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how deaf are you? What?

4K views 68 replies 41 participants last post by  scoremaster 
#1 ·
Don't mumble and speak up!

My left ear of course, is 3/4 shot hearing voices and more than that for higher pitch sounds. Right ear is still pretty good with no hearing aid required.
my mileage may vary
 
#33 ·
[
Please fill me in on the BAHA implant. Sounds like that would be the answer.
When I was young hearing protection was like what "The Duke" said about apologizing....."It's a sign of weakness", then I got into big blocks in Jeeps when mufflers were for sissies OMG. Ahh the smell nitro methane in the morning.[/QUOTE]

BAHA implants have been around a few years. Mine is made by Oticon and uses a titanium stud implanted(drilled and screwed) into the side of my head behind ear. It has forward and back microphones that pick up sound then transmits the vibrations through the skull to good ear. Amazing technology! They also cut off at anything that would further damage hearing. My son graduated with a couple of twins that were born deaf on both sides, they wear a pair of these and you would never know they were born without hearing.
Expensive but I had good insurance and audiologist wrote out prescription as medically necessary so covered 100% by insurance.
 
#34 ·
It has been my observation that wimmin have always had better hearing.

Use caution, less you misinterpret whot you just read. ;)

Whot?

Oh.
--

"You'll have to speak louder; he doesn't speak a werd of engrish." :D
--

I'm seeing a lot of stuff that I don't need to hear, to know it ain't right.
--

I do wonder whot an ant lion says to an approaching ant, if anything. And back when my ears werked as a yute, I couldn't Tonto that. It didn't keep me from trying.. could be a gender thing. Young boys being curious about most things. I dunno. Ant eaters that I've seen have relatively small ears; go figure. Must they have good hearing? Possibly not. I would have thot there would be a lot of conversation in an ant hill, until I learned they communicate by scent.

I also learned that regardless of wot's being said, if it don't smell right, it prolly isn't good.

Lots of things have a scent, inclusive of birds.

Some dogs sent to find them don't hear very good.
 
#38 · (Edited)
I'm half deaf. That's what I told the tech before my last hearing test and when we were finished she said I was right, I'm half deaf. Lower register is still pretty good, upper, not so great. My main problems are with women that have high pitched voices that talk fast and making out conversation with high background noise. I don't wear hearing aids yet. I have friends and relatives that do and they seem to spend more time having problems than use and still can't hear all that well. I'm just not ready to add that frustration yet. Considering the abuse my ears have suffered over the years I think I'm doing much better than I should in the hearing department.
 
#39 ·
I don't wear hearing aids yet. I have friends and relatives that do and they seem to spend more time having problems than use and still can't hear all that well. I'm just not ready to add that frustration yet.
One of the major problems that hearing aid wearers have is feedback, a result of not having properly fitting ear molds (or hearing aids themselves for the in-the-canal or in-the-ear hearing aids). If the molds do not fit the ear well, sound leaks around the mold and feedback occurs, producing the squeals that drive people crazy. Way too many people simply assume that the problem is inherent and don't wear their hearing aids, instead of going back to their audiologist and having the fit problem rectified. I have worn hearing aids for 30 years and have found that over time, the ear canal gradually changes share, requiring new ear molds to cure the feedback problems that ultimately result.

If you need hearing aids, you are doing yourself a disservice to refuse to get them simply because you think they will cause problems. If problems occur, it is the responsibility of your audiologist to correct those problems but he/she can't do so unless they are informed of the issues you are having. Buying them and then not wearing seems really silly to me.
 
#40 ·
Sitting right now in my office wearing ear plugs. The ventilation system has one speed and it is very loud. Requested it to be looked into before we moved into this solitary confinement office space. The idiot we report to ignored it. Instead of taking care of the problem, we had weekly furniture meetings where he showed us different layouts. He never addressed the noise problem. When we moved into the office in November 2018, Mr. Spinless announced to us he will have nothing to do with the noisy ventilation problem. Basically take it up with someone else.
 
#44 ·
Left ear is shot, right ear is salvageable but still struggle with background noise drowning out specifically softspoken women's voices. Perk of hearing loss when your young is brain adapts in some ways more so then when old I think. Didn't realize how much I relied on reading lips till panic pandemic set in. Between masks and sneeze guards it was about impossible to communicate. Fortunately the few stores frequented by yours truly have understanding staff. When working my hearing aid isn't ever in, one cashier was always good about dropping her mask down and cranking the volume.

Up side is drowning out background noise when trying to sleep, just roll my head to the right side. Put the good ear on the pillow and sleep through the sirens, lawn mowers, snoring, engine noise. Etc....

Upside of just about everything.
 
#48 ·
What’s sad is the strip mall hearing aid places rip folks off. My mother after spending $3500 out of pocket has a hearing aid that does nothing. Nerve damage same as mine cannot be fixed with making it louder. An ENT specialist would have ordered an MRI before sending her to an audiologist.
They likely would have prescribed the same BAHA that they did for me and it would have been covered 100% by Medicare. Even my work insurance said no coverage of in ear hearing aids but covered the implant.
 
#50 ·
For some time my physician was recommending I get a hearing test. I knew I had lost some hearing, especially high frequencies.

I had the test January 2019, right before I went on Medicare. ENT folks did the testing. I ended up with hearing aids. When I next visited my doc he told me that most people don't wear em. I hate to say it, considering how expensive these things are, I haven't used mine on a regular basis for about a year.

They do work. I can watch TV when wearing them with the volume turned down about 25%. With them I don't need CC. With em I find I'm reading TV (CC) instead of watching.

I first knew I had lost high frequency in school at Purdue. The physics teacher played various frequencies for the entire class. We were to raise our hands as we could hear. Lower our hands when we couldn't. My hand was one of the last to go down at low frequencies and among the first at high frequencies.

Later, as a wildlife biologist I conducted woodcock singing surveys in early May. These are the early evening mating calls of this bird. The male spirals straight up in the air singing. I didn't hear a single bird in about three years of the surveys. The DNR had all of us take a hearing test. Found out I couldn't hear the song, so I was taken off this survey.

I can hear grouse drumming (low frequency) but not woodcock.

I was terrible at wearing hearing protection with firearms until about age 26 or so. I had been figuring out patch and powder loads for a muzzleloader without protection.
 
#51 ·
Later, as a wildlife biologist I conducted woodcock singing surveys in early May. These are the early evening mating calls of this bird. The male spirals straight up in the air singing. I didn't hear a single bird in about three years of the surveys. The DNR had all of us take a hearing test. Found out I couldn't hear the song, so I was taken off this survey.
:p :p
 
#52 ·
I have hearing loss, mostly high frequency. My right ear is worse. I suspect it was caused by a friend firing a Garand a few feet from me before I had my earpro on, 25 years ago.

I mostly shoot suppressed now, and if anyone is shooting something extra loud (50BMG, .338 Lapua, rifle caliber SBR etc), I will double up with plugs and muffs.
 
#53 · (Edited)
Hearing aid on the right, soon to be on the left. The collateral damage of a misspent youth eking out a living as a musician in bars, where the right ear was always facing my monitor. I pulled my right earplug out too often to hear my vocals on the monitor.

My aid is pretty comfortable; so comfortable that occasionally I check to be sure it’s there because I’ve grown so used to it I don’t feel it.

I wear it religiously because I realized the face I’d make that says “I didn’t understand you because I didn’t hear clearly“, is the same face that says “I didn’t understand you because I’m an idiot.” I’d rather not have every other person I talk to misinterpreting that face.

I’ve also explained to a lot of people that the problem with my ears is very similar to the problem with their eyes. I’m not really “deaf”, just as they’re not really “blind”. I can still hear, and they can still see, but neither of us can focus very well. They wear glasses because they can’t focus well enough to clearly see certain images. I wear a hearing aid because I can’t focus well enough to clearly hear certain sounds.
 
#54 ·
My ears have been going since before I graduated high school. Back in the day when I started shooting, there was never talk of ear plugs of any kind. I do not remember ever seeing them in a gun store. We went to the range and nobody had any hearing protection. We knew to expect for our ears to ring for the next week after a range session. Now both of my ears hiss all day long. I do not wear a hearing aid yet, but I am sure I need them, but will never be able to afford them. My old boss, he talked about his costing him 7K for both. He owned the company so he had the money.
 
#55 ·
I have to add. My first guns I was shooting without hearing protection was my first .22 and my Grandfathers old 30-30 and 16ga. Then I got .243 Win with varmint loads and that REALLY made me say what for a day or so. I,m sure that was a big beginning of hearing damage. I did get muffs after that.
 
#57 ·
In my teens I had friends (siblings, two guys and a girl) who had their Grandparents living with them. Their Scottish-Gaelic was nearly unintelligible to me. Grandma was apt to talk a lot. I just nodded and smiled most of the time.

One time Grandma started telling a long story. I noticed Grandpa take his hearing aids out, fiddle with them, then put them back in. I asked my friend if he was turning up the volume. He replied...

"No, he was turning them off."
 
#58 ·
I'm

with you Al. 30 years operating a locomotive has taken its' toll. High pitches I hardly hear. Low pitches I'm good. Wore ear protection for years when shooting and qualifying as a LEO. Operating an Amtrak train from Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI six days a week really did it. 138 highway-rail grade crossings to whistle at 4 blasts per crossing, culminating in six round trips at 6,624 whistle blasts! I'm lucky I hear anything.

Locomotives back then were equipped with the horn directly above the control cab - right above me. Now, after all the lawsuits, most horns are located in the middle of the roof and the cabs are air conditioned which was unheard of when I operated. Consequently, during the hot days, the windows were open.

Like anything today, equipment, machines, etc, have gotten much quieter because of the enhanced technology.

Pat G
 
#59 ·
I'm lucky my ears aren't any worse than they are. Got some moderate hearing loss instead of severe. Can still hear most things unless its high pitched then its a little muted, and thankfully no tinnitus. Considering I spent several years riding a tank, and wasn't too good about using ear pro except at gunnery. Then there are the concerts. Many, many, many concerts. Also was fairly lax about ear pro when shooting when I was younger but wised up there quick. At least most places I've worked have been fairly strict on PPE so at least have that going for me, along with regular testing.
Now days when I'm shooting anything bigger than a 22 I double up with plugs and muffs, plugs only with the 22s. Concerts now I wear plugs designed just for that purpose, and tend to stay back from the stage a bit too, instead of right down front. Doing everything I can to protect what's left.
 
#61 ·
Left ear is worse. I was ballistically adding vent holes to a new burn barrel with my .380. The foam plugs didn't expand so well in the near zero temperature. One fell out as I touched off one round that the curved surfaces sent back to me in perfect focus. I dropped to my knees it was so intense and painful. The sine wave in the ear started after that.

Funny thing now, is I seldom hear it but I have 50 dB attenuation in that ear.

Another thing is I can't stand modern boom boxes. I only hear the base and it cuts though my hearing protection at work. I don't hear the higher freqs.

One hitch in the Marines fixing F4's, 40+ years working in factories, I've tried to be careful when shooting but that one time got me.
 
#64 ·
Best thing for punching holes in burn barrels is a pick, like on a pickaxe or pick-mattock. I used to struggle to put those vent holes in steel drums but one day two and two added up and my brain made the connection to "hey, I'll bet that pick would do that great" and it did.

My hearing got attentuated from multiple fronts; gunfire, concerts, powerful autosound systems, 35 years of construction work and nerve damage from autoimmune assault. All of that damage adds up to equal deafness. Not hearing is bad enough, the tinnitus is awful. :eek:
 
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