OT, getting old really sucks. Protect your

[Bill R.]

hearing while you can, you younger guys. I finally went down and got a hearing aid today. Need 2 but at 2200 each i thought i would try one for now. So far it really bites.

[632 Regal]

huh?

what about your friends in asia? Ill bet you can get a few made for under 100 bucks there. I know you can!!!

[pundit]

hearing while you can, you younger guys. I finally went down and got a hearing aid today. Need 2 but at 2200 each i thought i would try one for now. So far it really bites.
That's a bummer! Tell me from what your implying the cause maybe industrial deafness?

Speaking of younger people, we are going to see an epidemic of hearing related problems over the next 10 years or so.
Cause? Audio entertainment devices. MP3 players, Ipods, loud car stereos, loud music venues etc.

Start at 12 years old by playing 'death metal' on an Ipod at '11' on the volume control, at 18 there's 120db + of 'doof doof' in the car, at 25 another 120db + at weekly rave parties and by the time you hit 30 you too can have the hearing of an 80 year old!! :(

[Ross]

What??

[632 Regal]

he said we sould go to them Rave parties!

What??

[Evan]

has it improved your hearing?

[Incantation]

sorry to hear that.. must be frustrating, to say the least. what do you attribute to the hearing loss?

[guinness]

I feel your pain, but the part I really hate is the ringing in my ears all the time.

[emw525E34]

Yikes. I dont know what worse. The eyesight is getting worse for near objects like the computer screen and even sometimes the keyboard. My hearing is perfectly fine. But near vision is crap even with glasses!.

No problems driving still as things further than 6 feet is fine. Optimetrist could not solve my problem and recommended multiple glasses. I figured I needed an "Inspector Gadget" device to help me see well.....

[genphreak]

hearing while you can, you younger guys. I finally went down and got a hearing aid today. Need 2 but at 2200 each i thought i would try one for now. So far it really bites.Bill,

WTF: Are your ears not real BMW ears?

What regular maintanence have you given them? Was it by the book?

Seriously I am sorry to hear it is this hard. Didja get Cochlea implants? I know the fellows that make them. Can't get a discount though, even if I needed them.

Still, look on the bright side- you could be worse off: My dad has worn glasses (too, he's a designer), pouring over a drawing board for a good 50 years. He has about 5 pairs now and his sight is so bad I've seen him practically stop his e36 in the middle of 5 lanes of high speed Paris traffic to read a sign 10m in front of him.

Now he knows all about laser surgery.

He has excellent glasses being a designer.

BUT he won't free himself of them.

At least you have stumped up the cash and gone for a fix. If he had laser surgery (perfect for his problem) it'd cost him the same and he would have most of his vision back and would never need glasses again.

It delays everything he does, putting them on, changing them over, leaving the house, forgetting them, sitting on them and all that stuff. One more thing to worry about; wallets, keys and mobiles are enough if you ask me- esp at 80 years old.

The worst part is he doesn't know what he is missing. And he is someone who appreciates form and design more than most. It pains me to see him battle this out.

Well done, may you enjoy your new hearing and may it be the best $2000 you've ever spent.

:) Nick

[Gayle]

My husband and I joke that between us we will have one complete person when we are really old. I have killer hearing but have the middle age eye thing going on. I went from 20-20 vision to not being able to see up close. My husband is near sighted and can see well up close but his hearing is going--and of course he won't admit it--claims he is just not paying attention. So in later years, my husband will be in charge of seeing and I will be in charge of hearing. Having to wear glasses is the only thing I really hate about aging. Anyway, Bill, I feel your pain.

[TheEndIsNear]

These are the reasons I won't put subs in my cars. I have a 16 month old son with perfect hearing and I want it to stay that way! Besides, I hate it when my sons sleeping in the car seat, I pull up to a stop light, somebody pulls up next to me 'bumpin', and he wakes up screaming... Some people just don't realize how you affect not only your self (hearing loss) but how you affect others. I didn't until I became a parent.

LOL, that's my rant about hearing loss.

[Kobe Diesel]

40dBs loss in my left and 20dBs loss in my right. Occupational hazard high frequency noise from high speed turbines, flow noise and diesel engine knock.
My wife complains that I dont listen to her, then again I hear only what I want to hear - the key is to be able to tune out the noise that's bad for your hearing!

[fujioko]

This is a true story..

Many years ago while working for Sears, I had a 12 inch Ford Fiesta tire explode right in my face. No physical damage, however I lost my hearing for several hours. My hearing was 100% restored with no residual damage.

Latter some bonehead manager sent me to see a Japanese speaking doctor… This doc was right off the boat and barley could speak a lick of English.

Anyway the Doc say’s to me “ooowws your eeerling” … My response was of course “what?”. This went on several times…. Finally, I figured out the guy is trying to say “how’s your hearing” Yeah,… I hear fine.

[Bill R.]

ear at 8k frequency. The left ear is down about 40 db at that frequency.
At 4k which is most of human consonants i'm down about 70db on the right ear and 50db on the left. It turns out that most speech is in the 250hertz to 5k hertz range. With some voices and sounds going up to 8k.

Most people with industrial related loss are around the 4 to 8 K hertz region mostly.




40dBs loss in my left and 20dBs loss in my right. Occupational hazard high frequency noise from high speed turbines, flow noise and diesel engine knock.
My wife complains that I dont listen to her, then again I hear only what I want to hear - the key is to be able to tune out the noise that's bad for your hearing!

[Bill R.]

age Lasik isn't all its cracked up to be. If you read up on the problems and talk to some people, especially older people , you'll find out that he may be better off sticking to glasses.

Cochlear implants here in the US run anywhere from 30 to 60 thousand dollars US... it will be a long time before i would be getting those.
2200 is just about as much as i'm willing to spend on my hearing for now.
If i decide to get one for the other ear its another 2200 US.




Bill,

WTF: Are your ears not real BMW ears?

What regular maintanence have you given them? Was it by the book?

Seriously I am sorry to hear it is this hard. Didja get Cochlea implants? I know the fellows that make them. Can't get a discount though, even if I needed them.

Still, look on the bright side- you could be worse off: My dad has worn glasses (too, he's a designer), pouring over a drawing board for a good 50 years. He has about 5 pairs now and his sight is so bad I've seen him practically stop his e36 in the middle of 5 lanes of high speed Paris traffic to read a sign 10m in front of him.

Now he knows all about laser surgery.

He has excellent glasses being a designer.

BUT he won't free himself of them.

At least you have stumped up the cash and gone for a fix. If he had laser surgery (perfect for his problem) it'd cost him the same and he would have most of his vision back and would never need glasses again.

It delays everything he does, putting them on, changing them over, leaving the house, forgetting them, sitting on them and all that stuff. One more thing to worry about; wallets, keys and mobiles are enough if you ask me- esp at 80 years old.

The worst part is he doesn't know what he is missing. And he is someone who appreciates form and design more than most. It pains me to see him battle this out.

Well done, may you enjoy your new hearing and may it be the best $2000 you've ever spent.

:) Nick

[Bill R.]

without hearing protection as well as working around too many funny cars and dragsters. The ringing was the most annoying part of it. The only advantage that the hearing aid has is that it amplifies other stuff enough so that you don't notice the ringing as much.





I feel your pain, but the part I really hate is the ringing in my ears all the time.

[Bill R.]

even if your not:)

The first one lasted me about 6.5 hours before it was a dead player.
I noticed a problem with it driving home from the place i got it. But thought maybe thats just the way they are.

Every time i would touch the brake pedal or turn the turnsignal on i would hear a click.. At first i thought it was the actual switch clicking and i just hadn't been able to hear it for years and was now noticing it... But the more i listened i realized that it was a click within the hearing aid, so i was picking up interference from these electrical devices.. I blew it off thinking maybe thats normal

So then i decided to keep wearing it for the rest of the day and i started working on some cars and started to sweat. After about 3 hours the aid starting making a popping sound every few seconds and cutting in and out.
I took it off after 6.5 hours and thought maybe i had screwed it up from sweating too much, even though they told me that wouldn't happen.

So i left in front of an airconditioner outlet to dehumidify overnight and tried fresh batteries the next morning. Starts out ok first thing in the morning but half an hour later its doing the same thing. I got tired of it and took it off for the rest of the day. Then tried the same thing the next day ,with the same results.

By this time i could hear the ignition system on a car firing just like the sound you get through the radio when you need to put a condensor on the alternator.. It was pretty cool, change rpm i could hear it buzz up and down the scale...

So i went back today and they confirmed that this one had to be junk from the get go. Trying another one now with no problems so far.

[mamilapon]

hearing while you can, you younger guys. I finally went down and got a hearing aid today. Need 2 but at 2200 each i thought i would try one for now. So far it really bites.
You might try to get some ///M stickers for your hearing aids..lol!! Anyway if I'm on the phone and my boy is talkink to his mum in the same room I'm completely confused.. Thats what being 45 does for you!

[Bill R.]

Mr. Graybeards only bigger... so last night i'm picking up some proteins at the local Jack in the Box drive through, since my wife's vegan if i want a hamburger i pick it up.... anyway i go to the drive up window and the mid 20's girl tells me 7 dollars.. I look at her and say 7 dollars since its rare that your order comes out to an even dollar exactly.

She looks at me and says Oh, i'm sorry you can fill out this form to get a senior citizens discount card..I smiled at her and said I think i have to wait a few years yet.. She said Oh no, you only have to be 60...I said i think it still got a few years to go yet to get there.... Thinking to myself, time to shave the beard off.... And i wasn't even wearing the hearing aid..




You might try to get some ///M stickers for your hearing aids..lol!! Anyway if I'm on the phone and my boy is talkink to his mum in the same room I'm completely confused.. Thats what being 45 does for you!

[Nick.Hay]

Yeah, I must admit that, at age 25, with 6years of raves, and 5 years of weekend DJing and Bar work in a nightclub, my ears are NOT as they should be!! Though I have left the excessive build up of wax to try and protect them (if it indeed does or not I'm not to sure)...

As for the Car Stereo... Its all BASS!! Amazing sound quality, and crisp, lovely bass!!! MMMMmmmmm...

[zygoteer]

. BillR > I got this great new hearing aid the other day
. Regal > Are you wearing it now?
. BillR > Yup. cost me over four thousand, but it's top of the line !
. Regal > Wow ! expensive ! What type is it?
. BillR > Quarter past eleven

:)

[granit_silber]

hearing while you can, you younger guys. I finally went down and got a hearing aid today. Need 2 but at 2200 each i thought i would try one for now. So far it really bites.

Bill,

I just turned 31 and have had a hearing for about 4 months. Tons of ear infections and tubes are the cause of my hearing loss. I hear ya about the cost, when we bought mine it took away the $ we had saved to have a fence put in. But I do like hearing what my wife and others are saying to me. Good luck!

-ashley