I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

[Bolo Bob]

HOWDY! CAN YA HEAR ME? I’M A TALKIN TO YA…

Well, have you ever felt like shouting at someone cause they appear to be ignoring you? Course you are wearing those new fangled hearing things stuck all the way down your ear… course you can’t hear. Or can you?

 

I need advice! I’ve been fighting Tinnitus and hearing loss since 15, and continue to lose the battle.

 

So, for anyone who has hearing aids, what, if any, work for shooting and hearing? Cabela’s has 2 – Walker & EARInc for shooting – any good or any help? When shooting, do they help or suppress enough noise?

[Guest jeweler jim]

You don't say how old you are now, where you're located or if you have any of the current high end stuff in your ears now.

 

I'm thinking advice from the forum might be worth what it costs you. Including mine.

 

Seek out the professional testing and you usually find they'll test and make recommendations for free because if they do sell you the hearing aids they'll cost a pretty penny.

 

I got one stuffed in each ear and they're not the most expensive version by any means (About $1,500.00 a piece after I chiseled them down a bunch; cash sometimes talks loader, no pun intended.)

 

My problems started about the same age with stuffing cotton in the ears and then going through about fifteen hundred rounds of heavy rifle in an afternoon (mutiple shooters and multiple rifles, usually five of us at our own private range). Other abuse added to the problem and now I simply turn the aids off while keeping them in the ears at the cowboy shoots. At other ranges and shooting I add the muffs over the top with them shut off. With the aids off I'm pretty much completely deaf and probably shouldn't be running a timer at the matches but still do at the monthlies.

 

There's an outfit that does a lot of advertising in the NRA mags and others that is located in DeKalb, IL which also has retail location in my area that is not mail order. I've used them on a face to face basis and not sure how well it works over the phone and mail. My pair right now is from another doctor's practice, but I might go back to the one I mentioned above for the next pair. Current aids have lasted about four or five years now so there about due to crap out. Even with the bells ringing in one ear and the locusts buzzing in the other you need to save what you have left as they say.

 

Bottom line I would not recommend the Cabela's route, but how bad your hearing loss is has more to do with whether that should be an option. Go see an Audiologist. Sorry for the length.

[Doc McGee, SASS #51213]

Sound supression plugs AND hearing aids in one package? Sounds mutually exclusive.

 

I've had hearing aids of one sort or another for 30 years. Never have come across hearing protection that supports both at the same time very well. For me, it has always been one or the other.

 

My latest are definitly high end. I coulda bought a good, albeit older, used pickup truck. Fortunatly NRA and insurance ponied up and helped with the cost. Still cost me a coupla Gs.

 

Put earplugs in and I can barely hear the timer. More than once I've stood on the firing line waiting for the beep. Finally had to tell the timer operators to tap me on the shoulder when its time.

 

I'd also be interested in really good dual use hearing aids.

 

Doc McGee

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

Don't need em yet, well on my way - good news if any is the VA will cover

[Virgil Ray Hality, SASS# 37355]

I have a mild case of Tinnitus. I use those ear plugs that are custom filled silcone in the ear canal. They work very well for me. When I can (like practicing) I also wear really good ear muffs and I can bearly hear my own revolver.

 

My suggestion would be to talk to an ear doctor to see if they know how to gauge a product for hearing protection.

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Don't need em yet, well on my way - good news if any is the VA will cover

 

 

Here is alittle info on deafness and hearing aid assistance from the VA.

 

My deafness has been diagnosed as being Military Service related.

Therefore, the VA is getting me some hearing aids.

 

It is my limited understanding that if your hearing problem cannot be shown to be 'Service Connected', the VA will not assist you in getting those hearing aids UNLESS.....you have a very high service connected disability rating of another health problem.

 

During the process with the Audiologist, I ask if the device in my ear would also serve as a hearing 'suppressor' when its turned off.

 

She said; NO. She also said that when I'm around loud noises, I needed to take those aids out and put in some plugs and/or hearing muffs.

 

It appears that hearing aids should not be used as hearing protection devices, even when turned off.

 

The only medical advice I can render is for you to visit your Audiologist and see what he/she says.

 

I ain't no doctor and its been a long time since I've slept at the Holiday Inn Express.

 

Best regards

 

..........Widder

[Steel-eye Steve SASS #40674]

Interesting. My hearing aids are programmable and one of the programs will block noise over a certain decibel level. To use them as hearing protection, I do have block the vent tube in the the plug, but it does seem to work very well.

[U B Mountain #40498]

Go see an audiologist.

Mine block out CAS noise.

[Boulder Canyon Bob# 32052L]

Sound supression plugs AND hearing aids in one package? Sounds mutually exclusive.

 

I've had hearing aids of one sort or another for 30 years. Never have come across hearing protection that supports both at the same time very well. For me, it has always been one or the other.

 

My latest are definitly high end. I coulda bought a good, albeit older, used pickup truck. Fortunatly NRA and insurance ponied up and helped with the cost. Still cost me a coupla Gs.

 

Put earplugs in and I can barely hear the timer. More than once I've stood on the firing line waiting for the beep. Finally had to tell the timer operators to tap me on the shoulder when its time.

 

I'd also be interested in really good dual use hearing aids.

 

Doc McGee

Check out SportEar, they were at the SASS Convention, I bought a pair of their 412's they are hearing aids and supression. They have have 4 channels of amplification plus a dial on each one to change the volumn. For shooting you use lower volume and they shut down during gunfire. They aren't cheap, but for me they have made a world of difference. They customize them to fit your your hearing loss (you need to get a hearing test done). I heard a bluejay screech for the first time in 20 years the day I got mine.YMMV

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I get some new aids in about a month.

 

I ain't heard a bird sing, a cricket crick, a frog croke or even a crow caw in years.

My wife can hear coyotes all the time but I can't.

 

I could probably hear a train ifn I was sitting at the crossing.

 

And I live out in the country where we got all that stuff.

 

..........Widder

[Ugly, SASS #18106]

My hearing aids are made by Starkey. They help me hear somewhat better but my hearing loss is so great that I'm glad to have any help.

 

I lost most all of my upper range of hearing so like Widdermaker, it was years since I heard birds cheeping and such; I could hear the birds wings flapping when they flew near me but that was all.

 

I signed the papers that I was okay so that I could get out of the service; it was 1967 and all I wanted was to go home; and further damage through the years didn't help my hearing.

 

I went to a series of audiologists and finally tried these aids; they cost me @ $5,000 for the pair and they weren't the most expensive but all that I could afford (I did bargain a bit and was able to get a deal or sale that saved me a couple of thousand).

 

I have had people tap me on the shoulder for years because I couldn't hear the beep on certain timers.

There are some timers that I can hear and I always tell the timer that I'm hard of hearing and to hold the timer close to my left ear or right ear depending on which way I have to move after the beep.

If the timer knows what they are doing, they usually get out of my way so there is no hindrance (never have had a problem with that).

 

Good luck with your search but, I would recommend going with good hearing aids and not the hunting or outdoor types but, again, it all depends on how bad your hearing is as well as your age; I'm 65 and was having trouble understanding my grandchildren (they thought I was ignoring them when they were younger so they would grab my face and turn it to their faces so I could read their lips).