Do I have ear damage?

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Mid-range (3-4k hertz) tends to go first but it doesn't tend to go farthest. High-frequencies go the largest amounts and the most often. I spent some time selling hearing aides. The average hearing test graph becomes familiar very quickly. It is typically flat to slightly sloped down through about 2k hertz, slopes down slightly more between 3 and 8k hertz and drops like a rock after 8k. By far, the most common severe loss is the highest frequencies.
 
Any time your ears ring, you cause yourself hearing damage. It is cumulative and non-reversible given today's medical technology. They're working on some amazing things to reverse it, but do you want to gamble that it's going to happen in your lifetime?

Like Brian said, I could see occasionally shooting a .22 bolt action rifle without hearing protection if you were doing a shot or two. The SPL of a .22 bolt would be somewhere around a loud car or movie theatre. My CZ 452 is the only firearm I shoot with just the ear plugs. If I shoot anything louder (like a 9mm handgun) I wear plugs and muffs.

You can lose hearing from doing things other than shooting. I play in a hard rock band and anytime I practice with live drums in the room (or an enthusiastic guitarist) I wear hearing protection. I've heard other musicians say that even some classic cars (Corvettes) require hearing protection to drive more than 20 minutes with the top down.

We're all going to lose a little bit in our lives but you don't want tinnitus or permanent hearing loss if you can avoid it at all.

This is incidentally one of the reasons I am dubious about using a 5.56 short barrel with a muzzle brake for home defense, but that's another topic altogether.
 
thats not true that its always irreversable, ears hair cells do grow back

not saying that it cant be irreversable, but not always, not even typically

"There are two ways hearing can be damaged by loud noises," Auer says. "Noise can stress the stereocilia bundle so much that the tip links break. However they usually grow back in 24 hours — this is the rock-concert effect, where hearing loss is temporary. But loud noises can also shear off whole bundles of stereocilia. In mammals these can't regenerate, and the loss is permanent."

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2006/Jan/01-resolution-gap.html
 
But loud noises can also shear off whole bundles of stereocilia. In mammals these can't regenerate, and the loss is permanent.
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I was under the impression that this is what happens as a result of shooting pretty much any firearm from a .22 on up without hearing protection? Or at least a .22 pistol on up.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that our ears were designed to pick up the sound of a leaf rustling 40 yards away. Modern life is a constant all-out assault on our hearing. What we now perceive as a fairly quiet environment would be considered hellacious racket to our ancestors.
 
To the OP, You are not wearing hearing protection & have damage.

Would you do the same if it was your eyes?
 
i use ear protection, but never felt the need for eye protection, reckon if i had catastrophic failure eye protection would be nice, sumtin to think about i guess
 
At a relatively young and handsome forty, I can hear a faint ringing in my ears if I'm in an absolutely quiet environment. I have noticed I find it harder to follow conversations if I'm in a noisy environment, such as a bar. Women, especially, are hard to understand (I know, I know...:rolleyes:).

Loud headphones, shooting with no hearing protection (when I was a kid no one wore earplugs or muffs, you just didn't), concerts, etc. - it all adds up.

Protect your ears - it sucks meeting a girl in a bar and having to ask her to repeat everything like an old man.
 
i use ear protection, but never felt the need for eye protection, reckon if i had catastrophic failure eye protection would be nice, sumtin to think about i guess
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Ever feel the need to wear a seat belt?:p
 
I have been hit in the face enough by fragments to be very convinced of the need for eye protection.

One bit cut my chin wide open. Was a tad impressive for a bit but responded to direct pressure. I also once had a 50 AE piece of brass fired by someone else bounce of my forehead for quite a bump. It bounced off a side of a line and came back at me.

Also, I saw a 45 ACP bounce off a tire and give a guy next to me a really hard whack in the chest.

As far as hearing protection - of course.
 
You might as well get used to it. Mine constantly ring. Each time you forget and shoot without protection it'll get worse. I foolishly gave my ringing a boost testing a black powder pistol with a primer cap only. I didn't realize how loud it would be till it was too late.
Don't be too hard on yourself, alot if people didn't think too much about it when young.
 
I have tinnitus as a result of early shooting without ear protection and a noisy work environment. Avoid it if you can.

Re the audiologists graph:
1. Higher frequencies are most affected.
2. Women have higher pitched voices than men.
Ergo, you will have a harder time hearing your wife than your buds. She will not be understanding about this.

Jerry Pournelle wrote yesterday about his new high tech hearing aids and how they were already changing his life. But while they can make up for hearing loss, they do nothing for tinnitus. There are highly advertised dietary supplements for tinnitus, but I kind of doubt they do much. I would be glad to hear different.
 
What did you say?

Tinnitus. The background ringing....all the time. I have had it for years and am fortunate that it has not gotten worse. I am not conscious of it most of the time....but right now, when it is quiet.....I know that it is there.
I have always worn hearing protection. Now I wear double.

I do not understand why if a person knew that their ears had been abused at one point.....why they did not do something about it the second point.
And eyes....as if catastrophic failure is the only way that one's eyes can be hurt while shooting or while being at a range with other shooters..
Pete
 
Now, 2 years later I shoot a 9mm with no hearing protection. And my ears ring. My ears will ring if I shoot anything more than a 22lr. Do I still have hearing loss from the shotgun you think?
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By not using hearing protection you are setting yourself up for serious damage to your hearing. Get some good ear plugs and muffs and wear both while shooting.

My hearing is shot: There is constant loud ringing in my ears and severe hearing damage from my EOD/UXO career and from shooting guns for decades without hearing protection. Hearing aids do not help.

The young grandson of a good friend has very serious, irreparable hearing and nerve damage from firing 20 rounds through a short barreled .243 Winchester rifle.
 
Double ears inside. Good plugs with good muffs over good plugs.

At least good plugs outside, good plugs with good muffs over good plugs.

Always. NO EXCEPTIONS. NOT EVEN ONCE.

It's that simple.
 
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