Originally Posted by
grizli
I've had tinnitus since '95. I was serving at the time and on two occasions in a two months duration had to shoot a 2" mortar without ear plugs. Or rather, on one occasion I had no time to put them in, the other I DID, only to have the one closer to the mortar fall out as I was turning the firing pin release... I remember the -"oh, $h!t.." BOOM - sequence very clearly. And the ringing after. Taking in mortar and rocket fire on a semi regular basis (and the various artillery elements responding sometimes) for another year sure didn't help, and transferring to an armored corp battalion for a year and a half after that probably didn't, either, even though I was very careful to have plugs or muffs whenever needed.
O.k, and maybe, MAYBE, shooting ipsc matches for 20 years and about 1500 hours of scuba diving weren't the smartest thing to do...
Nights is a constant buzz (who wants to hear crickets, I've got my own!) And having a conversation in a crowd is something better done if I can see the lips of whoever is talking to me, otherwise results may vary ( might be funny). But hi, don't really like crowds anyway.
The notched therapy mentioned here is very interesting, thanks for the tip and here's hoping for a quiet night!
P.s
SWAMBO wanted me to get hearing aids for a while now, and I kinda refused on account of a. I'm not even 40 yet, and b. Didn't think there's something to be done with the ringing.
If I understood people here correctly and hearing aids do help, I might have to reconsider...
Sorry if I lowered the thread age average