I can't fucking hear you.  would someone answer that damn telephone already?

Comes and goes.  Right now my right ear is ringing.  I always wear hearing protection, usually plugs and muffs, when I shoot and when I'm in the pits, except when I'm hunting.  It's pretty infrequent, and at the ripe old age of 20, I'd like to keep it that way.  

Anyone else have problems with this?

Last summer I talked to guy who developed it from being an old-style black smith.  I guess it was all that hammering, making that "ping" sound.

Huh? What'd you say?

Yeah,  My ears are always ringing slightly.  I wised up pretty quickly when I was younger about shooting w/o ear protection.  Unfortunately, I wasn't wise enough to not wear the walkman while working my lawn mowing jobs.  I think my problem was caused by playing the music loud enough to hear over the lawn mower.

Now I wear ear plugs when I operate any loud power equipment, even things like my table saw.  I realised too late I had permanently damaged my hearing and now I am maybe I'm over compensating, but I'm going to hang on to what hearing I have as long as I can.

BTW: Now when I shoot I wear both plugs and muffs.

Kent

I've got it, a permanent ring much like the high pitched sound a TV or monitor makes.  I blame a combination of loud music and lawn mowers.  My own fault...

Frankly, some people can accept more abuse than others.  My ears are apparently easily damaged, as some who have been exposed to the same things I have been have no damage.

I'm psycho about it now.  I wear protection whenever I'm around loud noises, which includes long trips in the car with the windows down (when I'm alone).

I think I was born with it.

I was a senior in high school - 26yrs ago- when I found out other people don't have ringing in their ears.

And I've gotten to where I wear hearing protection around loud noises too. And not just shooting.

Go get that wax remover stuff.  Try that out.  If it doesn't clear in a day or two - get your ass to a ENT Doc.

Your losing your hearing. Get it checked. You may need hearing aids.

Also, see your family doctor or kidney specialist. You may have Alports Syndrome.

Have the ringing also,  went to a hearting specialist for a checkup and along with yourself and 30 million others, we have the same thing,  Tinnitus.   Unless you have some type of hearing loss that some type of aid would help, get use to the ringing.  See a specialist.

Sounds about right,  20% in my right 75% in my left.  
Oh ya and that ringing got that too but it doesn't bother me as much as
my left ear does this clicking thing every time swallow/drink/breath.
Thats the only thing that piss's me off.  I my ears could ring all freaking night and day
but I would give anything to make the clicking go away.
Anything loud drives me nuts too..  Funny though shooting doesn't.  Not really sure why.

Wolf

I'm 35 and have it constantly in my left ear. Mine significantly worsened about two years ago from firing two magazines from a .45 pistol without hearing protection. Not enough to do damage, right? Wrong...

Alcohol and caffiene make mine louder and more annoying. I find myself wearing hearing protection all the time when using anything loud - lawn mower/weed eater, shop vac, leaf blower, etc. Do what you can to preserve what hearing you have left - there's no way to get back what you've lost!!!

WHAT!

As a drummer who has had it for a LONG time, I can tell you that DIET can reduce alot of the effects:

Diet info

Upon my ETS I went to the VA med exam and was told by the audiologist that I had tinitus...VA said I don't have it. Fookin bastards.

I have a near constant ringing in my ears that is most pronounced when in a quiet room, i.e. about to fall asleep.


ETA: I wear hearing protection around hte weedeater now and when I work with loud things/objects etc. You can't get new hearing, protect what you have.

Comes and goes, left ear. Anything from a high pitch to a down low bass rumble. Started shooting at 8yo, didn't use hearing protection until about 20. Go figure.

I have what's called "objective tinnitus." It doesn't affect me, but other people hear a ringing in my ears.

Since everyone here probably has tinitus from shooting etc it probably doesn't matter, but there are forms of tinitus that are caused by some vitamin deficencies.  There are many so called vitamin remedies out there but don't waste your money on anything expensive.  But some vitamins may be worth a try as you really have nothing to lose.  
 Thomas

Supposedly there is some vitamin the marines are experimenting with in high doses that is supposed to lessen hearing loss from loud noises. try it.

S.O.

I'll look into the vitamin thing.  however, i don't think it works for post-damage, just if you've been taking it before the incidents occurred.  Been to an ENT before for other reasons; he's said things aren't out of the norm.  

Chased off the flight line, in the Air Force, because of it.  Now receive money and free hearing aides from Uncle Sam.  Too many jet engines at high rpm/decibles caused it.  Some times it gets real loud.

Quoted: I can't fucking hear you.  would someone answer that damn telephone already? Comes and goes.  Right now my right ear is ringing.  I always wear hearing protection, usually plugs and muffs, when I shoot and when I'm in the pits, except when I'm hunting.  It's pretty infrequent, and at the ripe old age of 20, I'd like to keep it that way.   Anyone else have problems with this?

Yup. I have it in both ears. I've heard that the suicide rate for people with tinnitus is rather high.

AB

Quoted: As a drummer who has had it for a LONG time, I can tell you that DIET can reduce alot of the effects: Diet info

As a drummer who's also had it for a long time, thank you for the link and info.  I'm going to give it a try.

Quoted: I can't fucking hear you.  would someone answer that damn telephone already? Comes and goes.  Right now my right ear is ringing.  I always wear hearing protection, usually plugs and muffs, when I shoot and when I'm in the pits, except when I'm hunting.  It's pretty infrequent, and at the ripe old age of 20, I'd like to keep it that way.   Anyone else have problems with this?

I'm 39 and have had tinnitis for years.  It doesn't really interfere with my hearing and I only notice it when I'm in a quiet room, but it's definitely there.  I've more or less gotten used to it.

Quoted: As a drummer who has had it for a LONG time, I can tell you that DIET can reduce alot of the effects: Diet info

Have you actually tried this and had it work?

I've had it since I was about 13.......and it wasn't shooting related.  My family was in Europe,  and we were getting on a plane to go.....I think it was Zagreb to Zurich. Well, this was one of those where you board from the rear of the plane (a ramp drops down from the tail)....and I had my bags in one hand, my mom's bags in the other, and they basically walked us out onto the tarmac below the roaring of the jet engine. At one point I just felt the noise in my ears differently, and ever since then I've had a very low ringing.

I don't complain, as almost any ambient noise drowns it out unless I really try to focus on it. It does mean I usually always have music on when I sleep, though.

If you guys want an expert opinion, I'll ask my wife.  She's an audiologist, and I'm sure she can answer any questions you might have.

Shooting mishap (nice way of saying I was a dumbass) when I was about 20 something. Touched off a 44 Mag right next to a big oak tree and NO hearing protection. The blast came back off the tree into my left ear. Phenomenal ringing, 24/7,  ever since.  

Same here, constant ringing.  I'd love to be rid of it but it's something I'm used to now.  I had it before I joined the Army.  I think the tech at MEPS switched my results with someone else to get me in.  When I tested for pilot training they said "no go" and here's your P3 profile, and it looks like your enlistment physical could be phoney.  They always had to give me a manual hearing test.  I'd be hitting the button before the test started.  When I got in the quiet booth and put on the headphones it seemed like the ringing kicked up a notch, and it'd change pitch.  My wife still gets perturbed when she hears car noises.  "Do you hear that squeal?"  "Yep, all the time."

As far as the vitamins, I've heard it was large doses of vitamin A but I've also read vitamin A in large doses does nasty things to your kidneys, or was it liver?  I've not tried any of these yet but there are net resources out there for tinitus.

Some people do go nigh on insane and choose to have their auditory nerves cut.  They lose their hearing in that ear, or both ears, but to them it's worth it for the chance to end the ringing.  And BTW, that sometimes doesn't work, or makes the ringing worse.

jd1

Quoted: I don't complain, as almost any ambient noise drowns it out unless I really try to focus on it. It does mean I usually always have music on when I sleep, though.

That's how it is for me usually.  just a very high-pitched frequency sound like a tv or monitor most of the time, with a few exceptions like this morning for about 20 minutes.  However, I can still hear the tv/monitor noise even with the day to day ringing.  

Edgar Allen Poe

The Bells

I
Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III
Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV
Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells