Whats the loudest noise you have ever been exposed to, that resulted in hearing damage / ringing ? - Page 1

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Whats the loudest noise you have ever been exposed to, that resulted in hearing damage / ringing ? (Page 1 of 6)

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:41:15 AM EDT

Back around 1988, I was doing a live fire trench clearing exercise with bravo company , 2/502, 101st airborne. We were engaging pop up targets at various ranges, with small arms, at one point some at-4's were going to be fired at a vehicle. I stopped firing, huddled down and covered my ears for the at-4 firing. WHOOM ! # 1 was fired. WHOOM ! # 2 was fired. I popped up and started firing again. I unfortunately didn't realize there was a third one. WHOOM ! fucker was fired about 20-30 yards to my left. it felt like someone kicked me in the side of the head, my ear hurt so bad I was checking for blood coming out of it. my left ear rang for a week.

today that sucker is all screwed up. very noticeable hearing loss in it, much worse than the right ear, which has loss as well, and I developed menerieres disease ( bad random dizziness ) in that same ear years later.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:42:54 AM EDT

[#1]

Huh?

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:42:58 AM EDT

[#2]

Race motor backfire in my garage - left ear has never been the same.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:45:05 AM EDT

[#3]

Full afterburner F15 engines on trim pad !

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:45:14 AM EDT

[#4]

Nothing that extreme, but firing full power loads out of a ported Glock 23C outdoors without earpro fucked up my hearing for a week or so. I probably damaged my hearing a bit with that.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:45:23 AM EDT

[#5]

Top fuel.

ETA: Oh, and 26 F1 cars leaving the line was no picnic. The pain of the EA6B departing from Glenview about 30 feet over my head was memorable as well.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:46:12 AM EDT

[#6]

Grenades, M2HB, Mk19, M16 lots of explosions.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:46:48 AM EDT

[#7]

IEDs in Iraq were pretty loud

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:00 AM EDT

[#8]

Molly Hatchet, 1980

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:14 AM EDT

[#9]

Top fuel (at starting line)

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:34 AM EDT

[#10]

SMAW

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:41 AM EDT

[#11]

Installing torsion bars in an AAV.

Someone has to be inside the hull to guide it into the socket on the other side. They have to be sledgehammered in place. So you're inside a giant metal box getting hammered on...

Fucking idiots didn't wait for me to give the green light to hit it. My ear pro wasn't on.

Loudest noise I've ever heard. Felt like jamming an ice pick into my,ear canal.

Definitely louder than a 5.56 indoors.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:51 AM EDT

[#12]

Huh?

ETA: damn it

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:47:57 AM EDT

[#13]

Jet engines.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:48:03 AM EDT

[#14]

I touched of a 44mag without ear pro while standing right next to a panel van. Painful as hell and definitely cost me some hearing.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:48:26 AM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Nothing that extreme, but firing full power load out of a ported Glock 23C outdoors without earpro fucked up my hearing for a week or so. I probably damaged my hearing a bit with that.

View Quote

yeah, you know its loud when you are checking for bleeding ear drums because the pain is so bad.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:49:36 AM EDT

[#16]

Until the elections I thought gunfire in enclosed spaces was bad.

After the election the continued screeching has further damaged my hearing.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:50:03 AM EDT

[#17]

Basically the same story as OP. Lost hearing from an AT4.

Except I am a man, so I was in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:50:15 AM EDT

[#18]

M163 Vulcan Gunner/Squad Leader here. Also been next to the muzzle (10 Yds) of M1 Abrams when firing, next to Paladins when firing, MLRS when launching, every damn thing .50 and under too. pretty much anything a Armored Division had in the 1980's was touched off within 25 yards of my Melon. I have a constant buzzing, but I can override it and actually focus down on small sounds. Army didn't actually kill my hearing, It taught me how to Use my hearing.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:51:11 AM EDT

[#19]

Standing about 50 yards behind an M1 Abrams when they shot the main gun.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:51:12 AM EDT

[#20]

I was working for a large snack food company, and one of their larger fryers exploded. I was 100 yards away, and my left ear still is all EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:52:57 AM EDT

[#21]

KB'd an SBR'd AR about 12 years ago. total blow-out. banana peeled the upper and bolt carrier, blew the bolt to bits, bulged the lower receiver, cracked the barrel extension,. etc.

left my head pounding for a few days. my right ear has been ringing ever since.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:53:29 AM EDT

[#22]

Standing about 15' away from a Hornet in afterburner.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:54:01 AM EDT

[#23]

That resulted in ringing, a gun shot. Loudest was probably a Jet engine powered dragster maybe top fuel? But with those I plugged my ears so no ringing.

For all I know the gun was loudest, the cars may have seemed louder because they could be felt through my whole body.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:56:06 AM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
Jet engines.

View Quote

You know it's loud when the ground is vibrating.

Though I have shot a fair amount of things without earpro (intentionally. I want to know what to expect if/when what exactly to expect to experiance if I am to ever have to use a firearm defensively.)

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:56:43 AM EDT

[#25]

Sapper attack Ubon AB Thailand. Had to dearm running F4 Phantoms with no hearing protection. Standing under the centerline to install pins, and the sound physically hurt . The assholes wouldn't let them taxi back to the revetments armed. Tinnitus since that day.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:57:27 AM EDT

[#26]

A-frame tanker banging a four engine water run. My first time on ground for that airframe. Crew had to come out...mx was restricted to two engine runs because the aircraft had the bad habit of occasionally jumping chalks. Not a comforting thought when you're tied in front of the damn thing with a 150 foot ground cord.

I lifted one cup away from my right ear because the noise was so intense I thought the headset wasn't seated right. Not permanent, but ringing for days.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:57:42 AM EDT

[#27]

A broken compressor running in the shop and a broken power washer engine running just outside the shop door, it made a perfect wind tunnel of noise. I had my own ear pro in my truck which naturally was being worked on a few towns away and the shop had no ear pro. I lost all hearing in my right ear and about 90% of the hearing in my left ear. I clocked out and left before we finished what we were doing and before my shift was over and flipped the fuck out on my manager on the way out the door. It took four hours for my hearing to start to come back and since I've had constant tinnitus and constantly have to ask people to repeat themselves. My manager did get a couple of bags of ear plugs for the shop but it was too little, too late.
ETA: Any kind of loud noises are painful now, my dog barking next to my head being a perfect example.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:58:01 AM EDT

[#28]

No ear pro, .44 mag short barrel. Light ringing that really never went away.

With ear pro, air shows.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:58:31 AM EDT

[#29]

I didnt grow up in a gun family.

First several years I never used ear pro with my AR15 my dad got me

Seriously. I would just shoot it till my ears went numb and then it would be fine.

Use to dump beta mags into the tree. No ear pro.

Posted: 7/20/2018 8:59:08 AM EDT

[#30]

MK12 from inside a blind. No suppressor

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:00:08 AM EDT

[#31]

Shoot house and my hearing protection slipped.

I double down now.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:00:30 AM EDT

[#32]

172.2 dB.*

I used to make loud things for a living.

That was not an enjoyable experience.

* - inside the vehicle. I was not inside the vehicle.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:00:43 AM EDT

[#33]

Laying next to a M1A1 on a live fire.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:01:26 AM EDT

[#34]

.50 cal blank in an EOD explosive tool 5-10ft away 3” “barrel” no earpro. Training instructor fucked up and left the arming key in the robot controller. Marine cranked it off due to an iffy robot microphone. I will never forget that instructors name, dickhead got 15 students in IED training division.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:01:44 AM EDT

[#35]

Quote History

Quoted:
Full afterburner F15 engines on trim pad !

View Quote

F18 at full mill in the hush house.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:01:56 AM EDT

[#36]

I played in loud ass rock & roll bands for many years.

I am deef as Pete Townshend after that Smothers Brothers appearance .............

Attached File

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:02:21 AM EDT

[#37]

Ft Benning early 1980's. At the firing range. Lost my hearing plugs somewhere. DI handed me some cigarette butts to put in my ears. Those worked well

Air Force. 80 Screaming engines on 10 B-52's every morning for launch. Over time that does some serious damage.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:02:26 AM EDT

[#38]

155 Arty firing when I wasn't expecting it.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:02:39 AM EDT

[#39]

Rinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:04:25 AM EDT

[#40]

Airbag deployment. I've had tinnitus in my right ear ever since.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:05:33 AM EDT

[#41]

DO YOU EVEN ABRAMS BRO??

One of the most painful was duck hunting with a buddy whose shotgun barrel was 18" and going off 3 feet from my left ear. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for life.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:06:30 AM EDT

[#42]

Taking EarPro off to hear a dude say something just as a B1 went into burner. It was a visceral full body sound. Was way too close. Heard them every day and complacency sat in. Years of being around jet engines, while not an instant noise, did my hearing in.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:06:54 AM EDT

[#43]

Mini 14, and 44mag.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:07:14 AM EDT

[#44]

Fri Oct 12 1984 Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI, USA Sammy Hagar and Krokus row 3 right in front of the amp stack.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEE

and 27 other rock concerts during the 80s

Also 35yrs of Deer Hunting with 30.06 through 6.5G

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:07:29 AM EDT

[#45]

Standing about 50' from an A-6 Intruder at military power during a cat shot.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:07:42 AM EDT

[#46]

Quote History

Quoted:
Molly Hatchet, 1980

View Quote

That was a loud concert, but I think The Who had them beat the next year. My ears rang for 3 days afterwards.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:08:15 AM EDT

[#47]

Quote History

Quoted:
Jet engines.

View Quote

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:08:41 AM EDT

[#48]

300winmag with a brake shooting indoors... ear pro had fallen out and i didn't notice...

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:09:40 AM EDT

[#49]

Started my Marine Corps career as a 106 recoiless rifleman then ended up in Ordnance working on and firing everything from rimfires to 8in. SP artillery plus working with Weapons Test Branch at Aberdeen Proving Grounds on lots of prototype and foreign weapons. My ears are shot.

All this was long before hearing protection was even thought of, let alone mandatory.

Posted: 7/20/2018 9:10:23 AM EDT

[#50]

120mm from an Abrams at Fort Hood. Did not have my ear pro affixed during live fire of the tank next to us.

I am around 95% deaf in my right ear. Makes driving anywhere with a passenger a huge PITA since its tough to carry on a conversation.

I had a helper one time that was deaf to a similar point. He fucked up and didnt have his ear plugs in basic on 50 cal day apparently. He said looking back it was a bad idea not to say something.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Whats the loudest noise you have ever been exposed to, that resulted in hearing damage / ringing ? (Page 1 of 6)

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us