I've got a moderate case in my right ear. Varies in intensity and only rarely gets annoying. I was an early adopter of muffs, but never wore anything while hunting until last year when I started plugging up for doves.
I suspect that most of my hearing issues, including some voice-frequency loss, is due to forty years spent in telephone central offices with high levels of mechanical noise from switches, relays, high-speed cooling fans, big-ass air handlers, and alarms. The only place we were required to wear protection was in the auxiliary generator room when the engine(s) or turbines were running.
When we were installing a network of switches for GSA in the 90's the gummint reps made us perform all kinds of tests to demonstrate compliance with the regs, including light levels in work areas. They never showed any interest in noise levels though. Probably knew it wouldn't look good.
