Tinnitus warning for my fellow Jeepers

connor grimes

connor grimes

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hey everyone, just wanted to give a PSA for everyone to look after their hearing ! after years of driving with no doors, top down, long trips and some dirtbiking thrown in ive developed some pretty bad tinnitus thats been lingering for a year and most likely will never go away . I can't advocate enough the use of earplugs for highway driving on long trips or even every day if you have a loud (un-soundproofed) jeep. Imagine the ringing you get from after a concert except it never goes away. it can be truly maddening sometimes especially when trying to sleep in a quiet environment. Like everything take it with a grain of salt but i highly recommend earplugs in your jeep. if you're curious use your phone as a DB meter and you'll be shocked at how loud it is. my Tj with no music playing on the highway at 65mph , top up , doors on was 85DB. listening to 85DB for longer than 40min creates permanent hearing damage according to ear research institutes. so that 8+ drive to Moab you do is going to do some damage so consider wearing hearing protection yall!!

edit* I'm only 29 so this is isn't just for the older folks on this forum!
 
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Yes use ear plugs for sure, I use them for all highway trips. I have had tinnitus for years and it sucks. Caused no doubt by my exposure to some very loud noises and lots of exposure to loud military aircraft interiors many years ago.

Not to mention I now have to wear a pair of hearing aids. It sucks getting old and you young farts, your hearing is not invincible as mine turned out not to be. Abuse it and end up with tinnitus and be hard of hearing.
 
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Yep, this is why I always wear ear plugs when I am driving with the top and doors off. People make fun of me for it, but I wear them every single time!

I got in this habit from doing the same thing with my motorcycles.
 
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I've definitely considered using foam earplugs on road trips before. Something to dampen noise that I can still hear the radio through. I'll have to give it a shot next time. My hearing is already bad enough, thanks for the warning and DB reading. I've jokingly talked about a headset intercom system before, but I think I need two more cylinders and a much more built rig before I go that far, even though I could pretend to be a pilot every day on my way to work!
 
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Pretty sure I have it--I get a ringing that comes and goes every now and then, doesnt last long (maybe 15 seconds?) then goes away for a week or more. I never wore ear protection when I was younger--definitely regret it.
 
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I am in complete agreement...how I got mine, 21 years worth....earplugs for me..on the bike or Jeepin...or it hurts more...constant and loud...but only when I'm awake..I think
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I wonder if noise canceling earbuds would be effective. Or is the “noise” used to cancel the ambient sounds is just as bad
 
SecondChanceTJ said:
Noise cancelling can only go so far. I'd go for some sound isolating type for that purpose.
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True but ANC can make a truly dramatic reduction in noise. I have a set of David Clark headsets I used for flying, they are known for good noise isolation. But I was still getting a strong low-frequency component from the engine that was bothersome so I installed an ANC kit into them which made an amazing improvement. Throwing the ANC switch on while the engine was running produced a downright dramatic reduction in the engine noise & rumble.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Yes use ear plugs for sure, I use them for all highway trips. I have had tinnitus for years and it sucks. Caused no doubt by my exposure to some very loud noises and lots of exposure to loud military aircraft interiors many years ago.

Not to mention I now have to wear a pair of hearing aids. It sucks getting old and you young farts, your hearing is not invincible as mine turned out not to be. Abuse it and end up with tinnitus and be hard of hearing.
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i've been really lucky. even after 32years of aircraft maintenance and having shot 100's of thousands of rivets without ear plugs my hearing is still perfect. on my last hearing test before retiring the nurse said "DAMN YOU HAVE GOOD HEARING FOR YOUR AGE " only 55 ! now my eyes, knees and back aint worth shit but i can hear a turkey gobble a mile away ! and that's all that matters to me..... working around A/C aint good on the body !!!!
 
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tr21triton said:
i've been really lucky. even after 32years of aircraft maintenance and having shot 100's of thousands of rivets without ear plugs my hearing is still perfect. on my last hearing test before retiring the nurse said "DAMN YOU HAVE GOOD HEARING FOR YOUR AGE " only 55
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So did I when I was only 55. It went to hell a few years after that. All of my loud noise experience was when I was much younger and in the military, it just took time to manifest itself. The VA agreed it happened while I was in Vietnam 1969-70 and gave me a pair of really expensive blue-tooth enabled hearing aids. They do make things louder but I still have trouble understanding some of what is said.
 
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I've lived with tinnitus for about 12 years now. I'm about 98% sure it was a high dose of ibuprofen that caused mine (at age 25). If you look it up, it's apparently well known for ototoxicity (as are NSAID drugs in general) yet doctors don't blink an eye at telling you to take 4-5x the over-the-counter dose when your back hurts. I guess there must be a percentage of people that are more sensitive to it and it's not enough for them to consider. I would have rather dealt with a couple more days of debilitating back pain.

In my efforts to get rid of it, I had a hearing test by an audiologist and found that despite the tinnitus, I had zero hearing loss. I cut out caffeine, which seemed to help, and if something hurts I take tylenol and won't touch an NSAID for anything.

It took about 10 years before I could start sleeping without a white noise machine. I don't know if it's actually gotten better or if I'm just better at ignoring it. I'm back to drinking a single cup of coffee a few days a week but after a decade with zero caffeine, more than one cup of coffee gives me the jitters and most soda just tastes gross, even my old favorite Dr Pepper; though I can go for a good root beer. Exposure to loud noises will crank it up, so I wear ear protection when driving the Jeep without doors or running literally any electric or gas powered tool of any kind...even some non-powered ones like the BFH.
 
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