Earlier quoted context omitted.
uhhh... what?
He may be talking about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkf7HP2-pr8
... holy hell, that was nasty.
I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
261–270 of 405 posts
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok, as an American I have to say I marvel at the toilet technology in other countries. For example you guys often have two buttons on your toilets -- a #1 and a #2 button. It just makes sense. What are the lids made out of then?
You can buy a toilet with two buttons in the US as well. Home Depot's web site says they have 17 of one model of them in stock at the store near me.
Yeah.. and yet most of us buy the Ferguson.[1]
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may recover with time. When I was a teen I dismantled a shotgun cartridge and removed the shot and paper charge (lots of tiny paper discs). I stuffed them down the thick end of a car telescopic antenna cut to about 4” with the end folded over. I threw in a couple of pieces of lead shot, tamped it down with a piece of paper, stuck the tube under a rock and set up a paper target 6” away. I was optimistic. Then, with…
When I was doing my military service another conscript fired his rifle down into the ground as we where standing close together without any hearing protection on. Seconds later our captain orders us to put the hearing protection on and leads us down to a completely dark cellar with beds in it. We then had to lay there for 48 hours in complete silence with noice canceling ear protection on with only breaks for toilet…
I'm guessing this 48 hour timeout was as much about discipline as restoring any possible hearing loss.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#264A little PSA: there is some evidence that magnesium can help prevent/cure acute noise-induced hearing loss. Google returns several reputable studies. Also: earplugs, earplugs, earplugs. I keep foam earplugs on me at all times. I have some in my fifth pants pocket, I keep some in a pill container on my keyring, some in my backpack, in my car, etc. I cut them in half; the half size fits easier and takes up less space,…
Why did you start wearing earplugs? I know in the online music community that developing tinnitus is a fear/paranoia akin to fear of surveillance in the tech community-- not that these fears are unfounded, but many of such types tend to obsess. Is this the case with you? What happened to you that impacted your life to this point?
>I know in the online music community that developing tinnitus is a fear/paranoia akin to fear of surveillance in the tech community
I wish I was in the online music community before getting tinnitus. My tinnitus doesn't bother me now, but it did make me unhappy for a couple of months
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may recover with time. When I was a teen I dismantled a shotgun cartridge and removed the shot and paper charge (lots of tiny paper discs). I stuffed them down the thick end of a car telescopic antenna cut to about 4” with the end folded over. I threw in a couple of pieces of lead shot, tamped it down with a piece of paper, stuck the tube under a rock and set up a paper target 6” away. I was optimistic. Then, with…
I'm 42 years old and spent much of my teens and early 20s going to loud rock shows, raves, etc. I was rather stupid and always tried to get right up to the PA speakers at the front. I did not wear hearing protection. Many times I left shows with ringing for hours and that feeling like there is cotton stuffed in your ears for days. Not a handle of times - dozens of times. By my mid 20s it appeared I had tinnitus aroun…
I'm 43 years old, and in my 20s I went to a few loud rock shows. I had the same experience as you for days afterwards, but at the last one I attended without hearing protection, something funny happened in my right ear. It was like someone turned the tone control right down, and loud noises would distort so badly I couldn't make anything out.
A while later, I was watching a Scrubs episode where one of the characters ruptured an ear drum. That sound closely matched what I remembered hearing, so I've worn hearing protection to every concert since. Even had people make fun of me for it, but as soon as I say "probably ruptured an eardrum at a concert," they stop laughing.
I have tinnitus from a different cause, though. When I was very small, 5 or 6 years old, one of my mother's boyfriends would haul me around by my ears. I remember that my ear started ringing one day, and it never stopped.
I have two tones in one ear, and I think three in the other. 37 years later and it's as bad as it ever was, sadly. I have learned to just tune it out, but I can still hear it if I choose to - annoyingly, when I choose to hear it, I have to wait until I forget about it.
edit: Forgot to note, the ringing is very, very high pitched. Remember what CRT televisions would sound like when you turned them on? Higher pitched than that.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#266A little PSA: there is some evidence that magnesium can help prevent/cure acute noise-induced hearing loss. Google returns several reputable studies. Also: earplugs, earplugs, earplugs. I keep foam earplugs on me at all times. I have some in my fifth pants pocket, I keep some in a pill container on my keyring, some in my backpack, in my car, etc. I cut them in half; the half size fits easier and takes up less space,…
Magnesium can help, but the PSA for the layperson should be about getting prednisone in the first 24 hours of an acoustic trauma. I almost want to write this in all caps because this will literally save your hearing.
I was lucky enough to learn about this right after my left ear stopped working (don't get me started about Apple earbuds) and managed to recover 90 percent of my hearing due to convincing my doc to give me a 2 week steroid course. He hadn't even heard of this before, but thank God for white papers online.
While I did use magnesium and vitamin E, they were supplementary to the prednisone which regrew the damaged cells. The tinninitus community is full of regretful people who wish they knew this.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, modern soldiers wear “comtac” hearing protection with integrated microphones that pick up speech but block out the noise. So you can still communicate decent by shouting even though there is heavy fire going on around you.
What about before such things were available? Did everyone get damaged hearing the first day?
My grandfather told me on his first day in the military he had to stand (without any hearing protection) next to the anti-aircraft cannons when they opened fire to “train” the ears. He did not have much hearing left when he was older...
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#268A little PSA: there is some evidence that magnesium can help prevent/cure acute noise-induced hearing loss. Google returns several reputable studies. Also: earplugs, earplugs, earplugs. I keep foam earplugs on me at all times. I have some in my fifth pants pocket, I keep some in a pill container on my keyring, some in my backpack, in my car, etc. I cut them in half; the half size fits easier and takes up less space,…
This is one of the weirder things I’ve ever read here and I read a lot of strange behaviors here. You wear earplugs full time man, that’s not normal, you are missing out on unimpeded hearing due to a fear of hearing loss that likely is not based on science. Normal level sounds don’t degrade hearing as far as I know and loud sounds aren’t that common, certainly not enough to warrant wearing earplugs full time. https:/…
Not totally sure how to respond to this, as you don't seem to have actually read my comment, but here goes
> "you are missing out on unimpeded hearing"
As I said, my plugged hearing is now as good as my formerly unplugged hearing. The only thing I'm "missing" is a couple kHz at the very top, above about 18kHz. I don't miss that, really. And if I want super-human hearing (like when I'm reviewing audio equipment), guess what? I just take them out!
"fear of hearing loss"
I started because of actual hearing loss, due entirely to "everyday" events; occasional concerts (jazz mostly), some woodworking and yardwork, screaming kids, etc. I developed a bit of notching at treble frequencies and I lost a lost of top end. According to a hearing test last year, I have managed to reverse most of this. I'd bet money you've incurred at least the same amount of loss.
> "Normal level sounds don’t degrade hearing as far as I know..."
It entirely depends on your definition of "normal". The NIOSH limit for exposure to 85 dB is 8 hours. 85 dB is not that loud; it's driving in traffic with the window down. Drive a crappy car in the city with the windows all the way down and it's closer to 100. Ask a farmer or trucker how much of that "normal" level is safe.
> "not based on science."
Cute. Since I'm sure you're up to date on this stuff, can you tell me why the NIOSH exposure thresholds don't use equal loudness curves to account for frequency? I'll give you a shiny science star if you figure it out.
> "and loud sounds aren’t that common..."
Um... yeah, actually they are.
> "You could expose yourself to 8 hours a day of a lawnmower at 90 dB and 90% of the population would be fine."
Great, you've convinced me! A mere 10% chance of hearing loss after a half day of moderate sound levels is totally reason enough to abandon a practice that allowed me to recover a hearing level almost as good as my 8-year-old kid's.
Seriously though, if the only data you're reading comes from occupational safety guidelines, you're going to fuck up your hearing eventually. NIOSH is a blunt instrument, meant to make it easier for industry to minimize liability for worker disability. But there's a world of benefit outside of occupation safety regs. I like hearing better. Pretty simple. Plus, there's good evidence that sub-acute noise-induced hearing loss is a significant component of age-related hearing loss. Remember that when you're eighty and pissed off that you've misplaced your hearing aids.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#269My hearing was ACTUALLY permanently damaged when a sticky iron weight fell on a leg press machine at a 24-hour fitness about 5 years ago. The weights looked like these: http://www.presentationzen.com/.a/6a00d83451b64669e201156eb4... One extra weight slab was "stuck" to the group that was supposed to get lifted. It was stuck because the weights at the gym were grimy from many years of use without being cleaned. The ex…
It may recover with time. When I was a teen I dismantled a shotgun cartridge and removed the shot and paper charge (lots of tiny paper discs). I stuffed them down the thick end of a car telescopic antenna cut to about 4” with the end folded over. I threw in a couple of pieces of lead shot, tamped it down with a piece of paper, stuck the tube under a rock and set up a paper target 6” away. I was optimistic. Then, with…
Since we're sharing...
One summer when I was 8 or 9, I used a nail to scrape out the inside of a model rocket engine or two ("D" if I remember correctly) from my older brothers model kit into a pile on the concrete garage floor, then used a broken cord (literally a wall plug, a couple feet of cord, and two exposed ends) to ignite it by hand using the electric spark from the live leads.
After fleeing the garage in terror and slight pain (lucky not to have either electrocuted myself or burnt the detached structure down), I hung out doing nothing for a few hours and acted like nothing had happened. It was little use, though. Upon arriving home, my mother immediately know something was up. Not only was my face a little singed, I had burnt my eyebrows off.
Funnily enough, I'm fairly to heavily conservative when it comes to dangerous activity as an adult. I don't even drive all that fast usually.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
As Cian pointed out: high-dose steroids.
And NAC to prevent oxidative damage. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808688/
Protip: NAC prevents hangovers. I take one before and one after if I'm expecting an epic night out. The downside is, I don't get drunk so all the drink spend is wasted money. The upside, I come across as impervious instead of naturally being the lightweight of the group. Very useful when hanging out with alcoholic salespeople if you need to work the next day.
Test it out before you need it because the taste/smell makes some people puke like crazy for half an hour...