Tinnitus (Ringing in the Ears)

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  • CallSign Snafu

    Sharpshooter
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    22   0   0
    Apr 3, 2015
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    Indy
    Just wondering if anybody else has a mild case of ear ringing from shooting over the years? Is there anything you do to help relieve it?
    Hoping I'm not the only one out there.
     

    KellyinAvon

    Blue-ID Mafia Consigliere
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    6   0   0
    Dec 22, 2012
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    Just wondering if anybody else has a mild case of ear ringing from shooting over the years? Is there anything you do to help relieve it?
    Hoping I'm not the only one out there.
    Diesel tractor engines, jet aircraft, loud music, and oh yeah, shooting most of my life. If you need hearing aids they can be programmed to cancel the ringing. Other than that I don't know. My hearing must be getting better, I'm hearing the ringing sound better...
     

    jzwhts

    Marksman
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    18   0   0
    Aug 13, 2012
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    Mooresville
    Factories many years. It's weird that sometimes its worse than others. I guess that is normal. I always wear hearing protection mowing or any thing loud. I just turned 50 and have started to notice it. I don't really have any hearing trouble right now, but do everything I can to protect it.
     

    mcapo

    aka Bandit
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    10   0   0
    Mar 19, 2016
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    East of Hoosier45 - West of T-dogg
    My left ear has been ringing for years. Doctors have said that (unless you have an issue in your ear) it’s permanent.

    But I wouldn’t rely upon INGO for medical advice. Ask you doctor for a referral.
     

    DeadeyeChrista'sdad

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    35   0   0
    Feb 28, 2009
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    winchester/farmland
    Factories, shooting, and rock and roll.

    Somehow it makes me feel better that Archer has it. I don't know why.

    I have heard there are medications, but I'm not crazy about pills, or most doctors.

    Nurses, on the other hand....
     

    gregkl

    Outlier
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    33   0   0
    Apr 8, 2012
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    Bloomington
    Yup, have it. Probably from hand held circular saws, shooting when I was a kid, other power tools too. Really not fixable. The doc I went to said you could try some of those pills and he even sells them but he doesn't think any of it works.

    I just live with it. Sometimes I don't notice. Most of the time I do. I have a white noise generator for sleeping. Otherwise our world is loud enough that I can cope.

    Speaking of nurses though; my audiologist who performed the hearing test on me was hot. And she laughed when she asked me a question and I said; "WHAT?" :) And then said that was the first time she ever heard that one.:):
     

    roscott

    Master
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    39   1   0
    Mar 1, 2009
    1,652
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    To any of the younger guys reading this:

    Wear ear pro!
    Buy a suppressor!
    Turn your music down!

    I’m not even an old guy yet, but I don’t doubt I’ll have the same hearing problems when I’m older, due to poor decisions when I was younger. I’m not looking forward to it.
     

    Salty

    Unwokeable
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    13   0   0
    Nov 8, 2015
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    Indianapolis
    My tinnitus sounds like cicadas. I remember the first time I noticed it was in bed at night. I thought someone left a window open and asked my wife if she heard the cicadas. I don't usually notice it unless I think about it, then it's there. I also have trouble understanding conversations in noisy crowds now so I try to avoid that. Some day I will break down and get some hearing aids.
     

    gregkl

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    Apr 8, 2012
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    To any of the younger guys reading this:

    Wear ear pro!
    Buy a suppressor!
    Turn your music down!

    I’m not even an old guy yet, but I don’t doubt I’ll have the same hearing problems when I’m older, due to poor decisions when I was younger. I’m not looking forward to it.

    That's what happened to me. I never thought a circular saw would do damage. Heck, even a lawnmower can. And a string trimmer. For sure. There are so many noises that I didn't think about when I was younger and when I told the doc what I did, he said that my tinnitus was caused by me, not getting older.
     

    Hohn

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    1   0   0
    Jul 5, 2012
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    USA
    I'm fortunate. As a musician, I've often been around older guys who have spent many years next to an explosive drummer or a raging Marshall half stack. They are all deaf as a post, like an artillery officer. I learned young to go ear pro. Even just for power tools. Even just for the mower. Or the trimmer. Or any saw. Or any air tool. Or, say a B1-B in full afterburner.

    Doubling up sounds more effective than it really is, it gives you about 5-6db more at best. Not completely useless, but far less than the first 30db you get from quality ear pro.

    Impulse sounds are less damaging than sustained sounds. One or two cracks of the pistol without ear pro does far less damage than hours of loud IPod music blaring in your ear buds.

    (NOTE: IF YOU LIKE HEARING, DO NOT USE EARBUDS/EarPods). Get some on the ear or over the ear phones or a headset.

    Blaring sound directly into your middle ear is a terrible idea.

    Using your outer ear as it was intended (as a natural focus of sound) allows you to hear better at lower volume levels.
     
    Last edited:

    Expat

    Pdub
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    23   0   0
    Feb 27, 2010
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    My tinnitus sounds like cicadas. I remember the first time I noticed it was in bed at night. I thought someone left a window open and asked my wife if she heard the cicadas. I don't usually notice it unless I think about it, then it's there. I also have trouble understanding conversations in noisy crowds now so I try to avoid that. Some day I will break down and get some hearing aids.
    Ditto exactly. I am glad I have the cicadas chattering instead of ringing. Told the doc about it. He didn’t seem all that interested.
     

    24Carat

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    1   0   0
    Aug 20, 2010
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    Newburgh
    My origins: Holding a squat switch on the right main gear of an F-4 Phantom, sitting in a concrete arch hanger for a double engine, stage 10 Afterburner run up for generator checks.

    Ear plugs and com headset on.

    I came to laying on the ground with the pilot saying " Chief, are you still there? Chief, are you alright? "

    Mine is a high pressure steam escaping sound but thankfully, loud R&R masks it real well !!
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Aug 18, 2011
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    My tinnitus sounds like cicadas. I remember the first time I noticed it was in bed at night. I thought someone left a window open and asked my wife if she heard the cicadas. I don't usually notice it unless I think about it, then it's there. I also have trouble understanding conversations in noisy crowds now so I try to avoid that. Some day I will break down and get some hearing aids.
    ^^^This^^^ Cicadas, crickets and tree frogs... Fortunately those are sounds I like! It's always a summer evening in my head. :)
     
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