Hearing Loss (2 Viewers)

[Randy]

When I was 19 I was working under the dash on the wiring harness of a friends 1936 Chevy pick up. He thought he'd be cute by tossing an M-80 in the cab while I had no clue. KA-BOOM!

Couldn't hear much for about 2-3 days. But I did hear his wife yelling at him for doing it.

Today, my hearing tests fine at the age of, well, older than most. I have it tested every 2 years as part of the physical required to keep my TA/FC license current. Even after nearly 20 years racing TA/FC I'm OK, but my dad and grandfather have/had significant hearing losses by age 60 (I'm not that old) so I need to be careful.

Plug those ears.

RG

 

[.]

Brent, a 6 sec. Pro stock run doesn't do nearly as much damage to your ears as 110 DB straight for an hour or two at a concert! There's NO comparison.

I never said it did. The fact remains that even a pro stock car is well over 90 db and it WILL damage your hearing over time. Even a days worth of watching sportman cars without hearing protection is enough to do damage. Just because you don't notice it right away doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

[Jenn]

That is a problem, adults walking through the pits with young kids and NO ear protection. I was at Pomona a few years back and right under the Stands near the Starting line during the Fuel cars was a woman with a young kid in a stroller. I warned her about the Loud noise on a young kid and she said "He won't wear them!" Meaning earplugs, sounded like a lame excuse.

I'm sorry who was the parent? I understand the need to pick your battles with your kids, but that should have been a battle to pick.

I've seen sportsman racers use duct tape/electrical tape on their kids ears to keep them in.

Since it's not a greenbay packers jersey, it wouldn't be considered child abuse

For the record, putting ear bud ear phones in your ears does not constitue as proper ear protection, in fact, ear buds in the ear playing to loud can damage the little hairs that help you hear.

 

[.]

The only time I plug my ears is when they "whack" the throttle on a fueler during warm up. Other than that it doesn't bother me.

"Bothering you" is a poor guage of whether or not your hearing is being damaged. By the time it "bothers" you the damage is already done and irreversible.

Here's the guidelines:

90 db - Lawnmower, shop tools, truck traffic; 8 hours per day is the maximum exposure to protect 90% of people.

100 db - Chainsaw, pneumatic drill, snowmobile; 2 hours per day is the maximum exposure without protection.

115 db - Sandblasting, loud rock concert, auto horn; 15 minutes per day is the maximum exposure without protection.

Do the smart thing and protect your hearing now before you regret it later on.

I'm an audiophile and have been into music and high-end home audio systems for years. Even though I've taken pretty good care of my hearing and started wearing earplugs regularly at age 19 or 20 my hearing still isn't as good as it was. I used to be able to hear the high frequency whine of a flyback on a tv when it was turned on even if I was in another room with the door closed. Now the upper limit of my hearing is around 18 khz and it's getting a little harder to hear that high up in the frequency range every year.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

To me, there's no better music on earth than a nitro engine. I'll cover mine when the throttle's open but, that's it.

I have wondered for a long time when someone will fake a lawsuit, though. Just like a spinal injury, how would you prove there WASN'T damage (or pain in the case of a spine) if someone says there is?

 

[BaldyLochs]

I think the real risk is for those who are exposed to it all the time. And keep in mind, there's a heck of alot of other things in life besides race cars that can be just as harmful or even much more so. I think airplanes are the worst. Where I work, a jet just sitting on the ramp with a pair of Honeywell TFE turbines or Pratt JT8's idiling.... is like ramming an ice pick in your ears.
As for nitro racing, I know some guys who swear they can hear the valves better at idle without earplugs.

 

[Bubba]

Three racers, each with a hearing loss, were taking a pit walk one fine summer's day.

One remarked to the other, "Windy, ain't it?"

"No," the second man replied, "It's Thursday."

And the third man chimed in, "So am I. Let's have a coke."


Here I am, playing it smart, at the 2007 Brainerd Points race. I'm wearing the purple sweatshirt at the left at the start of the clip.
Edwin Schmeekle's TA/D getting warmed up. - Channel: BeanTV on LiveVideo.com

 

[clwill]

As for nitro racing, I know some guys who swear they can hear the valves better at idle without earplugs.

As I understand it, that's why John Medlen is so deaf -- tuning nitro engines by ear.

As for me, I can't imagine fuel or alcohol sessions without protection. Pro Stock and others, fine, but fuel is SO loud and the crackling of alchy is just too much. Call me a whimp, but I can hear you talkin'

 

[Ma Green]

If you watch most drivers when they're getting ready to run, they put in ear plugs of some sort, even though they have their helmet to dim the noise. Most all of the crews now wear ear muffs or, in my son's case, custom made ear plugs the fit in your ears.

At our local dirt track, I see most parents putting ear protections on little ones these days. If you start them very early, they don't mind them.

I too have the ear ringing, partly from two severe ear infections, but more because of too many years on the starting line without protection. Hoping my son doesn't suffer the same fate.

 

[Nick Name]

I have significant hearing loss from drag racing and shooting magnum pistols without ear protection.

Back in the sixties, the fuel cars had no reversers and pedal clutches. We would push down the track to start and the car would have to make a U turn at the starting line. They could not make it at most tracks, so crewman would have to jump out of the push car and pull the race car backwards so he could finish the turn and stage.

You would have a hold of the cage pulling on it and the driver might decide to give it a whack to clean it out. Man that would hit you right in the side if the head.

We were loving every minute of it and had no idea we would someday have to ask everyone to repeat everything.

Jay

 

[Toejam]

Is this thread about Possible hearing loss at the track, or whether we need the Noise Police to start Mandating hearing protection! Kids under the age of 12 should have hearing protection via the Parents, NOT NHRA! The Nannie state is slowly creeping into Drag racing.

 

[NHRAMike]

I've been a machinist for over 20 years, and the first couple shops I worked in offered hearing protection if anyone felt they needed them. However, when I started working for Warn, they were already pro-active in paying for sound studies and designating any area with a sustained noise level that was over 80 db as a manditory hearing protection zone. We are also required to have yearly hearing tests which compare your hearing to your original baseline hearing test you received the first year you worked there.

Like alot of people here, I exposed myself to loud noises at all the different concerts I went to in my teens and 20's. I figure that I lost a small percentage of my hearing during those years, but there were two events that made me wise up in the last 10 years. The first one was when the drummer in the final band I played in spent his tax return on a new set of Zildjans. I had no idea how much clearer a new cymbals sounded until he nailed the crash on the first song we were practicing. That ping just shot thru my head, and my ear rang like someone fired a shotgun right next to me. From that point forward, I always wore earplugs during any practice or gig. The second incident was at the 2003 Winternationals. During an alcohol funny car qualifying session, Bucky Austin did his burnout, but something with the high RPM engine pitch sent a chill thru my whole body and made my right ear hurt. Thankfully I had a set of plugs with me, but after that, I always make sure that I have at least 4 or 5 pairs of earplugs in my camera bag whenever I go to any race.

 

[rocketman]

I think all tracks should provide spectators ear plugs when they come in the gate. If for no other reason to ward off potential lawsuits. Think I'm kidding?

 

[Toejam]

Rich, I went to my first Nascar race around '93 at Phoenix. My friends all told me "Where some Earplugs"! I was like yeah right! Well I sat about 12 rows up about 100 yds before the Starting line. The first lap or two the Noise didn't sound that threatening, but after 90 laps Green my Ears were ringing off the Hook! As I said before it's the Duration of the Noise that causes Hearing loss, NOT the DB level! Now I'm not about to recommend listening to Fuel cars without some sort of Ear protection, if the Noise concussion doesn't send up Redflags for your ears your already Deaf! AS for Lawsuits, I've never heard of any....yet! But I think it might save NHRA's ass to pass out plugs for legal reasons.

 

[clwill]

I think all tracks should provide spectators ear plugs when they come in the gate. If for no other reason to ward off potential lawsuits. Think I'm kidding?

Would make sense, no? At $40, 50, whatever for a ticket, you would think passing out $0.10 ear plugs to anyone who wants them would make sense. One lawsuit, even if it never went to court, would wipe out all the profit they've ever made from selling them at a buck or two a pair...

 

[.]

As I said before it's the Duration of the Noise that causes Hearing loss, NOT the DB level!

And that's exactly where you're wrong. The decibel level and duration are both factors. Why do you think the louder it is the shorter amount of time you can be exposed to it before damage occurs? The frequency of the noise also makes a difference, low frequencies aren't as hard on the ears as higher frequencies.

 

[Jenn]

Would make sense, no? At $40, 50, whatever for a ticket, you would think passing out $0.10 ear plugs to anyone who wants them would make sense. One lawsuit, even if it never went to court, would wipe out all the profit they've ever made from selling them at a buck or two a pair...

Last I saw they were 4 or 5 bucks a pair. I buy them at Wal-mart because after I got the whooping cough, my ears got really sensitive. Cold, noise, etc, makes them hurt. I wear beanies a lot to cover my ears and wear plugs.

Sometimes there are sportsman cars that don't have mufflers (which is an oddity because they are supposed to be manditory) and I can't hardly stand that any more.

Lets hijack this thread some more and advocate for a pertusis vacine!!!

 

[MM]

i fall under the young and stupid version

don't wear 'em in the pits when we're warming the car up....don't wear 'em on the starting line

 

[Tim5636sc]

When Dad brought me to my 1st race at OCIR when I was 5, he purchased me a set of Ear Muffs....Worked great for many years. As I became more involved with the Day to day operations of our teams Super Pro Dragster, and BLOWN SMALL BLOCK ALTERED, i would back up our cars from the burnout then walk up to the starting line with no ear protection. Now, I did "PLUG my ears" during the burnout and as they staged and "WENT ON THE BRAKE", but let go once the car was on the way down the track.

I have the same situation as Randy, making sure that I PASS MY HEARING EXAM Every two years to keep my license. Since I've been working the starting line at NHRA EVENTS, I keep ear plugs in the ENTIRE TIME ON THE LINE! Cars, especially door slammers in Super Stock and Comp Elim, can be rather loud up there! Even "CAPPED" super class cars can ZING your ears when your on the line. Nitro cars...(Sometimes Ear plugs and Ear Muffs!) I don't wear ear protection while in the stands for Super Class cars, but do for Top Alcohol, and Nitro cars. Pro stock, depending on where I'm sitting. I've been around them enough in my life, that I know when it's getting "LOUD".

I do the ear plugs on a string thing..get em' wet, and put them in! Not wearing ear protection at races does not make you cool...just is gonna make you deaf eventually.

 

[Jim]

As I understand it, that's why John Medlen is so deaf -- tuning nitro engines by ear.

I flew to Gainesville one year on the same plane as John Medlen and Wes Cerney. I believe John wore hearing aids in both ears and Wes wore at least one.

According to the CDC "High noise levels (such as from firecrackers or loud rock concerts) can also damage a person’s hearing." You can loose hearing from both a short term event and long term events. A firecracker/M80 goes off too close and you could notice the hearing loss right away. Listening to race cars or other loud noises such as rock concerts for a prolonged period and or periods (ie. many races) can also cause hearing loss. Only problem with the second is that it takes time for that hearing loss to occur and you may not notice it. Pete Townsend of The Who suffers tinnitus from years of prolonged playing at loud volumes, not to mention blowing up Keith Moon's drum kit on live TV.

In the stands I usually only wear them during the fuel cars but sometime keep them in for the PS and PSB, I get used to them and forget they are there. When I used to take starting line photos I would have them in the whole time. I keep them handy while at the track and will even wear them when friends who run the .90 classes start their cars in the pits and I am close by. My hearing is too important to take a chance.