Someone here may know a little about tinnitus. Here's a link to read.
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/...to-reduce-ear-ringing/?mc_cid=7f0d1afb8e

Interesting, mines not bad but sure wish I had worn hearing protection when I was young.

Yup

I’m with ya👍

The earplugs the USAF issued in the 1970s were worse than useless- - - -made us think we were doing something to save our hearing!

Have issues, but it sounds like a field full of crickets. Fortunately, that's a pleasant background.

Growing up on a Skeet and Trap range, without the proper hearing protection, and being the puller, when I was not shooting, I suffer from it big time.

For me, it's either listening to hundreds of sparrows chirping their brains out in the distance, or a very high-pitched continuous buzzing. I have had it for many years and have even forgotten what silence sounds like, it must be very nice.

I have looked high and low for a cure and there is no cure as far as I know. If I drink my Tinnitus gets louder.

Rock and Roll stars and people who play in bands suffer from it badly too. It really sucks, but you learn to live with it since there are no other options.

The person who discovers a cure is going to be one very rich individual, that's for sure!

Interesting read. I got it bad, and it's ALL the time! Too many years drilling holes in concrete with hammerdrills to anchor the electrical work I was installing.

Got mine from my Mom. I just learn to live with it. It does get worse when my BP is getting too high, some will say that doesn't happen, but they are wrong in my case.

With today's loud music, in 20 years 95% of the younger set will have it. Ear buds are especially bad because they can be way too loud and the ears will adjust...until they don't.

Mine is just a shrill pitched note all the time,too many years diving,too many years piledriving.

2 Live Crew ruined my hearing

Gunfire, Rock ‘n Roll, power tools. The sounds of freedom. Now mostly Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Have it slightly, sometimes not at all. Had it bad for a couple months when it started.

Always wore ear plugs even when doing mundane things like mowing or shooting 22 from the time I was old enough to know better because I seen too many older guys that couldn't hear from doing a variety of things, including my Dad.

Never had an issue and always good hearing. It took just a single unexpected shot in underneath a shooting house, from somebody else using a 220 swift when I was way too close to the muzzle and no ear plugs in. Left ear was towards the muzzle. It rang after words, and couple months later all of a sudden started ringing constant at a decibel level I didn't know was possible. I was in misery for about 2 months. I'm very thankful it's gone or near gone most days. I'd of about done anything to make it stop when it was bad.

Way to many charge 7 white bag for me. Basically deaf in both ears. Tinnitus is horrible raven with deafness.

Doesn’t seem as bad since I stopped drinking. Also, hearing aids help. Just realized mine’s barely noticeable at the moment.

History like many, shooting at a young age, duck blinds at a young age, pistols without hearing protection (including my unit’s pistol and skeet teams while in the Navy…no one wore hearing protection in those days.)

A career in manufacturing didn’t help. I’m surprised mine’s not worse than it is.

Sorry, maybe I'm overlooking an obvious, but what is that?

Led Zepplin, too much M-16’s and M-60’s is my excuse. I used muffs when shooting rifles and pistols but didn’t while hunting until my first rifle fitted with a muzzle break. I found out the hard way when I shot a bobcat with my 300 mag. I blew the bobcat in half but he still came out ahead in the deal.

I have constant super high pitched ringing in my ears that, honestly, doesn’t bother me all that much. HOWEVER,
at times it goes into overdrive with a much lower pitched ringing that drives me crazy. Feels like my heads going to explode from the noise. It will last about 2-3 days and nights and goes away eventually. I have to give myself a pep talk…”Come on old man…you’ve been through this many many times…you know it’s not fatal and it’ll eventually go away..” I cannot sleep at night and cannot concentrate at all for the ringing in my ears, mostly in my right ear. It happens once a year or so. Last week was when it happened for me. I had to get up at 3AM two nights in a row to just walk outside, look at the stars and get my mind off the noise. I’ll take an ambien to go to sleep but many times the ringing is just too loud for it to work…and Ambien works like a charm usually.

Triggers for me: aspirin, which is a known trigger for tinnitus. Continued stress of some sort. Congestion in my head (last week). Loud noises don’t trigger it for me, nor does caffeine.

The old saying regarding the level of ringing in your ears….if it’s too much, etc…is standing in the shower. Does the water drown out the noise in your head? If so, you have a mild case. If it doesn’t…you have a bad case.

God bless you guys who, like me have it. Do everything in your power to lessen your exposure to loud noises of any types.

A buddy who’s land we duck hunt asked if we would bring his friend out duck hunting. Sure. We put him in the middle seat of the boat blind and established fields of fire. First duck is off the stern (my cone) and I miss twice. Dumbledorf can’t wait until it reaches his fof and touches off a 3.5” 12ga at 13” from my ear. Worse, he was shooting a short barreled ported Mossback 935. Oct 3, 2019. A thousand crickets ever since. Sucks.

When my older son was about 10 we were out in the woods one day. He said “it sure is peaceful out here.” I said “yeah, nothing but the crickets.” He said “what crickets?”

A fire member touching off a braked 300wm blew out my left eardrum.

Braked a 308 of mine a few yrs ago and had the bright idea to shoot it off a bipod prone 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

As nasty as you wanna be!!

I've had it for 55 years. Thank you USMC. At least the VA kicks down a few bucks for it once a month.

Mine's not from shooting. Overexposure to antihistamines will do it. I swallowed so much of that damned purple Dimetapp when I was a kid, in vain attempts to breathe. I have never known silence. At least not that I can remember.

I i never wore hearing protection mower or running an open station tractor until about 10 yrs ago( I’m 57 started mowing at 8 ) really noticed it bad when I started wearing wide brimmed hats 15 yrs ago due to worrying about sun exposure and my face and ears. To me the noise hits the brim goes straight in my ears. Now have a slight ringing and can’t stand loud noises or noisy places . Getting my ears checked again next week. I know for a fact hearing loss can lead to dementia so watching and checking

Like others, just bad habits in my youth. In my case, dozens and dozens of 80's rock concerts, getting right up to the stage, next to the speakers with no ear protection.

Looking back....dumb! Just dumb!

I'm ok during the day. Its at night, laying in bed in silence hearing the constant high pitch frequency. White noise like a ceiling fan helps drown out the annoyance.

If I don't think about it, I'm OK. Guess I shouldn't have opened this thread. lol

Mine is really bad in my left near deaf ear. About 10 years back woke up near deaf in my left ear with a little man with an air hose blowing in my ear. Gone down hill from there. I was diagnosed with acute hearing loss. Dr said some day I’ll wake up and my right ear will do the same.

Cicadas.....lots of em......all the time....

Too many loud things, and the hearing protection we received in the military sucked roids, oft times it was frowned upon to wear them. Years of construction work did not do me any favors either. Now it's......CICADAS 24/7!

24/7 - it's the only constant in my life.

VA says "not service related" - I didn't have it prior, had it since - don't know their reasoning but it's enough to drive a guy mad.

Hand guns and mortars without ear protection started the ringing about 60 years ago.

Not one minute without it since. Got kinda used to it by now.

Miracle I don’t have it!

I am a lifer. Had it since my early youth. Constant buzzing in both ears along with degraded hearing in both ears makes it difficult to hear alot of things. I have had it so long that it is a normal thing to me. Only thing that helps is to have a radio or TV on all the time. Mine gets worse when it is dead quite, sometimes I get a high pitched whistle. I have tried diet changes and ear drops and medications all of those did not make a difference so I just live with it.

My wife is an audiologist. She treats tinnitus all the time. Hearing aids, by far, is the best treatment. New hearing aids use different sound frequencies to try to "neutralize", for lack of a better word, the tone of your specific tinnitus. Its a process, but once its calibrated correctly, it works very well.

Same for me.

Howitzers ! No ear protection..

Has anyone ever gotten disability for hearing loss and tinnitus? I've suffered bad for 33 years.

You’d be surprised at how many rock stars wear hearing aids. 😏

Hi Yank, is there a certain brand of hearing aids that you can recommend that will help?

Thanks ~

10% VA disability for mine. It was caused by an IED and lots of machine gun fire while I was an infantry line medic.

Artillery powder charges. I was bunked outside a compound containing a battery of Triple 7 artillery cannons and lost more sleep due to them than incoming fire.

I like my Phonak brand hearing aids. They work well and I can even stream TV to them.

Mine has changed recently. Always a constant ringing in my left ear, but now sometimes I get a loud chirp like there's a bug in my ear. Sounds like someone is typing Morse Code. Comes and goes for no reason. It's sometimes so bad it'll keep me from falling asleep or wake me up if it comes on during the night. Doc says there's no treatment.

Cool thanks Dinny ~ have a great Monday

Yes, file a claim with the VA.

Same thing for me. Wife and I were camping 20 years ago and I commented listen to all the crickets, she said what crickets? Didn't know I had it till then.

I tried - even tho your job required head set use with high volume static and coms for 8-10 hours a day for your entire enlistment, we find no connection to your tinnitus.

File an appeal.

JD45,

Yes they have.. Tinnitus and hearing loss are the most common VA disabilities..
I suggest you find a VA advocate to talk to about your hearing loss/tinnitus.
In my area they are supported by the county and will help you try to
find your way thru the VA system. Of course, you will need some "proof" that
your disability is Service Related. However, they will help you determine if
your "proof" is valid.. it's worth a try.. Good Luck..

... Message me if you need more information..

I got it from having covid, woke up one morning and it was like some high pitched electronic devise was left on. It was a very very very hard time in my life, about the hardest time I can remember having. I didn't sleep for like 5 days. even thinking about that time is very disturbing to me. I went to 2 different ear doctors about it. both had slightly different explanations but both helped me. Most ear doctors don't wanna mess with it because they don't really make any money on it. The truth is there is noise all of us have that we don't recognize or hear. The sound of our heart beating is very loud in our bodies but we can't hear it because its always been there.

The founder of texas roundhouse had exactly what I had. covid induced tinnitius, he ended up checking out. It can be a very very hard thing for people to deal with. If you are dealing with it all I can say is give it time. I have lived near rail road tracks twice in my life. After hearing the trains come and go long enough, you get to where you don't even notice them anymore. Same thing with tinnitus. For me its been 2.5 years and every now and then it seems to get pretty loud. Other days I can't really hear it unless I try to. Some days I forget about it all together. I think with even more time it will diminish even more. Its also possible for people to be able to tone it out and have it go away. I think for me though the problem was the onset of it was so tramatic for me, its hard for me to just kick it to the curb all the way.

my hearing is about the same as a person in their late 20's, my overall hearing is excellent, that is what made this so damn hard.

Started when I was 14. Dad touched his 270 weatherby mag off about 18 inches from my ear. So loud it knocked me down and I lost hearing for a week. I remember that day like it was yesterday but he got the deer he was shooting at. I just signed up for a free hearing check at the sportsman's show yesterday.

I've had cicadas in my ears for many years. PITA but livable.

In my wife's opinion, Phonak and Starkey probably have the best software out.

106mm Recoilless Rifle.

Cicadas ever since.

Rock concerts, shooting without ear protection, and 44 years working around aircraft has left it's toll on my poor ears. If only we could turn back time.......

I went to the ear Dr last year for the first time. I'm young-ish, 40 but worked as a mechanic for half of my life and suffer a weird form of tinnitus. It constantly sounds like I have a neighbor blaring music in their house with a reverberating bass line. When we first moved in this house I thought it was just that and walked up and down the street looking for the asshòle that was playing music that loud late at night. Took me forever to realize it was tinnitus. Dr says it's produced by the brain and not the ears. Recommended hearing aids that I can't afford and insurance doesn't cover.

We actually had and used (on occasion) vintage Bazookas.

Lots of attention given here on hearing loss from shooting due to the nature of the website. Fact is 2-3 hours at your local bar/resturant at 90db to 100 db will do more damage than a couple of rifle shots at 120 db. --- but its socially acceptable. What about the greater numbers of folks with hearing loss that don't shoot? Was it the lack of Selenium and Iodine in the diet that caused the hair cells to die (lack of thyroid)?

Anyone ever tried Cryotherapy?

I agree the people who aren't old ie 50 years old or less that have noticeable hearing loss. one thing I have seen in common. they all listened to excessively loud music and were concert attenders on a regular basis. its not so much gun shots but time of exposure to the loud sound.

Guns and guitars, I've had tinnitus for probably 30 years now.

I work in the building with the FSU speech and hearing clinic, this is the brand we use https://www.resound.com/en-us/

My inlaws come to town from KS and we fitted them.

Running airboats in the everglades in the 70s with no hearing protection, dad far right, me far left.

Interesting thread, I have had it since the 90's, neglected to wear hearing protection on the job around loud machinery, shooting without ear protection added to it, once I realized the damage I started using ear plugs to persevere what's left, testing once a year at work has me diagnosed as having profound hearing loss. Lots of ringing and hissing, at night sometimes I go to sleep hearing imaginary music playing. Besides the imaginary music and asking people to repeat what they say I don't really even think about it.

I love my Tinnitus - I spent time and money shooting, and at rock concerts, to earn it.

Most excellent photo!!

155 mm gun charges


I googled that and got results in .000047 seconds.

Although I just had a hunch. 105 and 155 rattle out windows from 35 miles away almost nightly. Plus hellfire from apache gunships

These are the 2 passenger Apache gunships by the way.

I don't see how soldiers lived through it with no hearing protection years ago. I seems like one shot would turn your brain to jelly and knock you out. I mean I've seen video of the things blowing up dirt in a 50 yard circle around it.

I should have worn ear pugs many times

Mine is a combination of shooting, working in a mfg environment for 30 + years, mowing the lawn and even driving with the drivers window down. That wind noise is a bitch.

I was born with white noise in my ears. Ever since I was a tiny kid (first memories) I remember laying in bed with a slight buzzing. My Dad was in the Marines and has constant ringing; he instilled in us that you MUST protect your hearing. I got the memo, can probably count on two hands how many times I’ve shot a handgun (.22’s included) without hearing protection. Always wore ear plugs dove hunting, shooting beer cans, at the range etc. I’ve never had an ahah moment like some of you talk about; gun going off too close to my head, tractor tire blowing out, nothing. Now I’m 47 and the ringing is out of hand with hearing loss becoming noticeable. Sometimes I hear a “digital” sound in my right ear, like what a computer sounded like in a 60’s sci-fi movie. WTH is that?? Recently went to an audiologist and had it confirmed, I’m on the road to hearing aids.

And I’m starting to see the part of hearing loss leading to dementia firsthand with my Dad. We finally had a come to Jesus with him about hearing aids and he’s starting to swallow his pride - poor old man can’t hear anything and is quickly withdrawing from life.