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I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

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Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#291

I very recently thought I might have permanently damaged my eyesight. I was working from a library, and stood to start closing up for the day. As I started to close my laptop, the screen (hi, glossy MacBook Pro) directly reflected the sun behind me. For the next 15-20 minutes a significant portion of my vision in both eyes was wavy. I could still safely drive home, thankfully, but it was a severe distraction. While I…

There is this story about Feynman looking at the explosion of an atomic bomb from behind a car window. He reasoned that visible light alone can not hurt eyes, only ultraviolet, which is filtered out by the glass.

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/04/what_its_like_...

I don't know what's the truth.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any competent sound engineer is wearing ear protection, so you're usually hearing a better mix with ear plugs in. Your plugs colour the sound slightly, but the mix engineer is subconsciously compensating for the colouration of his own plugs. If the sound engineer isn't wearing ear plugs, the same logic probably applies. Noise-induced hearing loss has roughly the same effects on your hearing as earplugs, acting like a…

If the sound engineer tunes for the coloured sound, and the sound that he is hearing is coloured the same regardless of whether he is wearing ear plugs, does it not then follow that the sound that you are hearing is coloured the same regardless of whether you are wearing ear plugs?

I believe the logic is:

* Sound engineer is wearing ear protection -> sound is tuned according to that bias (unless they are completely auditory neutral) -> you get the best sound by also wearing hearing protection

* Sound engineer is not wearing ear protection -> sound engineer probably has hearing damage due to prolonged exposure (and has a similar effect as hearing protection) -> sound is tuned according to that bias -> you do NOT have hearing damage, so you get the best sound by wearing hearing protection

The effect on the sound is the same in both cases and the correction is the same in both -- wear hearing protection. It only becomes the same sound regardless of what _you_ do in the long term, if you also get hearing loss due to prolonged exposure.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#293

I have some hearing damage from IED’s, small arms fire, and such. I’m concerned about further hearing damage but what really terrifies me is Tinnitus. The stories I’ve read are scary. People turning drugs to make the sounds stop. I already hear nearly constant brown noise. I can’t imagine what a high pitched sound would do to me. Glad the author was ok.

As someone who's had it for.. what, 37 years, let me tell you that you shouldn't let it terrify you. You can train yourself to ignore the sound. Doesn't mean you don't hear it, just that you won't pay attention to it most of the time. When properly trained, it's little more than an irritation.

I'm more terrified of arthritis than I am of tinnitus.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#294
post #203

Earlier 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 a sport shooter and on occasion I've shot rifles and shotguns without hearing protection.

The hearing loss dissipates after a day, even in normal conditions. I'm sure that it's bad for you long term, but short term your ears tend to fix themselves up pretty quick.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#295
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm -- the website of Mayo Clinic says that you should avoid Ibuprofen if you might have a concussion, as they may increase the risk of bleeding. "Avoid other pain relievers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and aspirin, as these medications may increase the risk of bleeding." See: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/concussion/di...

One of the challenges in first aid treatment for stroke is “is it ischemic or hemorrhagic?”. The symptoms are similar, but the treatments almost the reverse of each other. Do you want to increase clotting to stop the bleeding, or decrease clotting to keep an existing brain clot small? Sometimes (for example if it would take hours to bring the patient to a MRI/CT machine) an educated guess as to the answer is the opti…

Wow, that's really good info. So I guess the answer is get to a hospital asap where they can do some imaging.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#296
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already thought the leg press machine was a death trap, but you managed to give me another reason to dislike it. I think I'll stick to squatting.

Ever since that video where the girl's legs go chicken style so very slowly while she screams, I've been scared as shit to get on that thing.

I love leg press, it's my second favorite lift next to deadlift (with a hex bar, I'm not competitive or anything, no need to risk the back). You have to be VERY careful not to lockout. I always end at like a 140-160 degree angle, far less than a straight 180. If you lockout, you're going to have a bad time eventually.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#297

Earlier 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…

Wow, this gives me hope. I'm 22 and in the past two years I've gone to ~100 rock concerts, seeing a total of 270 sets. For the first 23 concerts I didn't wear any hearing protection, until I had a scary event with my hearing at a Neon Trees concert that left my hearing very distorted for three days. Then for the next 80 or so concert's I'd wear my hearing protection most–but not all–of the time.

In the past year I've had worsening tinnitus. Although now (and for the last ~30 concerts) I've worn ear plugs most of the time (and recently bought molded ear plugs), the tinnitus still gives me great anxiety when I hear it in quiet places like my bedroom at night. The permanency of it is what freaks me out the most. But your comment gives me hope that I'll one day be able to enjoy silence again.

I fully urge anyone who goes to rock and similar concerts with any frequency at all to wear hearing protection. I'm a fan of Earasers and custom-molded musicians ear plugs. Even if you don't care about your hearing now, once you do care, it'll often be too late.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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:/…

It’s not that strange. I wear earplugs (although they are low profile hidden ones) if I’m going to a loud venue, such as a really loud bar, or club, or a concert. It increases my enjoyment of these places and also makes it easier to have conversations with people.

Same, I keep discreet earplugs on my key chain and discreetly wear them in bars or similar unexpectedly loud places. Most people don't notice them even when they know I do this this. I'm a big fan of Earasers, which I bought for rock concerts, because they're generic musicians ear plugs (and therefore don't muffle people's voices), and they're practically unnoticeable.

For actual rock concerts, I have molded musicians ear plugs which make the music sound just incredible, and I have no discomfort afterwards. I also highly recommend those.

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glossy screens really ought to be buried in the trash heap of technological hype history. They're worse in every way than matte screens (and dangerous, as you point out) unless you live in a dark cave. It continually amazes me that so-called "high-end" products use them.

> They're worse in every way than matte screens I was of that opinion until I decided to test it out. It doesn't hold up. Clarity is the main factor, I found. A matte screen must by definition diffuse light, which causes image to become blurry - and visibly so. A glossy screen, for all it's annoying features, is just clearer and colors have an easier time being represented accurately. And most modern glossy screens n…

Screens should diffuse the image somewhat, to eliminate the high spacial frequency components pixel edges create. Not that a matte screen has ever prevented me from resolving individual pixels in a screen, even high DPI ones.

And sharp reflections on glossy screens make color-sensitive work difficult. Diffuse reflections are much easier to adjust for. Can you better support your claim that glossy monitors represent colors better?

Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet

#300
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never understood the shift to glossy screens. And it's funny that matte screens were briefly marketed as "privacy" screens because the angle of viewing was lower.

The matte texture diffuses light and gives you a relatively fuzzy picture compared to gloss. They just don't look nearly as clear and crisp when you compare side by side.

You can still see individual pixels on a matte screen, even high DPI screens. And a little bit of blur is anyway necessetated by sampling theory, to eliminate the high spatial frequency components of pixel edges.
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