Is it common for Trucking to cause tinnitus?

Today I had my window down while driving and this guy blew by me on Eisenhower in an oooooold truck. And then he just crushed the jakes as hard as possible. Bout made me drive off the road. It was load. Anyway, I already had it before driving but I could very easily see how tanker drivers could have it. So loud.

Also, I can’t sleep without noise anymore because I hear trucks rumbling... even at home. I have to put the news on to sleep to drown it out.

 

Thanks. That's good. It's oral surgery getting her wisdom teeth out.

 

I noticed when I turn the fan up all the way for ac/heat. I will hear what I interpret as tinnitus.
Turn down to next highest and no.

 

We had our annual hearing tests last week.
They compare with the baseline test given when you were hired.
I have moderate loss in both ears in the higher range.
No doubt caused by exposure over 13 years of loud work here.
Hard to pinpoint an actual cause since I've always used earplugs combined with earmuffs since I started and even use ear protection while riding or shooting, mowing or snowblowing etc.
I even use plugs at concerts now but as a
younger guy never did..and I was the guy down front, right in front of the speakers..lol
May be related to my advancing age too.

I highly recommend quality ear protection so you don't end up like our grandfathers.

 

Some people have tinnitus long before they see a truck. I've had it since before kindergarten with no explanation. I also started protecting my hearing before I got into trucking and might have worn ear plugs every day in the truck. Most people do not understand the difference between "a new truck is often much quieter than an old truck" and the sentence "a quieter new truck is loud enough to still cause hearing damage." I say it this way "someone can weigh less than the heaviest person they ever saw and still not be slim." Most drivers are in trucks for 10-12 hours per day, almost every day. EPA recommends hearing protection for workers exposed to noise above a certain dB level for 8 hours per day. The newest/quietest trucks are just slightly below that dB rating but the driver is exposed to that nose for at least half of the day for years. Also, almost no driver never turns on his stereo while driving. If the stereo is on every time you drive you are increasing the noise-level in the truck (almost certainly above the EPA damaging to hearing level).

I think of hearing loss like a metal bucket full of water. Once all of the water is gone from the bucket you are deaf as a stone. You can drop a bowling ball into the bucket and splash most of the water out in just a few episodes, like when you go to a very loud rock concert. Or you can drill a small hole in the bottom of the bucket and watch your hearing/water leave over many years. There are soft and comfortable foam earplugs made to be used while sleeping. Not only are the sleep type ear plugs the most comfortable to wear, but they usually have the highest Noise Reduction Rating NRR of 30 dB or more. I highly recommend the Mack's Slim-Fit Sleep/Rest earplugs available at Amazon and Walmart and many grocery stores. They are the purple earplugs shaped like a witch's hat. There are a few tricks one can use to make them even more comfortable to wear for long periods. They do not block out all noise, they mostly block out non-specific noise like noise from the road and wind. It's like putting on sunglasses on a sunny day. If you put on sunglasses they don't make you blind. They block out the harsh sunlight, which allows you pupils to stay open so you can see other things. Try reading text on a white page with the sun in your eyes. Your pupils squeeze down to pin holes and the glare from the white page will prevent you from seeing small details like letters.

You will lose some of your hearing, no matter how careful you are throughout life. But you can save almost all of it if you protect it like you protect something important. Or people can just blame the world and feel comfortable by being one of the sheep in the heard of other sheep.

 

WHAT? SAY THAT AGAIN!! WHAT???

 

Some experience tinnitus as a higher pitched ringing sound and some experience it as a lower frequency whooshing sound like wind. Exposure to loud noise for long enough time can cause or contribute to tinnitus. But tinnitus also seems to have a component in the ear somewhat similar to the feedback sound from placing a microphone closer to a speaker that is amplfying the sound from the same microphone. There appears to be some of that type of tinnitus sound being caused or noticed from hearing internal activity of the ear. Just as there are "super-tasters" that can taste an unpleasant taste in commonly consumed food, it may be some tinnitus is possibly a super-sensitive hearing ability picking up normal sound from the ear itself. That's what is suspected in my case where tinnitus was essentially present from my earliest memories.

Some doctors treat tinnitus with a specific noise perfectly matched to the sound of an individual with tinnitus. Think of how an active noise-canceling headphone works. Circuitry picks us the ambient noise and then sends the exact opposite noise toward the ear. As the 2 soundwaves arrive at nearly the same time, the net result is no noise being experienced. This example applies to the tinnitus, not the hearing loss that can cause tinnitus. Hearing loss and tinnitus are separate conditions that often happen along side each other. Some people experience relief by playing an external similar sound to their particular tinnitus sound in the room or in ear buds they wear. There are ways to reduce the discomfort.

 

Yeah I can't watch TV that long before my ears start going reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Never happened before driving a big truck. Imagine that sound during winter ....that whistling sound that hits your mirror.

That's in my head....alllllll the time.

Obnoxious.

 

Most massive headache I ever experienced was when I was asked to ride along with one of our company guys taking his Brockway out to rescue a load when the owner operator had a breakdown.

1968 Brockway, 318 Jimmy, 10 speed and two stacks.

I will be fair and admit the noise wasn't all of the problem as the only way to have the driver understand what I was saying was to shout.

Poor Earl was pushin' 65 and had put over 600K on that set back Brockway so I'm guessin' he wasn't hearing all that well either.

At 68 I have a good dose of constant background tinnitus, lots of rock concerts, jackhammers and big air impact guns along with the gun shots and 2-cycle outboards and dirt bikes all caught up to me.

I shoot, now, with Wilson hearing protection [muffs] that clip the loud stuff; I still hear the gun go off without the sonic boom yet I hear the bullet strike the steel plate and still be able to speak and hear what others are saying.

They have muffs and ear plugs that also have blue tooth ability and the cheaper muffs can add a radio on the frequencies used by talkabout and cobras walkie talkies.