Hearing concerns

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Everything Offends Me
Lately, I've been having some issues with my hearing. It is more a clarity thing than anything else. I notice it mostly with numbers. Two sounds a lot like three, and three sounds a lot like six to me.

I have a very minor case of tinnitus, and have since I was a stupid teenager in rock bands, and enjoying going to the loudest metal shows ever. I have also flown a few times without my headset on, because it was fatiguing on really long flights.

I never notice the tinnitus anymore except when I'm in the shower, but I've noticed the clarity thing lately. I really only notice it with the above numbers, but anyone know if that is a sign of failing hearing? Its a bit frustrating working for a mobile phone company when I can't accurately hear the numbers being given.
 
Whoa....weird. I can't really imagine not being able to clarify between those numbers. Do you only have that problem when you're on the phone? If so, maybe your phone sucks.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone here that isn't using ANR headsets, that they should probably also wear earplugs under their passive headsets.

Also, a loud band in a rock club can be as loud as 120 decibels. OSHA says that your ears can only take 15 minutes of sound at that volume before you will suffer permanent hearing damage.

I once brought a decibel meter in a Cessna 152, and A-weighted, I got a reading of 94 decibels. According to OSHA, your ear can take roughly four hours of that sound before you will suffer hearing damage.

Here's a link for anyone concerned about their hearing.

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/Self-Test.htm
 
Nick,
Make and appointment with an ENT that also has a staff audiologist. Get a full exam. i have a hearing loss thanks to flying in uninsulated air force jets and using their cheap headsets for hours on end. A real nice deficit in the mid ranges that make sit very hard for me to hear people in a room with other noises and also make a lot of things sound a like.
 
Its not just on the phone, even on TV, or when talking to friends, I have this problem. What is an ENT?
 
Maybe I should do that too - I also have problems picking out conversations of people sitting at my table when in a crowded restaurant or bar. But, if there is no background noise I can hear a pin drop in a large room. Wierd.
 
t0r0nad0 said:
Maybe I should do that too - I also have problems picking out conversations of people sitting at my table when in a crowded restaurant or bar. But, if there is no background noise I can hear a pin drop in a large room. Wierd.
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Not wierd, just a sign of what the years will do to our ears. I have the exact same problem. I'm 45. I am noticing changes in vision these days too!
 
smigaldi said:
Nick,
Make and appointment with an ENT that also has a staff audiologist. Get a full exam. i have a hearing loss thanks to flying in uninsulated air force jets and using their cheap headsets for hours on end. A real nice deficit in the mid ranges that make sit very hard for me to hear people in a room with other noises and also make a lot of things sound a like.
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I tried to find a local ENT and could only find pediatric ENTs. Not quite what I wanted.
 
Get an audiogram. From an audiologist, or an otolaryngologist, who will be able to do the whole evaluation.

There's a lot of stuff that could be happening here....
 
bbchien said:
Get an audiogram. From an audiologist, or an otolaryngologist, who will be able to do the whole evaluation.

There's a lot of stuff that could be happening here....
Click to expand...

You are darn tootin'

In the middle of all that stuff with my mom a year ago, she suddenly went deaf in one ear. Turns out it was a wax block and they cleaned her ears real good and she could hear again. Strange stuff.
 
***Minor thread drift***

Can someone explain, in layman's terms, what causes ear wax to form? :dunno: It's just another one of life's mysteries I don't understand.
 
kevin47881 said:
***Minor thread drift***

Can someone explain, in layman's terms, what causes ear wax to form? :dunno: It's just another one of life's mysteries I don't understand.
Click to expand...

It is secreted by glands in your outer ear to keep thing lubricated and help trap dirt, it also help fight infections of the tympatic membrane somehow. I don't know exactly how but I do know that if you clean it all out you are more likely to get an outer ear infection.
 
An acoustic neuroma is a non-cancerous tumor that exerts pressure on the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII). The vestibulocochlear nerve branches into the cochlear nerve, which is involved in hearing; and the vestibular nerve, which is involved in balance.

The first symptoms of an acoustic neuroma are usually one or more of the following: a loss of hearing in the affected ear, tinnitus, nausea, dizziness, or balance problems. Sometimes the tumor exerts pressure on the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V), which can cause facial numbness, pain, paralysis, or paresthesia (a tingly feeling).

Although non-cancerous, an acoustic neuroma can be life-threatening because it can exert pressure on parts of the brain that control vital functions. But unlike a malignant tumor, an acoustic neuroma will exert pressure on the brain, but not grow into it.

Several years ago, I had an unexplained hearing loss, and acoustic neuroma was one of the hundred or so things that was ruled out as a cause. In my case, no cause was ever identified despite thousands of dollars in medical tests. Since then, my hearing in that ear has returned almost to normal (there's still a very slight, inconsequential loss at the lowest frequencies). I don't know why my hearing returned to normal, nor do my doctors. I suspect it may have something to do with dietary supplements and the fact that I just live a healthier lifestyle these days, or maybe it was divine healing.

Rich
 
and if they don't suggest an MRI, please insist. My wife woke up profoundly deaf in one ear one morning - a rare way for an Acoustic Neuroma (AN) to exhibit - and messed around with ENTs, hearing tests, suggestions of blockages, infections, etc for nearly a year before her primary insisted on an MRI, which revealed the AN.
 
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