Protect Your Hearing

[gotto]

I am on the road towards hearing aids it seems.   I lost my high frequency hearing in my left ear by the time I had graduated from dental school, informed of this when I went into service with Uncle Sam and had a hearing evaluation. The high speed drill is the culprit there. 4 years ago I had a hearing test and had normal hearing in my right ear and significant HF loss in the left, as before noted. I began playing amplified music in groups just about that time after a 3+ decade away from it and in the last two years, after playing at my drummers left side, noticed considerable changes in my right ear. A hearing test 2 weeks ago revealed profound HF loss in both ears now. I had moved away from the amp and drums several weeks ago and have sporadically worn custom ear plugs that I had made last year but the damage is done. Time for a change. 

 

I plan to discuss all with my band tonight at practice . I also will be reviewing with the audiologist soon when I am fitted with aids as to whether I can  continue to play  amplified music. Who said rock and roll never dies.....Sigh

Greg

Edited March 15, 2018 by gotto

[Odie]

6 minutes ago, gotto said:

I am on the road towards hearing aids it seems.   I lost my high frequency hearing in my left ear by the time I had graduated from dental school, informed of this when I went into service with Uncle Sam and had a hearing evaluation. The high speed drill is the culprit there. 4 years ago I had a hearing test and had normal hearing in my right ear and significant HF loss in the left, as before noted. I began playing amplified music in groups just about that time after a 3+ decade away from it and in the last two years, after playing at my drummers left side, noticed considerable changes in my right ear. A hearing test 2 weeks ago revealed profound HF loss in both ears now. I had moved away from the amp and drums several weeks ago and have sporadically worn custom ear plugs that I had made last year but the damage is done. Time for a change. 

 

I plan to discuss all with my band tonight at practice . I also will be reviewing with the audiologist soon when I am fitted with aid as to whether I can  continue to play  amplified music. Who said rock and roll never dies.....Sigh

Greg

Greg , , ,  Know what you mean. Been there/done that but was very fortunate. While returning from a Germany trip (Military), my right ear popped on the plane. Felt no pain and had a sinus infection at the time, when that cleared, was almost deaf in the right ear but could hear buzzing. Come to find out, some 10-12 years later in the 1990's, had surgery in Memphis, TN, to replace the stirrup with a straight and very tiny tube. Hearing was back to normal as there was no nerve damage nor auditory hair damage. The background is that I had a lot of tonsillitis issues accompanied by ear fluid in the 1960's, which the doc said contributed to the hearing failure (growth on the stirrup). Have been VERY protective of my hearing as I'm a competitive rifle shooter and wear DOUBLE hearing protection and now a swimmer for daily exercise and wear good ear plugs and even wear hearing protection mowing/weed eating/etc. Wore a hearing aid for a while, which was frustrating with the background noise and had to place phone up to good ear. Anyway, best of luck as there's probably been some hearing aid improvements, since the 1990's.  

[BobatSV]

Greg -

My audiogram drops off a cliff between 3kHz and 8kHz, so I now have hearing aids...and my guitar sounds different.  Lots of bad habits in my youth and 3 yrs in the engine room of a submarine did not help.  Most industries now require hearing protection around 80 to 85 dB and OSHA requirements start at and above 90 dB.  Here is a link to a common noise chart:

http://www.noisehelp.com/noise-level-chart.html

Rock and roll band at 110dB.  There you go.

Bob

[matonanjin]

My wife really gets tired of having to repeat for me what was said on a television show.  I can't remember what the chart showed as far as what frequencies are my problem.  The only reason I haven't gotten my hearing aid is probably due to not wanting to self admit that I'm getting old and need one. 

There is also no doubt in my mind that at least part of the cause of my hearing loss is decades of listening to music at pain levels.

Edited to add:  I have also suffered from Tinnitus most of my adult life.

[The deuce]

I have lost hearing in my right ear because of excess fluid in the middle ear. After steroid injections to the middle ear along with other procedures done, my hearing has not improved. I have had hearing hearing aids now for about 4 months. Something that surprised me was that my hearing loss was not a gradual loss but all happened suddenly. Because I listen to my guitar playing mostly with the right ear I do not get a true sound feedback with hearing aids. Hearing aids today are very advanced with many program options but nothing can replace natural hearing. I grew up when sun screen, eye protection, ear protection etc were seldom used therefore we experience issues today because of those wrong decisions. Though my hearing loss was not a result of not using ear protection, I would strongly urge everyone playing a music instrument to pay attention to the ears. 

[Grog]

On 3/16/2018 at 4:36 AM, matonanjin said:

My wife really gets tired of having to repeat for me what was said on a television show.  I can't remember what the chart showed as far as what frequencies are my problem.  The only reason I haven't gotten my hearing aid is probably due to not wanting to self admit that I'm getting old and need one. 

There is also no doubt in my mind that at least part of the cause of my hearing loss is decades of listening to music at pain levels.

Edited to add:  I have also suffered from Tinnitus most of my adult life.

I always thought that having my hearing diminish helped make a happy marriage........

[matonanjin]

11 minutes ago, Grog said:

I always thought that having my hearing diminish helped make a happy marriage........

"Two sides to every coin"?