hearing loss

[davestlouis]

I was tinkering with several old watches this morning, when I made an interesting discovery...I can hear a watch ticking, in my left ear, clear as a bell, but can't hear it at all in my right ear. Not even a hint of any ticking...

 

[dhermann1]

Hmmmm . . . . old age creeping up on you. I have the slight beginnings of old age hearing loss. The top frequencies, above maybe 10,000 hertz, roll off about 50%. The audiologist said that's normal for my age (63). The result is the classic situation where you're in a crowded noisy room, and you can hear plenty of sound, but you can't quite make out what somebody right in front of you is saying. It's those highest frequencies that make you able to discern that sort of sound. Get's a little frustrating.

 

[davestlouis]

Great, and I'm only 43...

 

[Yeps]

Well, it could just be earwax. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine. It was a particular nuisance to him because he is a composer, and he could no longer hear piccolos. Then again, not hearing piccolos might be a blessing, but that is beside the point. Anyway, he went to get it checked out, and it turned out that it was just an earwax buildup.

 

[Silver Dollar]

The key here is to get it checked out. If it's correctable and you gain back those frequencies, then you've done yourself a great service. If it's not easily correctable, then at least you can set yourself on the right track. If checking it out prevents further damage or a pathway to a more serious problem, then that's definitely going to be in your favor.

Now, the doctor is in. 5 cents please.

 

[davestlouis]

Thanks Silver Dollar, guess I need to have it looked at. I had a nasty mastoid infection in the bone behind that ear about 8 years ago, was temporarily completely deaf in that ear, then when it came back, voices sounded like robots for several weeks. I haven't had any issues until now...

 

[Matt Saunders]

Just a thought Dave, but you don't shoot at all do you?

 

[davestlouis]

Matt, I used to shoot at an outdoor range once a week, with earmuffs, mainly .45ACP and .38SPL handgun cartridges, 8mm Mauser and some 30-06 rifles, but haven't gone in 3-4 years. I shoot long guns left handed, so I would expect to have issues in the left ear.

I have been experimenting with other noise sources, and I haven't found anything but ticking watches that I can notice a deficit on the right side.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I don't hear well but for me it's a genetical thingy. My father also needs hearing aids. It's not as common as wearing eye glasses but ...well it could be worse.
For me it's only the high frequencys that trouble me. The ticking of a watch would be a problem for me too.


In your case it could be an acute hearing loss because of stress or something? I know that sometimes people don't get enough oxygen to the neurological thingys in the ear.

Also the earwax is possible... The only way to find out is to go to the doc.

 

[miss_elise]

too much heavy metal music?

 

[Tango Yankee]

I was tinkering with several old watches this morning, when I made an interesting discovery...I can hear a watch ticking, in my left ear, clear as a bell, but can't hear it at all in my right ear. Not even a hint of any ticking...

As the others have said, you should get it checked out. Hearing loss is an insidious thing.

I have a 50% hearing loss in my left ear from working in a factory. My left side faced the machine I ran most of the time. I didn't realize I had a hearing loss until I was 20 and getting my physical as I entered the USAF. They were so surprised at the finding that they checked my left ear twice. On a humorous note, that kind of explained why my first wife complained that I didn't pay attention to her! lol

I've worn ear plugs and ear muffs whenever appropriate since. The right ear has always tested out as being just about perfect.

This reminds me... when the VA was giving me a once-over for disability the doc said something in passing that my hearing problem might be something that could be fixed. I guess I should look into that!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Silver Dollar]

If the problem is correctable, run, do not walk to the doctor. You'll be surprised how much you've been missing.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I'm only twenty-one and I hear my mechanical wristwatch much better with my right ear than my left (start to hear it about a yard a way with my right, about six-seven inches with my left). I don't know if that means anything or not, except that one ear is keener than the other. Left ear seems to hear other things OK besides my watch.

 

[davestlouis]

Holy cow, you can hear your watch a yard away? Is it a Timex or some other inexpensive non-jeweled item? I can only hear my Tissot, Benrus or Gruens when the watch is TOUCHING the outside of my left ear, not at all on the right.

I've never been a fan of loud music, and I work in a funeral home...doesn't get much more quiet than that!

 

[Shangas]

Hearing loss doesn't always affect just older people. I've had a 10% hearing-loss in my left ear since I was born (1987). I can hear all those tiny sounds fine with my right ear, but hopeless with my left.

When I sleep at night, I sleep on my right side so that my right ear's against the pillow and my left ear is open to the world. That way, the ticking of my pocket watches doesn't keep me awake (16s railroad watch makes a loud tick. My watchmaker joked that it would wake up the neighbours!). I keep my pocketwatch on a stand on my desk when I sleep. If I roll onto my back, I can hear it ticking in my silent room and my bed's probably a good...six feet from where I store my watch on my desk next to the window.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Holy cow, you can hear your watch a yard away? Is it a Timex or some other inexpensive non-jeweled item? I can only hear my Tissot, Benrus or Gruens when the watch is TOUCHING the outside of my left ear, not at all on the right.

The watch is a low cost Russian Pobeda. I believe it does have 15 jewels or something like that. My World War II Waltham A-11 is much quieter (I can hear it from less than a foot from my right ear). All of these tests were done in a very quiet room.

 

[BellyTank]

Pardon?


B
T

 

[davestlouis]

Or if you're from Cincinnati, you'd simply say "PLEASE?" It's a weird little regional thing in SW Ohio, when you don't hear someone, you say please...