[R-390] Audiophools - hearing loss

[blw]

Sounds like the same thing with me only I kept my hearing. We wore issue
helmets with soft ear cups that cut most of the noise range down, but not
above 100 dbs or so and not all frequencies. It was a gamble with my
hearing, but I never used those soft earplugs like a lot of pilots did. I
tried it a few nights and I couldn't hear the turbine wind up or wind down
and I felt deaf in the air. I did it a few nights and quite using them. I
thought I would rather be alive and partially deaf than dead with perfect
hearing.  I was just lucky to not take a hit anywhere in the frequency
ranges. I protect my hearing now when I go shooting. Well, I kept my hearing
and burned out a knee. You can't win them all.


Barry


> sorry, this should have posted to the list, but I only sent it back to
> the original sender (John KA1XC). I did, however want to show how
> insidious impulse noise hearing loss can be, especially for those who
> were doing loud stuff years ago and ear protection was simply not
> commonly worn It was available, but, for some as now forgotten reason,
> simply was not used.  Most important is the fact that one does not
> normally notice the loss until someone else (my XYL, in this case) told
> me I sounded like a teenager again, as I would have the radio in the car
> up so loud she could hear me coming blocks away.......hi
> 
> I am all too well aware of this "shooters notch" type of loss. A few
> years ago,
> I thought I had some sort of ear infection, as any sort of  "white (or
> close to
> white) noise would completely mess up my understanding of speech. Now,
> many more
> years before that, one commonly shot anything without ear protection.
> Being a
> pilot, I have also been exposed to many years of piston and turbine
> engines, up
> close and personal, and one didn't always wear ear protection.  The
> notch
> centers at about 4khz and is about 2 Khz on either side, and goes down
> about
> 30db or more. Since, I have had perforated eardrums on top of that, you
> have
> some idea of what one is dealing with.
> The interesting thing, is that when flying  aircraft, I was always able
> to
> normally communicate with any one else in the cockpit, without
> particularly
> feeling as though I was yelling. The one who "found me out" was the XYL,
> who
> said that if I had the radio in the car on, and the windows open, she
> could hear
> me coming from the next block.
> The point being, that stereo sound, or any sort of audiophool stuff is
> useless
> to me.
> I now use 2 sets of hearing protection (musicians plugs) and a muff when
> shooting, and religiously use my Dave Clarks, and an intercom, when
> flying. At
> this stage, I still don't use any hearing aid, but I probably should.
> One does
> learn the hard way LOL
> It, however does not seem to affect any type of either CW or voice
> copying on
> radio, either using speakers or headphones. Sure, I may have the AF gain
> up a
> little higher, and I have gone to headphones pretty much exclusively,
> but I
> don't have a problem understanding what is being said.
> 73 de Greg WA3IVX