This is real. I had a buddy temporarily loose partial hearing in one ear when scaffolding shifted next to him, the crack was so loud it hurt. He left work to get it checked out, extremely anxious because he was only 25 and a musician - and good thing he did.
My dad, who worked on airplanes his whole life —one of those man’s men who doesn’t need things like gloves and goggles, well, he’s mostly deaf now and it took three years for the military to clear his doctor’s appointments and get him hearing aids. We can’t talk on the phone anymore.
You can get custom fitted earplugs for specific decibel ranges now, which is what my construction buddy got. I have a pair myself for raves and concerts, and I can hear people next to me just fine.
You go do some loud crap, concerts and such, don’t really care. One day, you’re sitting there and notice a ringing tone. It’s not necessarily loud, but constant like someone has a high speed fan running the background. Whatever frequency level your dammage is in, your brain fills in the gaps with a constant sound. Nothing and nowhere are ever quiet again. When you’re in a noisy situation where the noise is in the range of what remaining hearing frequencies you can still work with, you can’t hear anyone over. and as things progress, you can lose more ranges and the ringing can get louder and in different frequencies.
I’m a lefty in a very red state. Everytime I go to the gun range, there is some idiot without ear pro. Now I took care of my hearing, even going so far as to wear earplugs at concerts(which invited a ton of teasing). Even then I have had short bouts of tinnitus and it fucking sucks!
The one pleasure I draw from this is knowing their unpleasant future.
I bet they don’t wear ear pro at the range because they’re already deaf. Even at the most red-necking shooting parties, hurling skeets in the quarry, we’re stringent on safety and covering our damn ears. One friend of a friend refused and I was like “You either put on the ears or I will lovingly hold your head while you shoot, you pick.”
I bought my wife noise cancelling ear plugs for sleeping because I (in her words) snore like a pig. She has several recordings to back that up. So I bought her these noise cancelling earplugs (Soundcore A20 in case anyone is interested) in the hopes it will allow her to sleep. I will eventually get surgery done for it, because I also have apnea.
She hasn’t put them to the test yet because it’s not always that she can’t sleep, but I hope they will serve her well.
You can get custom fitted earplugs for specific decibel ranges now, which is what my construction buddy got. I have a pair myself for raves and concerts
Not just that, but giants of acoustics, like Sennheiser and AKG — don’t remember exactly who — make earplugs for musicians or concert-goers. With which one gets good sound, but quieter.
I work is a loud environment, and didn’t take it as seriously as I should’ve, and just wore regular earbuds because I wanted to be able to listen to music over the noise of the machinery. I don’t have it as bad as either of those cases you mentioned, but definitely noticed that I couldn’t hear as well by my mid 20s, and it takes very little background noise to prevent me from being able to following a conversation.
Now I am pretty good about wearing earplugs, and have bone conduction headphones that I can use with them, and the sound comes through clear even at low volume with the ear pro in. I would highly recommend them if that is part of anyones hangup around wearing ear pro.
I don’t know specifics. He went to the doctor, they sent him to a hearing specialist, who said he’d be fine but to mind loud environments for the next while (which he told me at a loud bar that night.) He mentioned ADHD and forgetting/not feeling like grabbing his ears on site when he wasn’t around tools, so they figured earbuds he could wear all day long were the best way to protect his dumbass from himself.
I once offered a co-worker earplugs and he declined saying he was fine listening to music on his earbuds for protection (not ANC, just regular earbuds). I didn’t bother arguing.
Jokes aside, I’m gonna ruin the fun here.
This is real. I had a buddy temporarily loose partial hearing in one ear when scaffolding shifted next to him, the crack was so loud it hurt. He left work to get it checked out, extremely anxious because he was only 25 and a musician - and good thing he did.
My dad, who worked on airplanes his whole life —one of those man’s men who doesn’t need things like gloves and goggles, well, he’s mostly deaf now and it took three years for the military to clear his doctor’s appointments and get him hearing aids. We can’t talk on the phone anymore.
You can get custom fitted earplugs for specific decibel ranges now, which is what my construction buddy got. I have a pair myself for raves and concerts, and I can hear people next to me just fine.
Protect your hearing, you won’t get it back.
Sounds like a real loss.
And if that doesn’t scare them enough… Tinnitus
You go do some loud crap, concerts and such, don’t really care. One day, you’re sitting there and notice a ringing tone. It’s not necessarily loud, but constant like someone has a high speed fan running the background. Whatever frequency level your dammage is in, your brain fills in the gaps with a constant sound. Nothing and nowhere are ever quiet again. When you’re in a noisy situation where the noise is in the range of what remaining hearing frequencies you can still work with, you can’t hear anyone over. and as things progress, you can lose more ranges and the ringing can get louder and in different frequencies.
I’ve worked in eye care. Simply put, wear your fucking goggles.
I’m a lefty in a very red state. Everytime I go to the gun range, there is some idiot without ear pro. Now I took care of my hearing, even going so far as to wear earplugs at concerts(which invited a ton of teasing). Even then I have had short bouts of tinnitus and it fucking sucks!
The one pleasure I draw from this is knowing their unpleasant future.
My Bloody Valentine was on tour this year and they continue to require everyone to wear earplugs.
Holy crap that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time!
And good for them! Those Irish bands tend to be on the ball it seems.
I bet they don’t wear ear pro at the range because they’re already deaf. Even at the most red-necking shooting parties, hurling skeets in the quarry, we’re stringent on safety and covering our damn ears. One friend of a friend refused and I was like “You either put on the ears or I will lovingly hold your head while you shoot, you pick.”
I bought my wife noise cancelling ear plugs for sleeping because I (in her words) snore like a pig. She has several recordings to back that up. So I bought her these noise cancelling earplugs (Soundcore A20 in case anyone is interested) in the hopes it will allow her to sleep. I will eventually get surgery done for it, because I also have apnea. She hasn’t put them to the test yet because it’s not always that she can’t sleep, but I hope they will serve her well.
Get a CPAP for yourself. If you have apnea then it’ll improve your quality of sleep immensely.
Hear, hear! It’s amazing how much a CPAP helps with apnea.
Not just that, but giants of acoustics, like Sennheiser and AKG — don’t remember exactly who — make earplugs for musicians or concert-goers. With which one gets good sound, but quieter.
I work is a loud environment, and didn’t take it as seriously as I should’ve, and just wore regular earbuds because I wanted to be able to listen to music over the noise of the machinery. I don’t have it as bad as either of those cases you mentioned, but definitely noticed that I couldn’t hear as well by my mid 20s, and it takes very little background noise to prevent me from being able to following a conversation.
Now I am pretty good about wearing earplugs, and have bone conduction headphones that I can use with them, and the sound comes through clear even at low volume with the ear pro in. I would highly recommend them if that is part of anyones hangup around wearing ear pro.
What kind of treatment did your buddy get after that sudden exposure?
I don’t know specifics. He went to the doctor, they sent him to a hearing specialist, who said he’d be fine but to mind loud environments for the next while (which he told me at a loud bar that night.) He mentioned ADHD and forgetting/not feeling like grabbing his ears on site when he wasn’t around tools, so they figured earbuds he could wear all day long were the best way to protect his dumbass from himself.
I once offered a co-worker earplugs and he declined saying he was fine listening to music on his earbuds for protection (not ANC, just regular earbuds). I didn’t bother arguing.