Hearing loss

Keith Molden · Oct 17, 2016

My wife has been saying for years that I have selective hearing. Well, I had an appointment at audiology in the V.A. hospital today and they have ordered hearing aids for both ears. I haven't been able to hear if there is something running or someone else talking, it all just sounds like everyone is mumbling. I spent 11 years in the military with most of it in either tank or artillery units, even tho I was a welder, I went on tank tables with the M-88. We never even gave it a thought about hearing protection. That along with listening to tractors & equipment for all these years seems to have done me in. They said there is no cure for the constant ringing so I get to live with it. You young guys kinda need to think about hearing protection even if it's only ear plugs, they're cheap compared to loosing your hearing. Just saying, Keith

jon f mn · Oct 17, 2016

Just got my new hearing aids this morning.

Jon Erickson · Oct 17, 2016

Hearing protection IS important and easy to do. Use hearing protection even when mowing lawn.

Zachary Hoyt · Oct 17, 2016

i wear earmuffs for several hours a day, when I am running woodworking tools in the shop, on the tractor, running the sawmill or anything with a motor or an engine. I figure I should try to save my ears as much as I can.
Zach

Bruce from Can. · Oct 17, 2016

Never gave hearing a thought, like most young fellas. Now after spending countless hours on open tractors, with my head turned , to look over my right shoulder, my left ear has limited hearing. For example, I cannot use a telephone with my left ear. I never use any equipment without ear plugs now. Tractors without cabs, or old cabs that are not sound proofed , like my old 966 IH, running a chain saw, rototiller, or lawn mower, ear plugs are a must. Carry them in my pocket at all times. Too bad I hadn't started 40 years ago!

RBoots · Oct 17, 2016

I always wear ear plugs when cutting wood or running a working tractor. If I'm puttering around the yard I don't. But, I should start wearing them when mowing. I had been wearing ear plugs in my truck at work. Whenever I am scraping roads, if my wife calls, she says she doesn't know how I can stand it in there. She says my Bluetooth picks up all of the scraping sound and turbo noise. I know the turbo noise is bad, and when you shut it off at the end of the day, everything else sounds so quiet after all that no is gone. I need to get back to wearing ear plugs in my truck, but I will be getting a lot newer truck that is much quieter soon, so we'll see how that goes.

tomstractorsandtoys · Oct 17, 2016

Yep, I thought the strait pipe on my 4020 was cool. Now I have to ask could you repeat that alot.I started wearing ear plugs as well. Tom

CenTex Farmall · Oct 17, 2016

In my college days years ago I worked part time in a machine shop for several years. The full time guys made fun of me because I wore ear plugs. In regular conversation they said "huh" a lot and leaned in when talking.
Now I'm about the age that most of those guys were then and can still hear the high pitched whine whenever a CRT is switched on.

JD Seller · Oct 17, 2016

I have some hearing loss in my left ear as well. It is not bad enough to need hearing aids yet. Too many year running loud equipment. I really think one of the worst things is the hammer mill running real dry corn. It just screams. I do have ear muffs for that job now.

I have trouble wearing ear plugs. They make everything sound like I am under water. After a few minutes I get headaches from the feelings. The ones I have tried are the foam ear plugs. I have the little ones you squeeze together and then they expand in your ear. These drive me nuts. The ones with a head band are better but still bother me. So about the only ones I am half way comfortable with are the ear muff type. Then they are hot and sweaty in the summer. LOL

Any light weight ear plugs other then the foam ones????

Mike(NEOhio) · Oct 18, 2016

I posted a long reply on jon f's post yesterday. I was a die maker. Started at nineteen and was around the punch presses for years. At 24 I got an ear infection from the sponge type plugs. I had chronic infections for 25 years until I found a doc who finally cured it for good. That left my eardrums scarred and added to the nerve damage, one ear is 85-90 db across all the frequencis.

Keith Molden · Oct 18, 2016

I read your post after I posted this. I won't get mine until Dec.16th. If you would, keep us psoted about them. It seems some folks like them and some don't. Keith

1970-1655 · Oct 18, 2016

When I was younger, I thought running the tractors without muffler sounded great, especially if it had a turbo. I also helped on a couple of dirt track cars. Then a couple of years drag racing. After that, I got into garden tractor pulling. Add to that 40 years working in a noisy factory.

I used the foam ear plugs for a few years after my hearing went down hill some. Then I got a bad bacteria infection in my right ear and lost over half the hearing in that ear. Doctor told me it was from the ear plugs. Since then, I use ear muffs. A lot of the time I use ones like used for hunting. Has a microphone so I can hear better but if noise level is over a certain level, it blocks it. When mowing, I have ear muffs with radio or I can plug my MP3 player in.

Goose · Oct 18, 2016

I have, and wear, an assortment of musician's ear plugs. They don't block all sound, just attenuate it by 5db, 10db, 15db, etc. I use different ones, depending on the situation. They're just enough to cut the noise without blocking it altogether. You can research, and order, them online.

I wear the 5db ones in church, 'cause my old ears have a problem with a million dollar pipe organ.

Married2Allis · Oct 18, 2016

Went to a steam tractor show last weekend and was standing along the parade route. Where did each one blow their whistle? Right in front of me! Ears are still ringing and I cannot hear out of one ear.

GVSII · Oct 18, 2016

Younger folks are making a big mistake in not using some type of hearing protection.I was exposed to aircraft jet engine noise,gun fire and factory noise for 60+ years and didn't go without plugs or muffs,sometimes both.I still have very good hearing less some high freq.'s.

Farmall plowboy · Oct 18, 2016

Just to add my two cents, I have constant ringing which interferes with normal hearing and does at times cause me problems. I have to have a radio going just to distract me almost all the time. My ringing was caused from my time working in the boiler room on an aircraft carrier. I can't make people understand the problems I have hearing them (which have caused problems at work), I don't much like hanging around in groups because its hard to separate who's talking to who.... With all that said please wear hearing protection and start young.

dr sportster · Oct 18, 2016

Learned something here about the ear plugs causing infections. I think only muffs for me from now on. I worked on a Babcock and Wilcox power house boiler. The scream of the gas entering the boiler was unbearable with ear plugs and ear muffs . Both were required and I know I left some hearing on that job . I think the boiler burned two million cubic feet of natural gas an hour. Screaming loud. Only communication with a co-worker was written or hand signals. My dad has dual hearing aids .

rbhuntn · Oct 18, 2016

(quoted from post at 20:51:08 10/17/16) I have some hearing loss in my left ear as well. It is not bad enough to need hearing aids yet. Too many year running loud equipment. I really think one of the worst things is the hammer mill running real dry corn. It just screams. I do have ear muffs for that job now.

I have trouble wearing ear plugs. They make everything sound like I am under water. After a few minutes I get headaches from the feelings. The ones I have tried are the foam ear plugs. I have the little ones you squeeze together and then they expand in your ear. These drive me nuts. The ones with a head band are better but still bother me. So about the only ones I am half way comfortable with are the ear muff type. Then they are hot and sweaty in the summer. LOL

Any light weight ear plugs other then the foam ones????

I was at a gun show a couple of years back and there was a guy there making custom fit ear plugs. They have been all day comfortable on the tractor and other activities and are holding up well. They were a bit expensive at around $50 for a set but I will do it again when I need another set.

Hope this helps

BJ

JMS/.MN · Oct 18, 2016

I got mine thru VA a couple of years ago. They asked what I served in- told them, Demolition Sgt on a A-team in Special Forces. Said because of jumping out of loud aircraft, and doing explosives, I should get approved easily. I chose the behind the year model. Oticon is the brand- I see a lot of local vets that wear them. They work well.I don"t notice the ringing in the ears as much. Better half says I should wear them more often....sometimes I think she mumbles....

GordoSD · Oct 18, 2016

Don't leave your HA's lying where your pets can get at them. After "losing" one of mine from the nightstand I found a few slivers of pink plastic in the bedroom carpet. Brittany pup ate most of it. Seems the whistle and chirp they can emit, that you don't hear attracts dogs and cats or whatever. Put them in the case at night or when you are not wearing them.

Hearing loss

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