Will my hearing come back?

[austin7.62]

So yesterday I took my buddy and his extended family from out of state shooting. A few of them had never even picked up a firearm before, so I thought that it would be a good opportunity for them to learn about firearms and firearm safety. Well, I ended up looking like an idiot because I forgot about ear protection. I had purchased a box of plugs, but forgot them at home. So when I got to the woods, I only had two pairs of ear muffs. I gave them to two little girls that went with us so that they wouldn't get too scared of the noise. I tried to plug my ears, but I did shoot roughly 40 rounds out of my AR, and a mag through my G17. After we shot, I noticed that I had lost a good bit of my hearing in my left ear. Any sound that I hear through my left ear sounds like a muffled or broken speaker, and of course the continuous buzzing noise is there too. I am sure that this has happened to somebody here before. What were your experiences, and did you recover your hearing? I think the buzzing will go away, but I am not sure about my hearing. I'd say my left ear is at about 50% right now, but a little better than last night. 

[Raoul]

At your age and assuming you didn't spend your childhood standing in front of the speakers at every rock concert coming and going it should settle down fairly quickly.

[Handsome Rob]

Say wha..?

[RED333]

Age and abuse over time, over the age of 25 or so it just takes longer to come back.

You will never get it all back to 100%.

[Peace]

ARs are loud.  You'll have some damage.  Everyone is different as to how much and how long until it stabilizes.  Good luck!

[nightrunner]

I have shot around 100rds through a .45acp pistol without hearing protection once. I still cannot hear good. Volume is mostly ok now but certain frequencies are very hard to hear. A hearing test says Im average but its noticeably harder to hear than before.

Now, i didn't shoot an AR either and those are much louder and have a sharper report than a .45 pistol.

[VERO1]

I was told by an audiologist that any activities that leaves your ears ringing has caused damage. It is cumulative over time. Spent pistol shell casings are better than nothing for emergency earplugs.

[No_0ne]

Hearing loss is both cumulative, and permanent.  Having said that, at least some, if not most of what you are describing will be temporary due to reduced nerve function, kind of like a "sprain" to the auditory nervous system.  With time, most of your hearing will return, but it will never be quite as good as before, albeit you may not be able to tell the difference.  Going deaf is a lot like the old analogy of boiling a frog, heat the water slowly and the frog doesn't know he's being cooked until it's too late ...

[K191145]

Hearing loss is both cumulative, and permanent.  Having said that, at least some, if not most of what you are describing will be temporary due to reduced nerve function, kind of like a "sprain" to the auditory nervous system.  With time, most of your hearing will return, but it will never be quite as good as before, albeit you may not be able to tell the difference.  Going deaf is a lot like the old analogy of boiling a frog, heat the water slowly and the frog doesn't know he's being cooked until it's too late ...

 

Yea, i've lost some of mine, not enough for a device. I've "injured" my eardrum before while shooting, a friend let loose of my 1911 when I had one once before I put my earplugs in, it was my fault because he thought I had them in and I told him to go ahead, I was standing back and beside him. I had a static sound for a couple of days then it cleared up. Sounds like the OP just got some inflamation that will clear after a while.

[JohnC]

You'll never get your hearing back 100%.

I'm 38, but been around guns my whole life, add drag cars and loud music to that mix since I grew up in the late 80's to early 90's when audio system were the big thing, and I've noticed a constant ringing (tinnitus) and I'm completely tone deaf to some sounds. Like some digital beeps for timers, etc., I can't hear them at all. Sometimes I don't even hear a text message on my iPhone if there is enough background noise.

Speaking of background noise, if I'm in a place with a lot of people talking and loud noise, it gets real difficult to hear what people are saying even when they're just sitting right across the table from me in a restaurant.

I've been shooting guns ever since I was old enough to have my dad help me hold one. I can't tell you how many times I've had my plugs out and someone fire a gun beside me before I could get my plugs in. One of my worst instances was I didn't bring my muffs to wear with my cheapy foam ear plugs and fired my 50 BMG (AR50-A1B) at a range with concrete floor and low tin roof. My hearing went to zero, and slowly came back after a weird noise like "cheeeerrrrooooommmeee" and then some bad ringing from there on out. :meh:

So that said, do like me. I put extra ear plugs everywhere in my gear so if I ever forget my muffs, at least I have plugs. Sometimes that works out when other folks forget theirs, I can give them a set.

All my rifle cases have 2 or 3 sets, my range box has a whole pack. I even keep them in the console in all my vehicles. :)

[Raoul]

Also if you do happen to wind up with "ringing" in the ear after a good amount of time try bioflavonoids. They help.

I spent the late 60's and 70's at every rock concert I could get to, always down front. I've definitely done some damage, but the bioflavonoids keep it pretty manageable.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lipoflavonoid-Plus-Unique-Health-Caplets/dp/B003ENU6AY/ref=pd_sim_hpc_21?ie=UTF8&refRID=1W9PSBD98KWVDX1WTCCK

[vontar]

Dad blames his hearing problems on shooting at a young age with no ear protection.

 

however mom and I believe he has selective hearing instead.

[RED333]

Dad blames his hearing problems on shooting at a young age with no ear protection.

 

however mom and I believe he has selective hearing instead.

You have to stop giving away secrets!!!

[300winmag]

You might want to take some sort of ibuprofen to cut down on the inflammation in your ear until it calms down.

 

If you have the money, a suppressor would not be a bad idea either.  I have seriously considered a suppressor to protect hearing.  It is a shame suppressors cannot be bought over the counter same day because they do reduce hearing damage.

Edited November 30, 2014 by 300winmag

[Peace]

I would do some reading on Ibuprofen before you use it for to "treat" hearing damage - I know "OD'ing on Ibuprofin can damage your hearing as well. Crazy, but true. don't know if regular doses would help or hurt in your case.

[Guest]

I'm ignorant on this topic but curious. Do most combat vets end up with weak hearing? Seems like it would be chronic among WW2 vets (making an assumption that earplugs were not commonly available in the field at the time). Just had not heard about all the vets returning with hearing issues, so curious now that it came up.

Thank you Veterans for your service in any theater.

[Jonnin]

too late now but improvise if it ever happens again, cut some cloth or something anything > nothing.

[TrickyNicky]

I'm ignorant on this topic but curious. Do most combat vets end up with weak hearing? Seems like it would be chronic among WW2 vets (making an assumption that earplugs were not commonly available in the field at the time). Just had not heard about all the vets returning with hearing issues, so curious now that it came up.
Thank you Veterans for your service in any theater.

Other my grandpas had some hearing issues, but it's hard to say if that was due to exposure in the war, or working factory jobs or what. Most likely both. My moms dad I remember blaming it on the guns in WWII, but he was a gunner on an aircraft crammed into one if those little bubbles too so maybe he had more than his share of noise too?

[Ted S.]

I'm drunk posting, so I don't even know what's going on.

[austin7.62]

Great suggestions, guys, thank you all very much. I think it's getting better already, but just slowly. I am going to always leave a box of plugs in my car and my range pack from now on.

[hipower]

Been there. Done what you did. And have spent 4-6 months recovering my hearing.

Yes I do have some damage. Blessedly, it is not too bad, and mostly in my left ear. But any loss of hearing disturbs me.

If possible for you, keep at least foam plugs in every vehicle. And the newest technology makes even some of the cheapie electronic muffs pretty good. I just bought 2 extra pair to keep for car and shooters without any protectors.

I love my Peltor muffs, but the cheapies from the recent Gearhog flyer work well. The 2 were about 32 bucks. Cheap for the possible good. Edited December 1, 2014 by hipower

[Dustbuster]

You'll be fine. Give it time,it is a scary feeling but I hope u don't ever shoot w no ears again.,,

[VERO1]

Don't panic. As stated MOST of it will come back. I damaged mine working at the airport in the 80's as ground crew for executive jets. Most of my hearing is fine but my kids can hear high frequencies several seconds before I do. I am a lot more careful now than I used to be.

[tnguy]

Great suggestions, guys, thank you all very much. I think it's getting better already, but just slowly. I am going to always leave a box of plugs in my car and my range pack from now on.

You can buy a big box of them for next to nothing at home improvement stores. I got turned on to the damage that could be caused by motorcycle riding back when I started riding again so I put a bunch of pairs into individual zip-lock bags and always try to keep some around. They come in handy for other things surprisingly often. I prefer muffs for shooting though.

Make sure you learn how to insert them properly also if you don't already know. Many people just stuff them in and that doesn't provide full protection.

Edited December 1, 2014 by tnguy

[DWARREN123]

Some should return but you may not get back 100%.