How is your hearing?


manXcat
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manXcat
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01/01/2021 10:55 pm

How is your hearing?

Do you have a powerful 2x12 combo or head & 4x12 cab/s and like to crank it ocasionally, or even regularly? Loving Rock, I do, and it's something that holds that qualitity of ambivalence attributable to pleasure of emotion yet concern of reason being at odds with one another. My last hearing check, in a sound isolation audio test booth, was around 12 months ago.

[br]Wonders of this age of the internet, just like online guitar lessons I stumbled upon this today, and thought to share this as a timely reminder to check yours for the start of 2021, as hearing damage can be permanent. (Note: This is an AU site, but there may be a similiar available in the US, UK, NZ et al - a search should reveal.) It's a good indicative test for => further investigation required? yes/no.

I took the test using SONY MDR-XB400 headphones like these. They're not optimal, but I had them sitting next to me on the desk at the time. For a more accurate result I should have gone to my studio and retrieved my fully enclosed closed Superlux HD662 EVO Studio Monitor heaphones, but laziness won the moment. I'd have done so for a subsequent test had the result been less favourable raising cause for concern.

Snipped my results, inserted below, with some explanatory notes below the image why having a regular hearing check is salient to me and makes me cogent any time I choose to treat myself to 'a bit of let it rip' raucous, of limiting exposure to potentially damaging dB noise levels .

Can't be displeased with that result.

[u]Ok. Now the didactic chat[/u]. Why regular hearing checks should be [u]important to you[/u], particular to those youngsters out here who might have taken a curiosity bo peep at this.

Most of my life from about age 17 I have undertaken hearing checks regularly. Initially as a young man, rather than due to any intrinsic awareness, on a mandatory basis to qualify for entry into various positions prerequisite for occupations I've wanted to hold, and later at least annually as part of a qualifying medical requirement to hold a licence to practice my occupation. In the early years, the nature of the job exposed me to high levels of noise exposure, and for prolonged periods. Although in those days I wore closed headset offering some protection either defacto due the flight helmet, and later Dave Clark style fully enclosed headsets until moving to pointy end types with fans and their noise down the back or out on swept back wing pylons. [br][br]Failure to pass the medical requirement due to hearing damage meant loss of licence privileges and ultimately loss of a job/career I loved with a passion, so I've always been cognizant of self-responsibilty to take reasonable precaution to prevent hearing loss along with other health factors. Later in life (>60), the medical validity period reduced to a stringent 6 months with additional checks, so the test requirement became a 6 monthly routine. Since retiring I've undertaken less stringent but approximately annual hearing test/checks for my own edification.

[u]Now an anecdote[/u]. Like many here I suspect, I've enjoyed playing online PC games at one time or another (how I wished now I'd taken up guitar instead, but no point in regret over things passed which can't be altered). I was one of three admins on several popular FPS servers we founded two decades ago. One of the other admins, around my same age (edit: mid 40s for clarification) was even then as deaf as a post figuratively, literally without his hearing aid. His career? He'd been a pro roadie for the 30 years prior for heavy rock bands. o.O !!!

Take the test.


# 1
Guitar Tricks Admin
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Guitar Tricks Admin
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01/04/2021 6:32 pm

This test is very important for all musicians to take. It's great to know where your hearing is at!


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact us.
# 2
markcarrell
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markcarrell
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01/05/2021 7:00 am

I have lost a lot of my hearing due to a loud work environment for 9 years, drummer for 40 years, and firearms. When I was garage banding we played so loud I couldn't hear for hours. I also have tinnitus. I wear hearing aids. Don't take your hearing for granted. Protect your ears when playing guitar. I wish I could get back just half of what I've permanently lost. And I still like my music loud.


# 3
manXcat
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manXcat
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01/05/2021 8:08 am
Originally Posted by: markcarrellI wear hearing aids. Don't take your hearing for granted. Protect your ears when playing guitar. I wish I could get back just half of what I've permanently lost.

Well said Mark. I wish you could too.


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Chonderul
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Chonderul
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01/13/2023 9:21 pm

Wow, this is a great thing.


# 5
snojones
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snojones
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01/13/2023 11:48 pm

SAY WHAT?


edited

Captcha is a total pain in the........

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stephanilope12
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stephanilope12
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01/31/2023 6:23 am

Perhaps many people do not know what level their hearing is at. It would be great if the test gave correct results 


slope ball


 


# 8
matonanjin
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matonanjin
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01/31/2023 6:05 pm

I just got hearing aids about a year ago.  I HATE THEM!  I don't hate the aid they provide, which they do.  But rather the daily routine.  And, probably, the recognition of what they represent: I am now old!


When the results of my test of whether I needed them predictably came back that I did need them I asked the audiologist what caused my hearing loss.  And, of course, the primary factor was age.  I asked her if my loss was possibly, at least in part, due to decades of listening to music at pain levels and she would only commit to "Possibly".  


I found that interesting.  I thought it would have been more contributory.  But then the knowledge is purely academic.  I need hearing aids and will for the rest of my life no matter the cause.


Guitars: 2014 PRS Santana, 2013 PRS Paul's, 2009 PRS Hollowbody I, 1972 Gibson ES-325, 2012 Fender American Standard Stratocaster,  2020 Fender Telecaster, 2001 PRS Santana SE,  2021 Martin M-36, 2021 Martin 000-15M, Seagull S6 Classic, 2012 Yamaha Pacifica  Amps: Fender Blues Junior III, Boss Eband JS-10,  Line 6 POD HD500X, Quilter Microblock 45 w/homemade 12" cab.

# 9
manXcat
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manXcat
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01/31/2023 8:29 pm

Of course presbycusis is a salient contributory factor with aging, as is the inevitibility of arthritis. The thing is to be aware of are the environmental factors contributing to premature loss and exposure thereto within your control and management insofar as practically avoidable to minimise their impact resultant in potential premature or extreme hearing loss.

Anecdotal further to the ex-roadie's regret in my initial post, in my childhood I knew personally a bloke (father of a playmate) who was an artilleryman at the battles of Tobruk and El Alamein. Aged just 45 give or take at the time I knew him, deaf as a post from the percussion of the guns. No hearing protection in those days. Just the consequence to live his life out with. If you've ever stood on a tarmac without hearing protection and listened to a pair of Rolls-Royce Darts of an F-27 or HS 748 in full fine or worse four as on the venerable Vickers Viscounts, you'll personally have experienced the auditory pain threshold. Do that very often or for lengthy exposure, guaranteeed hearing loss. 


edited
# 10
matonanjin
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matonanjin
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02/08/2023 4:33 pm

@glanmitchenson, your post was probably meant conciliatory and it is appreciated, however to what extent falling on deaf ears.šŸ˜‰  When I got my hearing aids, I went on a similar tirade, as above, and the audiologist tried to console with a comment, "Well, you have glasses you don't feel that way about glasses. Lots of  children get glasses".  But it is not a mathmatically supportable position.  A high percentage of children, I have no idea what percentage, get glasses.  A far lower percentage of children, again I am ignorant to the actual percentage, get hearing aids. 


but thank you.


edited

Guitars: 2014 PRS Santana, 2013 PRS Paul's, 2009 PRS Hollowbody I, 1972 Gibson ES-325, 2012 Fender American Standard Stratocaster,  2020 Fender Telecaster, 2001 PRS Santana SE,  2021 Martin M-36, 2021 Martin 000-15M, Seagull S6 Classic, 2012 Yamaha Pacifica  Amps: Fender Blues Junior III, Boss Eband JS-10,  Line 6 POD HD500X, Quilter Microblock 45 w/homemade 12" cab.

# 11
W3
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W3
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02/25/2023 11:51 am

I've also got hearing aids, whether it's due to a love of a lifetime of loud rock n roll, nail guns for forty years, or age; maybe a little of all, it's part of my life now. Because of the ability to hear the frequencies I couldn't before, I'm thankful. Yep, like anything additional we have to use due to age or even youthful stupidity, I'm blessed to get some of my hearing loss back! These are a high quality set from the VA and heck I can answer the phone, listen to iTunes, radio broadcasts and other things through the blue tooth function. Take heart, in the event you have to have hearing aids. Life is STILL good, there is hope! 


# 13
Drake the Red
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Drake the Red
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02/26/2023 9:11 pm

The human ear can tolerate up to 120 decibels of sound; my acoustic violin lets out a maximum of 95 decibels. I don't doubt my amp far exceeds beyond those levels. I certainly don't feel foolish wearing ear protection at all times. 


 


Am I the only one who plays multiple instruments? Let's be inspirational and find our muses everyday!

# 14
Drake the Red
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Drake the Red
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02/26/2023 9:13 pm
#14 Originally Posted by: Drake the Red

The human ear can tolerate up to 120 decibels of sound; my acoustic violin lets out a maximum of 95 decibels. I don't doubt my amp far exceeds beyond those levels. I certainly don't feel foolish wearing ear protection at all times. 


 

I've written this not to be condescending, but to hopefully help any novices in doubt who are just starting out.


Am I the only one who plays multiple instruments? Let's be inspirational and find our muses everyday!

# 15

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