Will my hearing come back?

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have SEVERE tinnitus. Enough so that the VA has rated it. It sounds like I am sitting under 1,000 fluorescent light bulbs now and it really bothers me when things are really quiet. I have some frequencies that are 75%+ gone.

 

Mine, without a doubt, are firearms related. I have shot such big things without hearing protection that my equilibrium would be off for a few days and I would have near total loss of hearing for the rest of the day.

 

Now I wear hearing protection anytime I am around anything loud. Even with hearing loss gun shots hurt now.

 

It will come back but you will have some damage. 223 is very hard on your hearing.

[daddyo]

if it doesn't come back on it's own, go see a doctor.

[bersaguy]

I lost some of my hearing in military but lost most of mine working around impact guns in auto repair centers for 30+ years without using ear plugs. I noticed my hearing was getting worse with age so I went to hearing center. They said chances of my hearing improving was slim to none at my age and told me I needed to look into possible hearing aids. Well, that was a joke. Of course old people do have hearing issues and of course Medicare does not cover hearing aids. The first place I went they wanted $1200.00 per ear and I left there still hard of hearing. A buddy of mine was wearing a hearing aid in his left ear and he is about my age. I asked him how much his cost and he said $159.00 + batteries which total was about $180.00. He wears a hearing aid designed for hunters.  A Walkers Elite HD Pro. I bought one and a stock of batteries for it from Amazon and have been using it for 4 months now and it has improved my hearing by about 70%. I use about 1 battery per month and I love it. The only thing you have to remember is when you go to bed at night you remember to turn it off to save the battery. For folks that have hearing issues and are not to vain to wear a hearing aid and don't want to spend a fortune on one I recommend this one..................jmho 

[JohnC]

I have SEVERE tinnitus. Enough so that the VA has rated it. It sounds like I am sitting under 1,000 fluorescent light bulbs now and it really bothers me when things are really quiet. I have some frequencies that are 75%+ gone.
 
Mine, without a doubt, are firearms related. I have shot such big things without hearing protection that my equilibrium would be off for a few days and I would have near total loss of hearing for the rest of the day.
 
Now I wear hearing protection anytime I am around anything loud. Even with hearing loss gun shots hurt now.
 
It will come back but you will have some damage. 223 is very hard on your hearing.

Bigger than 50 BMG?

I like to have fell over after shooting my 50 BMG with just cheapy foamn plugs under a low tin roof and concrete floor. It was drizzling rain, too, so not sure if that made it worse or not.

Did your hearing ever do like i described?

The 50 blast took my hearing completely out for a couple secs and then I heard a noise like cheeeeerrrrroooommmme or something, and then it came back slowly with a lot of ringing. :meh:

Sitting here now, nothing but silence and my ringing ears. Mine isn't as bad as you describe, but it's annoying when it gets quiet.

[Djay3]

if it doesn't come back on it's own, go see a doctor.

THIS! An ENT can actually inject a cortisone-like anti inflammatory through the ear drum. I've had it done and it sounds much more uncomfortable than it is!

Audiologists can read a person's audiogram and instantly recognize from the profile if that person has been exposed to gun fire.

I am down to only one ear (the right one) and it has significant impairment requiring a hearing aid. I also suffer from constant tinnitus (ringing and roaring) in both ears. Some folks are unable to adjust to tinnitus and surprisingly suicides have been one "solution".

Doubling up (ear plugs & muffs) is the only wise thing to do. Also a good idea to stay well away from indoor shooting ranges. Edited December 2, 2014 by Djay3

[austin7.62]

Ok, guys. I am glad to report that most of hearing is back on the left side! The ringing is still there, but I am glad to be able to hear out of the left side again. I'm not shooting without protection ever again lol!

[tnhawk]

Flying helicopters and firing weapons have both affected my hearing as well as years of industrial work.  My hearing is damaged but I realize I must protect that which remains.  I wear ear plugs in my ears with hearing protection over my ears when at the range.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I protect my ears with silencers now.

 

I have fired M2 machine guns, 50 BMG, without hearing protection. I also had a ZU-23 fire several long bursts about 10 feet from me without hearing protection. I have also had rockets explode close as well as being close to RPGs firing and those events caused my ears to ring. But I do not believe any of those did a lot of the damage because they were not long term exposure. For me it was years of firing an M60, and M16's, without hearing protection. Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of rounds over the course of 8 years is what probably did most of the damage.

 

But the most painful gun I have EVER been around was a shorty AR being shot under a tin roof. That was extremely painful and that did screw with my equilibrium

like the bigger calibers.

 

I have to have noise or it does get bothersome.

[Vistar]

+1 At least my tinnitis sounds like crickets. It's really kind of soothing 24/7.  I noticed significant middle tone hearing loss in my early 40's and it seems to have stabilized since I started wearing "real" ear protection (also early 40's - before that - spent cases when available). Doc asked if I had ever been around load noises like a punch press, deck gun; shot pistols, shotguns and rifles. Ya think? I still don't wear protection with shotguns or hunting rifles. That's almost impossible in the field. But, I can't hear poop after a few rounds have been fired.