Huh? (The hearing loss thread)

When I was 13 my uncle took me out to a caliche pit in West Texas and we shot off 50 rounds from a 357. I asked if we should be wearing hearing protection and he replied "nah! I was in the artillery in the Army and I am fine." My right ear rang for 3 days afterward, and though it reduced, I have tinnitus in that ear to this day. I did go to the ENT last year and had my hearing tested. Moderate high frequency damage in that ear, but otherwise good and the left ear is doing great. I wear hearing protection at all shows and only take them out if I really like the song and I am not standing in front of a speaker. I am vigilant about protection around power tools, which I use a lot.

I did a paper on the inner ear in Grad school. Once those basilar hair cells are dead, they don't come back. I am hopeful some stem cell type treatment might come about in the future. I am basically depending on science to fix this along with a host of other shitty aspects of life.

Depends on the venue set-up of course but often up front you can get under the speakers, or beside them, or in the center, and it's not as loud as a few "rows" back.

I remember a show at Hampton back in the day when the speakers sat on the edge of the stage, and you could stand at the edge. I think it was REO Speedwagon/Aerosmith or Brownsville Station/Black Oak Arkansas. Anyway, I sat my short little date inside the front of one of the speakers. Life was good at 15.

My dad lost his high-end hearing as he aged, and he missed his music. Like the uncle above, it was from 30 days of gun shooting at age 20--on Iwo Jima.

Mrs. Wales lost a lot of hearing in her left ear from teaching preschool for several years, and leaning down so those high-pitched kiddos could scream in her ear. So it doesn't have to be something dramatic or historic that does you in--even an inert chunk of firewood can lay you up!

I'm more careful than I used to be, with both ears and eyes. Probably too late. The vacuum cleaner (esp. shop vac) is a killer.