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Do you have any hearing loss?

Left ear is down to 10% (90% hearing loss) as the result of a cold/infection that settled in the ear. Annoying AF. Very difficult to focus on conversation in a noisy environment because all the sounds are going in one ear; sort of like losing depth perception when closing one eye. It’s also taken away some of my enjoyment from listening to music.

About the only benefit has been burying my good ear into the pillow at night and I can sleep very soundly with little to disturb me.
 
my ears are garbage but my hearing is fine when they are draining correctly. I have had to get tubes as an adult multiple time

I got them multiple times as a kid, but never as an adult. Do you get bad ear infections because of the poor drainage. My last bad one was in high school. I always dread the "Dad, my ear hurts" from my kids. I know a trip to Unity Point is right behind it 🤣
 
13 tubes in my left ear has left me dead to the range that humans speak in. Supposedly I have 80 percent of normal heating,

If we're switching topics to dick heating, I hover around 110% on a average day
 
Tinnitus in my left ear that has gotten p[rogressively worse over the past couple of years - at first I could only hear it at night or when things were really quiet. Now it's a constant hum in my ear. Some hearing loss in both and it's becoming harder and harder to pick up conversations. Gonna head to the Costco hearing aid center in the near future.
 
My wife says I do.
If she is right, it was probably caused by sitting right by the wall of speakers at a Clapton show when I was in college. It was cool for about two songs, then became torture; the high notes he hits at times with the guitar were like an ice pick going through the ears into the brain. My ears were ringing for several days.
 
I got them multiple times as a kid, but never as an adult. Do you get bad ear infections because of the poor drainage. My last bad one was in high school. I always dread the "Dad, my ear hurts" from my kids. I know a trip to Unity Point is right behind it 🤣
Just poor drainage. The last one they put in I guess somehow the numbing agent they put in my ear drained down out of my ear area. I couldn’t walk. I was so messed up
 
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I just turned 60 last week. Maybe about 6 months ago I began noticing I'm having trouble hearing people talking at normal volumes. The best way to describe it is I need the background noise to be quiet to hear people clearly.

It's not bad, just (now) noticeable now and then. I had a physical last year and my hearing checked out fine...this is a recent development unfortunately.

Obnoxiously loud music my entire life - then driving a school bus recently - is what I blame. It's most noticeable while the bus engine is running.

I've never worn ear protection - last week my b-day present to myself were some ear muffs for when I use lawn mowers, chain saws, etc - things like that.
 
Just poor drainage. The last one they put in I guess somehow the numbing agent they put in my ear drained down out of my ear area. I couldn’t walk. I was so messed up

As an adult, do you go under for tubes? One of my earliest memories is my dad bringing me Rufus, my stuffed animal right before they put me under.
 
As an adult, do you go under for tubes? One of my earliest memories is my dad bringing me Rufus, my stuffed animal right before they put me under.
No, they do it in office and it is easy. Actually the last time I had them put in as a child was in the office. That was a long time ago too
 
Posted this in the Vertigo thread.
3 years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to this crazy loud ringing noise in my right ear. I went to the bathroom to rub my ear and realized I couldn't hear my finger rubbing my ear. I went to the doctor and they said it was swollen and gave me some steroids. Told me I would be fine the next day. Two days later I still couldn't hear and went to the ENT. They did a hearing test and told me I was deaf. I told them it was just swollen shut as thats what the other doctor told me. They said there was no swelling.. They said I needed to come to terms with the fact that I was deaf and never going to hear again and the ringing was going to last forever as well.

I cried in my car for about an hour....

A couple hours later I got a call from a surgeon saying the ENT had called him and told him about my situation and he said you need to come in right now. I went in and he took a look, he said I may be able to help you but you need to have surgery in the next two days or it's not going to work.

The day I lost my hearing I was lifting weights and I put on more than usual. When I was lifting my ears felt clogged like when you get off an airplane so I grabbed my nose and blew really hard. Apparently I blew the "windows" out of my right ear.

The surgery consisted of them shaving off some skin in my ear and gluing it over the broken windows. They then packed it with gauze and said IF I ever hear again it will happen in the next month. He told me I had a 50/50 shot since I got in soon enough. He said after 7 days your ear forgets to know how to hear and it will never relearn it.

About 3 weeks in I heard some faint muffles. They took the gauze out and did a hearing test and I was at 98%. They said I will probably need to have the same surgery every 5 years or so when the glue wears off. I'm not able to swim more than 10-12 feet deep.

Scary time.
 
Posted this in the Vertigo thread.
3 years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to this crazy loud ringing noise in my right ear. I went to the bathroom to rub my ear and realized I couldn't hear my finger rubbing my ear. I went to the doctor and they said it was swollen and gave me some steroids. Told me I would be fine the next day. Two days later I still couldn't hear and went to the ENT. They did a hearing test and told me I was deaf. I told them it was just swollen shut as thats what the other doctor told me. They said there was no swelling.. They said I needed to come to terms with the fact that I was deaf and never going to hear again and the ringing was going to last forever as well.

I cried in my car for about an hour....

A couple hours later I got a call from a surgeon saying the ENT had called him and told him about my situation and he said you need to come in right now. I went in and he took a look, he said I may be able to help you but you need to have surgery in the next two days or it's not going to work.

The day I lost my hearing I was lifting weights and I put on more than usual. When I was lifting my ears felt clogged like when you get off an airplane so I grabbed my nose and blew really hard. Apparently I blew the "windows" out of my right ear.

The surgery consisted of them shaving off some skin in my ear and gluing it over the broken windows. They then packed it with gauze and said IF I ever hear again it will happen in the next month. He told me I had a 50/50 shot since I got in soon enough. He said after 7 days your ear forgets to know how to hear and it will never relearn it.

About 3 weeks in I heard some faint muffles. They took the gauze out and did a hearing test and I was at 98%. They said I will probably need to have the same surgery every 5 years or so when the glue wears off. I'm not able to swim more than 10-12 feet deep.

Scary time.
Dude that's brutal. Thank goodness someone knew what they were talking about.
 
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No, they do it in office and it is easy. Actually the last time I had them put in as a child was in the office. That was a long time ago too

Hmm. Mine was probably 35 years ago.
 
Yes, from years of playing drums in rock bands and going to concerts that were way too loud without hearing protection.

It wasn't until my mid-20's that I realized I was being an idiot and started wearing proper hearing protection when playing or going to shows. It too me being able to hear nothing but loud ringing for two days after one show to change my approach, but by then the damage was done.

I'm now mid-40's and seriously considering that I might need to get some type of hearing aid shortly. I'm ok if it's a quiet room, but if there's any background noise I have to be looking right at you or I struggle to understand what people are saying. Same with TV. I often have to use the subtitles or turn it up really loud which drives everyone crazy.
 
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How young are you?

My Mom (no pics) is 72 and just found out she has 40% hearing loss in her left ear.

She's not sure what caused it; maybe just age.

Start praying! We all get disabilities as we age.
Your Mom and I are the same age. I started the hearing loss thing in the late 1990’s through a busted eardrum but I do not consider myself disabled.

Your “start praying” thing is an invasion of privacy in my opinion. That’s between me and God, thank you.
Also my sister is an audiologist and I’m well aware of any issues that may be associated with hearing loss. She has assured me praying has no effect on my ears. And she went to Catholic school too.
Maybe it was her graduate training at Yale? 🙄
 
Your Mom and I are the same age. I started the hearing loss thing in the late 1990’s through a busted eardrum but I do not consider myself disabled.

Your “start praying” thing is an invasion of privacy in my opinion. That’s between me and God, thank you.

I'm just looking out for your future.
 
Hmm. Mine was probably 35 years ago.
I figured the last time I had them as a child was probably around 90 or 91. It wasn’t fun as they used some suction like device to get out all of the wax, etc. Didn’t feel good

The times as an adult were super easy. I still took Valium to make process go smoother , but probably didn’t need to
 
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My 5 year old went to the ENT the other day and has “moderatel” hearing loss. Gonna have to see more specialists on whether or not it’s something that’s going to get worse or if it’s been that way from the beginning.

I work around very loud equipment and always have my ear plugs in. A lot of guys don’t wear any and I can’t imagine the type of hearing loss that have/will get.
Really sorry to hear that. Did your child ever have ear infections or tubes installed?
 
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A friend of mine has tinnitus from working 30 years in construction around loud…well, everything. He mid 40’s and it’s already pretty rough for him. It sounds (no pun intended) awful.
 
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My 5 year old went to the ENT the other day and has “moderatel” hearing loss. Gonna have to see more specialists on whether or not it’s something that’s going to get worse or if it’s been that way from the beginning.

I work around very loud equipment and always have my ear plugs in. A lot of guys don’t wear any and I can’t imagine the type of hearing loss that have/will get.
I was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss at age 5. I have a cookie bite audiogram means I can hear Highs and lows normally but mid ranges very poorly. human speech is in the mid ranges. The hearing loss was tolerable until I entered the workforce and immediately knew I was in trouble. I attempted to compensate for the hearing loss for years and that led to significant anxiety issues with work. I finally bit the bullet and dropped 6K for hearing aides and age 40. I was hugely conscious about the hearing aids and the idiotic comments like "oh man you aren't even that old". My response was always, "I'm not old you rude Mother Fu*k#r, I was born this way". I've always noticed that people who wear hearing aids are treated much differently than people with eyeglasses. I couldn't imagine going without hearing aids now. My family was so appreciative of me wearing them and I can now be in the workspace without worrying that I will miss something important. BTW those of you who have issues with being around noise likely have a ski slope haring loss.
 
Really sorry to hear that. Did your child ever have ear infections or tubes installed?
No she didn’t. She was born with no optic nerve in one eye so she only has sight in the other one. My half brother had hearing loss from birth so so they want to know more about that. He was way worse than my daughter though. Hopefully, it’s just been that way from the beginning and not something that’s going to continue to diminish.
 
Posted this in the Vertigo thread.
3 years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to this crazy loud ringing noise in my right ear. I went to the bathroom to rub my ear and realized I couldn't hear my finger rubbing my ear. I went to the doctor and they said it was swollen and gave me some steroids. Told me I would be fine the next day. Two days later I still couldn't hear and went to the ENT. They did a hearing test and told me I was deaf. I told them it was just swollen shut as thats what the other doctor told me. They said there was no swelling.. They said I needed to come to terms with the fact that I was deaf and never going to hear again and the ringing was going to last forever as well.

I cried in my car for about an hour....

A couple hours later I got a call from a surgeon saying the ENT had called him and told him about my situation and he said you need to come in right now. I went in and he took a look, he said I may be able to help you but you need to have surgery in the next two days or it's not going to work.

The day I lost my hearing I was lifting weights and I put on more than usual. When I was lifting my ears felt clogged like when you get off an airplane so I grabbed my nose and blew really hard. Apparently I blew the "windows" out of my right ear.

The surgery consisted of them shaving off some skin in my ear and gluing it over the broken windows. They then packed it with gauze and said IF I ever hear again it will happen in the next month. He told me I had a 50/50 shot since I got in soon enough. He said after 7 days your ear forgets to know how to hear and it will never relearn it.

About 3 weeks in I heard some faint muffles. They took the gauze out and did a hearing test and I was at 98%. They said I will probably need to have the same surgery every 5 years or so when the glue wears off. I'm not able to swim more than 10-12 feet deep.

Scary time.
Whoa, dang. Never heard of such. Good luck.

Decades of loud music, target practice, woodworking and sawmill equipment, coupled with genetic issues have me getting set for hearing aids.
The doc did something in my last exam that I never encountered in many exams over the years. She asked me to repeat a series of words and although I could not understand some of them, I thought I did Ok. Nope.
She said that in addition to the obvious loss of high pitch hearing, I missed plenty of consonants, which has me totally mixing up words.
Bottom line is that the aids are frigging costly, but needed. I got turned on to ear plugs and muffs at age 18 by a friend’s old man, so it isn’t that I was not trying to avoid hearing loss, but the factors just compounded.
Now, if only I could remember what we were posting about.
 
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Stone Cold Deaf. Kicked in around 21. Caused by degenerative neurological condition. Completely deaf around 24/25.
 
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Do you use hearing aids or sign language?

How do you operate on a day to day basis?
Sign and lip reading.
They had to cut my auditory nerves to remove tumors growing near brain stem. So no hearing aids or cochlear implants. Tried to get an Aiditory Brain Implant but the Implant did not work. I function ok. Deaf people actually are more challenging than hearing :).
Alot of functioning is routine email, IM, and text phones acceptance over the past 15 yrs make things much easier. Crowds and large meetings suck though.
 
Sign and lip reading.
They had to cut my auditory nerves to remove tumors growing near brain stem. So no hearing aids or cochlear implants. Tried to get an Aiditory Brain Implant but the Implant did not work. I function ok. Deaf people actually are more challenging than hearing :).
Alot of functioning is routine email, IM, and text phones acceptance over the past 15 yrs make things much easier. Crowds and large meetings suck though.

Can you drive? How do you get around?
 
Drive, get around fine. Fatigue and having imbalance are my major issues. Balance nerves are in same area as auditory nerves. They had to be cut as well. But I'm in decent shape otherwise.

You can't hear noises like car horns but driving is safe, you think?
 
Sign and lip reading.
They had to cut my auditory nerves to remove tumors growing near brain stem. So no hearing aids or cochlear implants. Tried to get an Aiditory Brain Implant but the Implant did not work. I function ok. Deaf people actually are more challenging than hearing :).
Alot of functioning is routine email, IM, and text phones acceptance over the past 15 yrs make things much easier. Crowds and large meetings suck though.
NF Type 2?
 
You can't hear noises like car horns but driving is safe, you think?
Been doing it for 20 yrs. No fatalities or major wrecks. Been hit a couple times in parking lot. Walking into the store. But got a handicap sticker. So not as big of a worry.
 
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Posted this in the Vertigo thread.
3 years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to this crazy loud ringing noise in my right ear. I went to the bathroom to rub my ear and realized I couldn't hear my finger rubbing my ear. I went to the doctor and they said it was swollen and gave me some steroids. Told me I would be fine the next day. Two days later I still couldn't hear and went to the ENT. They did a hearing test and told me I was deaf. I told them it was just swollen shut as thats what the other doctor told me. They said there was no swelling.. They said I needed to come to terms with the fact that I was deaf and never going to hear again and the ringing was going to last forever as well.

I cried in my car for about an hour....

A couple hours later I got a call from a surgeon saying the ENT had called him and told him about my situation and he said you need to come in right now. I went in and he took a look, he said I may be able to help you but you need to have surgery in the next two days or it's not going to work.

The day I lost my hearing I was lifting weights and I put on more than usual. When I was lifting my ears felt clogged like when you get off an airplane so I grabbed my nose and blew really hard. Apparently I blew the "windows" out of my right ear.

The surgery consisted of them shaving off some skin in my ear and gluing it over the broken windows. They then packed it with gauze and said IF I ever hear again it will happen in the next month. He told me I had a 50/50 shot since I got in soon enough. He said after 7 days your ear forgets to know how to hear and it will never relearn it.

About 3 weeks in I heard some faint muffles. They took the gauze out and did a hearing test and I was at 98%. They said I will probably need to have the same surgery every 5 years or so when the glue wears off. I'm not able to swim more than 10-12 feet deep.

Scary time.
COunt yourself lucky. My deafness is nerve ralted. The nerve is dead. You lucky bastard.
 
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