the wife gripes or just say "yes dear alot"
or they can shut off the crying baby ....

On a side note,good friend/doctor I shoot with swears by "game ear plugs" he tells me they automatically shut down sharp sounds like gun shots and equalizes amibient sounds to a normal level...me? at my age I hear what I want when I want,might say huh? or what a few times iffin I'm interested in the convo,otherwise my pup doesn't speak so we're good around the house,no old lady to bark at me either.
 
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Retired Educator

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Pretty much in the same boat as everyone above. Finally gave in to my wife a few years ago and went to an audiologist. yes he recommend hearing aids so I relented and bought a pair. Expensive? yes. Would I do it again? In a minute. Don't find them difficult to wear. They do help in loud areas where I used to have a terrible time understanding the conversation. Do I hear every word? Nope, but I can carry on a conversation and can easily adjust the volume if needed. Some complain about wind noise but my aids don't give me that problem at all. The only thing I don't like is the price and don't understand why insurance doesn't pay for aids as it does seem to be a medical issue to me.

I do wear muffs when shooting targets but not hunting and don't notice any difference. I have thought about looking at the hunting type muffs to see how they work but for the younger people, don't take your hearing for granted. Wish I had used more protection when younger and maybe today I wouldn't be a part of this discussion.
 


NDbowman

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Like everyone else on here, I too suffer from hearing loss and ringing of the ears. I worked around loud equipment and tractors, shot lots of guns, hunted with a crazy unsafe bunch when i was a teenager, many times someone would touch of a round to close to your ear, or one goofy bastard fired a 243 over me and another guys head to scare us, he was on a porch and we were sitting below it, also blew up a 12 guage barrel. All that was without hearing protection. I got tested when I was 19 and was told my left ear was a candidate for a hearing aid. I wore ear plugs pretty much ever since while shooting, hunting, or around equipment. I don't think my hearing has gotten much worse but I really wish I'd wore hearing protection sooner and try to give people ear plugs when ever they come to target shoot if they don't have any.

I've wanted to try a custom set of electronic hearing protection ear plugs but haven't yet, years ago I tried walkers game ear and hated how the wind blowing on them made noise and didn't like the way normal sounds sounded.

Now i almost always carry a corded pair of 3M push in plugs. the ones you roll up and sitck in your ear are better but the pushin ones work better for me with dirty hands or if you need to remove them to hear someone.
 

BDub

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Huh?

Pretending to hear is a skill. But when you get caught you look stupid.
 

lunkerslayer

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https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/...the-connection-to-alzheimers-disease-dementia
Very important article for me knowing that my great grandfather and grandfather both had alzheimers and had terrible hearing. The new noise cancelling headphones have an ambient mode that actually helps you hear better and when somebody talks it shuts off the music. I too had subs when I was younger making it hard for me now to hear the lower frequencies like softer voices but I can hear higher frequencies quite well. I wear ear plugs for the one fact that that I read an article like the one I posted. Even in the treestand I wear ear protection just those cheap foam ones are more then adequate. Hardest thing in life is to see someone who you grew up to admire only to lose thier mind from alzheimers so if hearing loss can be linked to it I best try to protect myself against losing my hearing.
 

bucksnbears

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Good topic.
My hearing sucks and I'm starting to avoid going to places where there is al9t of nois4/people.
Wind and a loud fan really screw me up.
 

PrairieGhost

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My hearing was good until I got forgetful one day. I had loaded some really hot 300gr 44 mag. It was raining hard and no one was at the range. I pulled my pickup up to the range broadside and put a sandbag in the window. I was getting some rain in the vehicle so it was going to be two or three quick shots and back home. In my rush I forgot to put in my earplugs that I always use. Now it can be 20 below in January and I still get seranated by what sounds like a couple dozen crickets.
 


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