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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

#371

Post by nate_meurer »

creep wrote: post #366
nate_meurer wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some tinnitus, but probably no more than the average person and it rarely bothers me. No, I just really like my hearing. I resolved to always wear earplugs out of the house one day after a particularly nasty bus with squealing brakes made my ears ring. I ride my bike a lot so that just made sense. At home, I was putting in ear plugs when putting away dishes, because I want to just get that shit done, pulling h…

Lol maybe you should start wearing a gas mask on the regular too? There are a lot of harmful chemicals in the air. Especially if you're on the road a lot biking.

Alright so this will make you LOL a bit more... I recently started keeping a 3M dustmask in my car -- the paper sort with the small outlet valve in the middle -- to wear when traffic is real heavy, especially on cool, still days when traffic smog tends to hug the ground.

Pollution where I live is nothing like China or India, and I'm not yet thinking about using a mask when jogging or biking, but in-car pollution in heavy traffic is turning out to be much worse than previously thought [1], and there is some interesting evidence that fine particulates, especially metallic particles like those that are prevalent in engine exhaust, contribute to Alzheimer's risk [2].

1 - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170721135331.h...

2 - http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/brain-pollution-evide...

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

#372

Post by nate_meurer »

Exuma wrote: post #369
matte_black wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Key phrase being... " if I’m going to a loud venue" The guy above wears them 24/7

Well, I probably should have said, "nearly non-stop during waking hours". I leave them out at night.

Also note that my "all-day" earplugs are these certain ones that have lost a lot of their effectiveness due to aging or something. I go through enough earplugs that I end up with a lot of these. I'm guessing I get about 10-15 dB out of them, and my ears/brain have adapted to this level of attenuation so well that my "plugged" hearing is functionally as good as other people's unimpeded hearing. For example, I listen to music and TV at the same levels as everyone else, and I'm not asking people to repeat themselves any more than anyone else.

The habit of keeping them in at all times during waking hours just ensures they're in place when I need them, like when I drop a dish, or a sticky weight falls on a weight stack at 24-hour fitness, as in the top post in this thread. Shit like that happens all the time to me, and I got really sick of saying, "damn I should have had earplugs in."

EDIT: Also, cut them in half. Much more usable for me, they're almost as effective, and hardly noticeable. Very rarely does someone notice that I have them in.

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

#373

Post by jadedtuna »

mathieuh wrote: post #342
mgleason_3 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, are you in the business or just a huge fan?

That’s not too difficult if the area you live/work in has a good scene for your favourite genres of music. The music I listen to tends to be pretty DIY (very small gigs in front of 20-50 people), and more weeks than not I find myself at at least one concert. I commute via plane for work so it gives me something to do that’s not sitting in the hotel watching TV or drinking too much alcohol. I recommend an app called S…

Off-Topic.

Could you elaborate on commuting by plane? Do you go to work every day? How long does it take? Why did you decide to work that way?

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

#374

Post by nate_meurer »

DanBC wrote: post #367
nate_meurer wrote: post #228

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,…

> to the point that I now wear them most of the time. You're risking ear infection, which could cause permanent loss of hearing, tinnitus, or worse.

No I'm not. I think the fact that I've done this for over three years without trouble is good evidence of that.

Even if I paid no attention to hygiene, wax buildup doesn't put you at higher risk of ear infection in the absence of excess moisture, and these low-performance plugs I use don't seem to cause moisture buildup.

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

#375

Post by rosstex »

verisimilitude wrote: post #361
rosstex wrote: post #315

I have a lot of earwax build-up, so whenever I wear earplugs they stick out stupidly. But this thread has scared me to death, so I think I'll keep on using them.

Oh oh I have something to help you! I used to struggle with them sticking out, too -- but since I watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S6dthcSVIM I can pop them in and you can't even see them when you're looking at me head-on. You _have_ to use two hands to put them in -- pulling up on the ear is essential. The roll-down information is helpful, too. Now, I can yawn and move my jaw every which way and…

Thanks for your reply, I'll try this! Anything to look less foolish.

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

#376

Post by palimpsests »

creep wrote: post #366
nate_meurer wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some tinnitus, but probably no more than the average person and it rarely bothers me. No, I just really like my hearing. I resolved to always wear earplugs out of the house one day after a particularly nasty bus with squealing brakes made my ears ring. I ride my bike a lot so that just made sense. At home, I was putting in ear plugs when putting away dishes, because I want to just get that shit done, pulling h…

Lol maybe you should start wearing a gas mask on the regular too? There are a lot of harmful chemicals in the air. Especially if you're on the road a lot biking.

Maybe a suit of armor, too. And/or bullet proofvest. Probably wouldn't hurt to have several AEDs on hand as well.

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

#377

Post by biggieshellz »

louprado wrote: post #285
biggieshellz wrote: post #177

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…

That's correct. Even in a factory environment, where most of the noise is in the lower frequencies, you'll still end up with a noise notch at 4 KHz. It has to do with the anatomy of the ear.

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

#378

Post by aylons »

roessland wrote: post #333
aylons wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Brazilian representative for Shure refused to replace my phone at the time and I decided to just let it go. I did not simply upgrade at the time partially because I was at odds with Shure because of this. Ten years later, the anger has faded, and I'm considering them again. Would you say that a SE215 (their lowest-priced), has a good isolation? I'd use it mostly for podcasts, so I don't care much about sound qual…

I'm on my fifth or sixth pair of Shure Se215's now. Awesome sound, isolation and fit, but eventually the connectivity between the ear buds and the cable will start to fail. (6 months to 1 year). I will probably go for a different brand without detachable cables soon, since my current ear buds are starting to fail again... For the ultimate silence on airplanes you can put some Bose QuietComforts on top of the Shure bu…

Thank you for the tips!

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

#379

Post by creep »

nate_meurer wrote: post #371
creep wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol maybe you should start wearing a gas mask on the regular too? There are a lot of harmful chemicals in the air. Especially if you're on the road a lot biking.

Alright so this will make you LOL a bit more... I recently started keeping a 3M dustmask in my car -- the paper sort with the small outlet valve in the middle -- to wear when traffic is real heavy, especially on cool, still days when traffic smog tends to hug the ground. Pollution where I live is nothing like China or India, and I'm not yet thinking about using a mask when jogging or biking, but in-car pollution in h…

Did you know that stress and anxiety increase your risk of heart disease significantly?

1 - http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/StressManagement....

2 - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.565...

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

#380

Post by macintux »

csomar wrote: post #330
macintux wrote: post #83

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 blin…

Astonishingly patronizing, but...thank you I suppose.
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