My hearing has been bad for about two years now having moderate loss in the right and mild in the left. I have the Phonak hearings Aids which are supposed to be good. About a week ago my left ear started getting worse overnight. I got another test and now both ears are worse. Moderate in both. Weird thing is I lost low and mid pitch not high which would be typical for noise related loss. I have been exposed to loud noise my whole life I guess. Loud music, Guns, air shows, loud cars. But I think the worst and what did me in was work. I am constantly on demo sites and everything is loud. Right now they are water blasting paint off a ceiling. The pressure is so high it can cut a person in half. No joke. Bottom line guys wear hearing protection. Don’t take it for granted. It’s a life changing experience having to ask everyone to repeat things. Any background noise and forget it. I have to be careful when I say anything in a crowd as I have no idea how loud I am. Hey look at that girl! It can get you in trouble. I don’t Wish this on anyone.
Doctor has me on heavy dose of steroids trying to bring back some of the hearing. I don’t know if it’s going to work? It didn’t last time but I may have waited too long. These damn pills are making me jump out of my skin though. No sleep at all last night.
I can't hear high pitch sounds like electronic chimes, smoke alarms, wives. Same thing, years of exposure to loudness. dirt bikes , banging on metal, etc. I've been told once it's gone, it's gone. I'm resisting hearing aids that I should probably have.
Steve it makes life better. I spent extra to get the chargeable ones. Don’t need battery aggravation. Mine are pretty invisible.
Slow deterioration here. Probably from more then 40 years of flying general aviation aircraft - normally without hearing protection. I have yet to find a set of headphones that doesn't feel as if my head is in a C-clamp. Mostly the higher-pitched sounds are affected. I guess that this is common as one gets older.
Some time back I handled many hearing loss cases including the only one to go to our highest court. Some of the causes are ototoxic drugs, infections and genetics. Workplace noise is also a prime cause. Poor fit, due to variances in canal shapes, for certain types of hearing protection devices diminishes protection. Many are also unaware of exposure to vibration due to tactical induction through the musculoskeletal system—usually your feet.
Jim that’s crazy. I never thought vibration could be an issue? I now where double hearing protection if I shoot.
I’m Deaf . Worked in Bodyshop my whole life. Boom box. Led Zep. can’t play that low. Dumb. Because i chose this Profession. And Blind. Need glasses to read anything. But i’m 54. Thought that was the norm.
My Father in law is 76. He just got hearing aids. $4’000. I put them in. And you can not tell the difference. But you never say “what” or can you repeat that. They are amazing.
Steve, you are normal with the reading glasses. Most modern hearing aids are Tailored to your particular type of loss. They fill in the tones you are missing. Some are just amplifiers that increase volume.
Jim, interesting about the drugs. I took daily aspirin for a while. Could have led to my issues. I stopped. I didn’t want the stomach problems.
...add to list sub-standard protection devices per recent revelation by military... ...my steroid experience has been mixed, most successful for my arthritis, but they rev you up and don't like sunshine. Had lifetime battle with hearing loss; infections, noise, age, and surgeries. All decreased hearing, and clearly audiologists want to sell hearing aids. Surgical route to rebuild middle ear with titanium made hearing worse. Now I'm closely following hearing aid technology...
I have had yearly hearing tests for the last 30 years due to working in a factory. Found out I already had a hearing loss in my left ear in my mid-20s due to being on an open cab tractor growing up on a farm. My employer offers several types of hearing protection, from the full blown muffs to the orange plugs you roll up and put in your ear. I prefer the "christmas tree" type. Still have trending hearing loss, probably due to getting older. I am much more vigilant now about wearing hearing protection outside of work. Lawn mower, chain saw, air compressor running in my garage, etc.... Got several pairs of muffs hanging around to grab to wear for a few minutes when needed. Now, trying to get my son to wear hearing protection when needed? Sadly most of the time it falls on "deaf ears".
Deaf 100% in my left ear, except for tinnitus. 80% in my right. Most likely job related. Ran a large printing press sometimes at 800 FPM. Never knew that sound could penetrate your whole body. I recall when I was in my teens and early 20s going to concerts or a bar and saying this, "Wow what a great show my ears are still ringing." A warning from Nature but who listened? "There's ringing in my ears And no one to relate to except the sea" Peter Frampton
Mine ears were damaged in the Military. Got Phonak aides from the VA. They helped alot, but now they either need a tune up, or my ears have degraded more. Need to get in to the VA to have it all checked out again.
