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Hearing Loss
- Thread starter sammi
- Start date
merc49
Nitro Member
I agree Mike. I'f I'd known then what I know now (at 65) I'd never have shunned hearing protection. If anyone thinks it's macho to shun ear plugs or muffs, well...hearing loss WILL happen. Huh? Eh?
clwill
Nitro Member
I'm talking about the little orange foam things on the blue plastic string. They can't be much more than a few cents, because they sell them for $2 at the NHRA trailers and the NitroMall.
mike cummings
Nitro Member
You will get upgraded to the older and wiser version right around your 40th birthday.
MM
Nitro Member
RacerRose
Nitro Member
I'm 33 now, and I've been going to the races ever since I can remember. Let's say I can remember 29 years worth. I was never one to always have a Sony Walkman playing heavy metal in my ears constantly. And noise from racing really didn't start to bother me until just a couple of years ago.
I was raised with dirt track racing. Sprint cars & late models, so I've heard plenty of Small Block Chevys at 8000 rpms on up. Noise at the dirt track doesn't bother me, until the cars gets scattered out like when the leader catches lapped traffic to the point where there's always a car in front of you.
NASCAR races depend on the track. Noise didn't bother me at Daytona, Pocono, or Charlotte but it did bother me at Dover and Richmond. Smaller tracks, noise stays confined.
Nitro engines produce to me the most beautiful sound on Earth. I stick my fingers in my ears only during a full throttle pass, or right before the throttle whack during a warmup. Under idle, doesn't bother me. Alky cars rattle my ears some during a run, and during the high rev part of the warmup. A PS or PM engine is loud when your directly behind the car, but during a run, it doesn't bother me.
Sitting near the starting line at any drag race after a whole day will give me a headache from the noise.
Long story in short, I wish I had taken better care of my hearing.
I was raised with dirt track racing. Sprint cars & late models, so I've heard plenty of Small Block Chevys at 8000 rpms on up. Noise at the dirt track doesn't bother me, until the cars gets scattered out like when the leader catches lapped traffic to the point where there's always a car in front of you.
NASCAR races depend on the track. Noise didn't bother me at Daytona, Pocono, or Charlotte but it did bother me at Dover and Richmond. Smaller tracks, noise stays confined.
Nitro engines produce to me the most beautiful sound on Earth. I stick my fingers in my ears only during a full throttle pass, or right before the throttle whack during a warmup. Under idle, doesn't bother me. Alky cars rattle my ears some during a run, and during the high rev part of the warmup. A PS or PM engine is loud when your directly behind the car, but during a run, it doesn't bother me.
Sitting near the starting line at any drag race after a whole day will give me a headache from the noise.
Long story in short, I wish I had taken better care of my hearing.
I'm surprised some oldster didn't repond to this post with "HUH".
In my family from at least two generations back, plus my YOUNGER 64 year old brother today wore/wear hearing aids. Only the last two EVER went/go to the drags, and seldom.
Personally, I darn well know that, while sitting on the the telephone poles NEXT to the paved drag strip, hearing Calvin Rice's dragster at Santa Ana or John Bradley in the Gene's Brake Shop Special at Colton on 100% in the '50s didn't make my 19 year old (then) ears HURT like ANYBODY'S fueler does to me at 1000 ft today from way up in the stands- at least as far up as I can go without getting out of breath.
I ain't sayin I hear well today, but my point is, hearing loss my be MA NATURE's work.
Would like to hear some SERIOUS discussion on this
In my family from at least two generations back, plus my YOUNGER 64 year old brother today wore/wear hearing aids. Only the last two EVER went/go to the drags, and seldom.
Personally, I darn well know that, while sitting on the the telephone poles NEXT to the paved drag strip, hearing Calvin Rice's dragster at Santa Ana or John Bradley in the Gene's Brake Shop Special at Colton on 100% in the '50s didn't make my 19 year old (then) ears HURT like ANYBODY'S fueler does to me at 1000 ft today from way up in the stands- at least as far up as I can go without getting out of breath.
I ain't sayin I hear well today, but my point is, hearing loss my be MA NATURE's work.
Would like to hear some SERIOUS discussion on this
I've lived (survived) with severely intrusive TINNITUS in my left ear for 20 years and 9 months. I enjoyed 30 years of normal auditory function up until that point in my life. My lifestyle, mannerisms and personality have all been affected by Tinnitus. I capitalize the word Tinnitus. It's just something I feel compelled to do. My Tinnitus was noise induced by an acetylene explosion.
The explosion damaged the hair cells on the cochlea in my middle ear causing these cells to "short out". These damaged cells send a never ending electrical impulse into the auditory cortex of my brain, which I am conscious of (at varying levels) for every waking moment of every single day.
There is no cure.
Tinnitus noises can vary depending upon the person and what the triggering event was that created the affliction. I hear a constant never ending high pitched unilateral tone very similar to a (nitro powered??) tea kettle at full song. Younger folks have never heard a tea kettle whistle, so I tell them to imagine standing on a ladder for 20 years pushing the test button on a squealing smoke detector.
For you gentlemen here that refuse to protect your hearing you might someday be hanging out with me here:
BTW, if you don't appreciate the level of disruption Tinnitus can inflict upon a soul read the "Disclaimer".
Support - Message Board - ezboard.com
Rich Bailey is 100% correct. It's only a matter of time before the lawyers show up. If McDonalds can be sued for hot coffee and obesity, why not auto racing for hearing damage???
The explosion damaged the hair cells on the cochlea in my middle ear causing these cells to "short out". These damaged cells send a never ending electrical impulse into the auditory cortex of my brain, which I am conscious of (at varying levels) for every waking moment of every single day.
There is no cure.
Tinnitus noises can vary depending upon the person and what the triggering event was that created the affliction. I hear a constant never ending high pitched unilateral tone very similar to a (nitro powered??) tea kettle at full song. Younger folks have never heard a tea kettle whistle, so I tell them to imagine standing on a ladder for 20 years pushing the test button on a squealing smoke detector.
For you gentlemen here that refuse to protect your hearing you might someday be hanging out with me here:
BTW, if you don't appreciate the level of disruption Tinnitus can inflict upon a soul read the "Disclaimer".
Support - Message Board - ezboard.com
Rich Bailey is 100% correct. It's only a matter of time before the lawyers show up. If McDonalds can be sued for hot coffee and obesity, why not auto racing for hearing damage???
I recently attended the Texas Nitro Geezers Luncheon along with 100+ former nitro racers in Dallas (Vance Hunt, R. Beadle, R. Tharp etc) and it seems like all of us were leaning in listening very hard to hear and had puzzeled looks on our face.
In Okla some of us old geezers meet once a month for lunch and not one of us can hear worth a crap. As someone said earlier the 3 most said words are "what'd he say?" .
I personally have about 70 % loss in one ear and not quite that much in the other. It's mostly from standing over fuel motors years ago. I can't exactly explain why I'd put ear muffs on when I was shooting guns but not when I had the motor started. Having said that I wouldn't trade those days for the best hearing in the world today
In Okla some of us old geezers meet once a month for lunch and not one of us can hear worth a crap. As someone said earlier the 3 most said words are "what'd he say?" .
I personally have about 70 % loss in one ear and not quite that much in the other. It's mostly from standing over fuel motors years ago. I can't exactly explain why I'd put ear muffs on when I was shooting guns but not when I had the motor started. Having said that I wouldn't trade those days for the best hearing in the world today
.
Nitro Member
Absolutely, age is a part of it. The tiny hairs in your ears that decode sounds and send the signals to your brain get fragile and stop working. Women and children generally have better hearing than men. The frequency range of a person with excellent hearing is roughly 20 - 20,000 hz. Most men by the time they're in their early 30's can only hear up to around 17 - 18,000 hz. I have had excellent hearing and up until I hit 30 or so I could hear all the way to 20,000 with no problem. Now I have a hard time hearing 19,000 hz and even though I take very good care of my hearing it's only going to get worse with age.
My dad was a long time audiophile with excellent hearing when I was school age, now he doesn't like loud music because it really irritates him and causes his ears to ring badly. He didn't wear earplugs like he should have when he was mowing the lawn or plowing snow with the garden tractor and only plugged his ears at the drag strip when the nitro cars were running. He's 67 and his ears constantly ring now. Even my mom who has been exposed to far less noise than my dad has been wearing hearing-aids for the past few years and she's 69. Please take care of your hearing!
