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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

#321
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I literally cannot understand the mentality of people who'd make fun of you for wearing hearing protection at gigs. I go to a lot of gigs (like multiple times a week) and "simply trusting" that the sound engineer won't push the volume up into hearing damage territory is... naive at best. Please folks, use protection. I like Etymotic earplugs, but to be honest i'm not even sure if they're "heavy enough", but my pain t…

It seems to be in the same bucket as people not wearing seat belts and making fun of you if you ask them to wear one in a car with you.

If it's not something everyone does, and if you mention you do it for safety, the reaction is often rather negative. I think people don't like the idea that they might have been doing something very unsafe this whole time.

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

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced an audio trauma when I was 17. Tinnitus followed. Parents told me "let's wait a week or two and if it isn't gone away then we'll make an appointment". Once the verdict of definitive hear loss and permanent noise was confirmed my dad told me: "don't stay too close to hammers next time". To this day I still wait until I can't move/breath/feel to go to the doctor. edit: unfordable health care and/or bad mo…

Europeans know American adults don't have free healthcare. If you really want to shock a European, tell them that American children don't have free heathcare either. (I remember discovering this when I was about 14, on holiday in the US, when my younger brother caught pneumonia.)

Well, I am European (and living in a country with one of the best coverage).

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

#323

A 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:/…

Blocking out sound completely for long enough should have a detrimental impact on your hearing. In general the brain prioritizes senses that are being used over senses that are being deprived.

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

#324
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the fun parts about the club experience is feeling the sound with your entire body, and you don't get that without the sound being far louder than is safe for your ears without protection.

No, not at all. You only get to feel the low frequencies anyway, which is why infrasonic speakers are nowadays a standard for electronic music venues. You then sync those with audible output and people think they "feel" the music. What they feel are inaudible sound waves at a frequency that makes some tissue/bones(?) resonate. But this is as much "feeling" the music as is being punched in the face in sync with the ba…

Do earplugs effectively mitigate the hearing damage caused by the low frequency bass that you feel in your bones?

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

#325
post #6
post #3

> An audiologist friend told me to go to an ENT physician if not better by 48 hours or the damage could be permanent. Much longer than that and it would be too late to try any of the interventions This seems like poor advice. If there is significant, realistic concern about permanent damage, I'd suggest checking immediately, rather than give it extra time...

Yes, I always find it amazing how patients can have a sudden sensorineural hearing loss and wait days before presenting. In my opinion patients and the public should treat it as urgently as a sudden sight loss. High dose steroids are regularly prescribed in this sort of scenario in an attempt to minimize damage, and are likely to be more effective the sooner they are given.

If you're looking for something with a profound anti-inflammatory effect you can get more out of high potency CBD(Cannabidiol) than from high potency steroids. Side effects are generally less with the CBD, although it's exponentially more expensive.

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

#326
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friends daughter got a brain injury from a car-pedestrian accident. He learned a lot, and told me his take away: If you hit your head and have any concern about it, take Ibuprofen to prevent swelling/inflamation and drive to Ann Arbor (we're in Michigan but that's over an hour away). The first part made sense, the second he said that town and UofM are known for treating that kind of thing. He has them in such high…

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...

Prescription Ibuprofen actually carries a Black Box Warning about increased stroke and heart attack risk in general. The OTC version never got the updated warning.

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

#327
post #43
post #22

Earlier 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/

As odd as it may sound, Amphetamine is a key part of 'one of the most promising pharmacological strategies studied for recovery after stroke'. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/14960125/

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

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Shit, is the hex bar working the same stuff? Should I just switch to that? I'm underlifting for fear of my back

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

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, if you lose hearing from noise exposure, you'll generally lose it around 4 KHz (noise notch). You generally lose the really high frequencies (20 KHz on down) due to presbycusis, hearing loss due to aging. Even if you can still hear the really high frequencies, you could still have a noise notch around 4 KHz. If you haven't already, go get an an audiogram. It's cheap (<$100) and will give you a baseline on how yo…

> FYI, if you lose hearing from noise exposure, you'll generally lose it around 4 KHz I used http://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ to quickly profile my hearing and found significant loss around 4.0kHz. I have ridden a motorcycle most of my life and it is much worse in the ear that is on the same side as the exhaust. I am not sure what a spectrogram looks like for a motorcycle but I would have assumed that most of…

While trying this tone generator out, I thought I had a ridiculous notch in my hearing at 532Hz, because the perceived volume dropped to about 10-20% of the neighbouring frequencies. But then I moved my head slightly to the side, and the normal volume was restored!

Turns out that I had inadvertently replicated a classic high-school "constructive/destructive interference" demonstration. Driving the pair of speakers on my desk at that frequency put the position of my head in one of the destructive-interference "nulls" where the effective volume approaches zero.

So if anyone else is playing around with it, be sure to use headphones instead of stereo speakers!

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

#330

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…

Stop worrying. You are way more fragile than you think. That's why humanity created 7 billion people at the same time and around the world. Decentralization is important.

On the other hand, it is bad news for you. You can catch a naughty bacteria and die. You can slip by the door step and become paraplegic. If you are concerned about your family, get insurance. If you are concerned about your life (paraplegic or blind is not fun) then... tssk... bad luck. There is no insurance for that.

ps: I'm not suggesting you go do irresponsible things but worrying beyond reasonable yield no better results.

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