[R-390] Audiophools - hearing loss

[Ray, W2EC]

With me the hearing degradation came from a little bit bigger "popgun".
I was in the artillery on a 105mm tube. Got pulled from the ranks and
sent to OCS, commissioned Artillery and a year or so later was
transferred to the Infantry. Thought "great, no more loud noises!".
First assignment: a platoon of jeep mounted 106mm recoiless rifles.
Those blasted things were louder than the 105's!!! Yeah, tried cotton
balls, pencil erasers, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but it wasn't
until the late 60's we got issued real earplugs. By then it was too late
for me, so of course they sent me to comm school where hearing was
important. Didn't even get to play much with R-390's back then. Typical
Army! 

73, Ray  W2EC

Joe Foley wrote:
> 
> Imagine the poor B-25G pilot!
> 
> The 75mm cannon, the .50 cals just outside the cockpit
> window and the ends of the props whopping by just a
> few feet away!!
> 
> Golly what a ride!  I wish I could have,.........
> 
> Joe
> 
> --- "Gregory W. Moore" <gwmoore@moorefelines.com>
> wrote:
> > 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
> 
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