Hearing loss from noise

12 months in and life is good for my family and I.  Hearing is mostly stable but communication continues to improve, little by little.  

I am posting because John O'Connor asked me to add his piece on hearing loss from excessive noise.  I grew up in a farming community and remember most of the old farmers being as deaf as a post, probably from the noise impact John highlights below.

It's a well written piece and I am delighted John felt my blog a good platform for his work. 

:)

Hearing Protection Devices and Hunting

Hearing loss because of hunting is more common than people may believe.  Many do not think people lose their hearing when hunting because they do not immediately notice the hearing loss.  The hearing loss may take years to happen, but if people hunt regularly and do not use hearing protection, then the hearing loss is bound to eventually occur.  There are several ways a person can protect himself or herself from hearing loss while hunting.

My father has been an avid hunter for years.  Although very good, he often did not pay much attention to his hearing protection when out on a hunt or practicing at the range.  Due to hunting and a few other reasons, he now suffers severely from hearing loss.  He still likes to hunt and head to the range but always makes sure he is wearing his hearing aids and that he has the proper hearing protection on. 

What Causes the Hearing Loss?

Before someone can understand how to protect him or herself from hearing loss, he or she must first understand the reasons why hearing loss happens.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, excessive exposure to loud noises can cause damage to the hearing.  Also, the agency states that loud noises will cause health problems such as high blood pressure, speech problems, and hearing loss.  Gunshots will usually produce decibels of 140 to 170.  It usually takes time for the hearing loss to occur; however, in some instances, the hearing loss will happen automatically.

Earplugs

Earplugs can reduce the sound of the gunfire.  Most earplugs, along with earmuffs, will reduce the sound by 30 to 40 decibels.  Therefore, if the gunshot has a sound of 140 decibels, then the hunter will only hear sounds of 110 to 100 decibels.  However, this is still extremely loud.  If a gunshot produces a sound of 170 decibels, the hunter will still hear sounds of 140 to 130 decibels.  Most audiologists recommend that people do not expose themselves to sounds of over 80 decibels.   Wearing earplugs is better than not wearing any hearing protection at all; however, one can clearly see that even when wearing earplugs, people still run the risk of damaging their hearing.  Therefore, people should invest in more advance hearing protection devices.

Electronic Earmuffs

Electronic earmuffs are the newest form of hearing protection on the market today.  They are much more effective than earplugs alone, and they have more capabilities than regular earmuffs.  With electronic earmuffs, people will know that the sound of the gunfire will be reduced by 50 decibels.  Therefore, if the sound is 170, the hunter will only hear 120.  Although this still presents a problem, electronic earmuffs can be worn with earplugs.  By combining the protection of earplugs and electronic earmuffs, a hunter can reduce the sound of gunfire by 80 or 90 decibels.  If the sound is 170 and the hunter has on both earplugs and electronic earmuffs, he or she will only be hearing a sound of 80 or 90 decibels.

Protecting the hearing sense is very important when someone is hunting.  Although there are several hearing protection devices out today, the best way for someone to protect his or her hearing is to wear both earplugs and electronic earmuffs.

Hi my name is John O'Connor, I am a father, outdoorsman and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.  Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in hearing loss.  My father and grandfathers, who are and were all hunters, are affected by hearing loss.  I feel that there is a general lack of understanding around the issue and it is our job to spread awareness where we can.  Check out my new blog at bloggingwjohno.blogspot.com!

6 months after.

Ok. Here we are 6 months post operation.

We sadly left Japan but returned to the home, we love in Mallorca, Spain. I remembered 6 months earlier, being wheeled through the airport, unable to walk and in the world of silence. Now I am walking pretty straight and with a head full of electronic noise. My brain is doing an amazing job of unravelling this data and month by month more pieces are falling into place. Bruno sounds like a dog, not a mobile phone and the kids voices are no longer cartoon chip monks. I am discovering sounds each week, its quite a geeky buzz to recognise new ones. The sea sounds like the sea but music is still a mystery.

I can swim, run and hike, with little grace, though riding a bike I feel will remain a comedy to see.

One-on-one communication, in a quiet place is very doable and will get better as my lip reading and brains digital data understanding improves. It's notable that how someone sounds is really not so important. The warmth and passion of a conversation genuinely still comes across. I often miss the conversation point but life seems a lot more interesting this way. Just don't trust my gossip!

My family seems intact. The kids, like all kids, accept and adapt. Ulrica, my wife, is emerging from the rubble too. Our family structure was turned over and I became a dependent not a provider. I couldn't walk, call, hear etc. This is better and my independence is back. We miss the spontaneity of conversation but still have a laugh. If my communication isn't better in 6 months then we are learning sign language. It's technically as rich as any spoken language. The love is still strong.

It takes effort to communicate with me so often group decisions are just made and changes of plan are often a surprise. I see the same in the way we all treat our elders. We are in too much of a rush to take the time to involve them properly (our maybe this is just my poor old Mum!) .
We are all disabled to some degree. We are all some way short of the perfect human being, whether it be intelligence, fitness, social skills, etc. This adventure has made me consciously more inclusive to others and look for the positives, not the negatives.

I won't be posting for a while. Hope this helped someone. It was good therapy for me to write and I would be happy if someone in need of my limited council would seek it.

Thanks all.
Andy

2 months after Op - update

Have been back with my family, in Tokyo, for almost a month now.  Quick update.

Balance:  Slowly and steadily getting better.   My eyes and feet control things now, but even in the dusk I can walk ok.   I went swimming and running for the first time last week.   Neither very elegant but who cares.  This is a huge result and boost for my confidence.  

Bobbing eyes:  Like balance, my brain is re-routing and slowly getting control via alternate neural pathways.  

Hearing:  How ironic to find things are now often too noisy.   Struggling with background noise and higher pitched tones.  I had hoped to hear Ulrica and the kids voices better.  Its makes me sad to see their frustration when I get stuck on a word.  My 7 year old sometimes just pretends to speak, which breaks my heart.  Have started speech therapy from the beginning with Ulrica, looking to tune my ears into their tone.  "bat/mat, date/tate, share/chair etc, etc".  I have started reading to myself with just the bad ear turned on - forcing the brain to work this side.

Tinnitus is a tough one.  When the hairs inside your cochlear are damaged, they send random electrical impulses, which the brain interprets as sound.  This is a common problem with old age, as cochlear hairs degenerate.  The severity and range of "sounds" is proportional to the hair damage.  My tinnitus is unfortunately getting worse.  I now have noise 24hrs a day.  Bells, whistles and hums so loud, they shake my skull.  First thing in the morning is the quietest and getting out of bed has a new downside, the noise starts. There is no clear medicinal help.   I just need to de sensitive these signals - just like living next to a motorway.   It's a harder fight that physical pain.

Rehab now is swimming, running, walking with fixed focus.  My good friend Sarah took me to meditate with the Moto Azabu monks.  I think meditation and hypnotherapy are well worth exploring further, for the tinnitus.

Still off work.  My Japanese colleagues made me a "Senbazuru".  A thousand, hand made paper cranes, stitched together.  The legend says who ever gives this gift has their wish granted for that person.  It is one of the most touching gifts I have ever received.

Overall - the journey will be a long one but spirits are still good.

Back to Japan

Flying back home this morning. I had a tune up on Wednesday but they can't do much more with the electronics now. The upside from here is hard rehab getting the brain to understand new sounds. There are 43 speech sounds and 28 ways to make them. This is now the focus.


Feelings
I am returning with less than hoped for but in better shape for sure. Back to Ulrica and the girls, the dog and Tokyo friends for big hugs (and a few beers).

Tinnitus

From a small hum to the bells and whistles of a full blown football match. The CI, for me, amplifies this not reduces the tinnitus. This is another set back. Maybe because I have only partial electrodes implanted. There seems no escape and its sometimes literally maddening.

Today things went off the charts.

Yoga, meditation may be the answer.

My speech and mapping therapists keep warning me about the depression I am facing once the adrenaline fades.
I think I am different, but they say they have seen this before. It's not very helpful advice for me.

I was walking down a cobbled street, and thinking this sucked for my balance. In the opposite direction a kid was being pushed on the cobbles, in his wheelchair, clear thinking the cobbles sucked too. On the Global scale of crappy things, I cant complain.

Speech Therapy

Mental Mapping of Sounds.
The brain knows what a tap running, a bus, or the phone ringing sounds like. Now it is getting beeps and hums instead. My rehab is to focus on the stimuli so the brain starts mapping these together. I have a check list of around 100 everyday sounds. First check I can "hear" something, next check if / when I recognise it (seeing a dog bark is different to a dog barking behind you, and knowing its a dog).

Lip Reading or Speech Reading.
A CI can not hear certain sounds. Lip reading can not differentiate certain lip movements. They work well together.

Lip reading focusses on three properties of sound:-
1. Manner - how it is made. e.g.
-Explosive "p,b,t,d,k,g",
-Friction "s,z,f,v,sh" or
-Nasal "m,n,ing"
2. Place of Production. e.g. lips together "p,b,m,w", or tongue and teeth e.g. "th".
3. Voiced or Not. e.g "b vs p"

CI Hearing Class.
Learning to hear with the CI - no lip reading clues.
First identify which sound groups you have difficulties and work on these. For me examples of sound groups are "pea vs key, pick vs tick, tear vs care; pill vs bill ; tart vs dart, ought vs sought, sue vs zoo; day vs nay"

Lip Reading Class
Easiest to lip read
P,B,M; W,Wh; F,V; Sh, Ch; Th; L
Hardest to lip read
K,G; S,Z; T,D,N; R.

Therapist reads out lines from a story. I repeat back. We have just finished "The Emperor's New Clothes".


Pretty humbling but there is only upside.

Second Tune Up

5 electrodes now working on the left but still on low power settings. Facial nerve twitching with any more electrodes or higher power setting. The right side is unchanged with 4 out of 12 electrodes working. Not much hope to improve from here. Future tune ups will be tweaks. The doc doesn't see a surgical or technology route, to stop the twitching. It is because of viral damage to the cochlear bones and / or the auditory nerve cells.

Still I am out of the "Land of Silent".
My brain should unravel more electronic sounds over the coming months and with better lip reading, one to one communication will be much easier.

Hoping to get back to my family for the end of next week and start life again. A little different but still very good.