Give a little whistle
One of the great joys of growing old is watching the bits fall off.
It’s a bit like an old car, where you begin to notice the bearings knocking and the odd bit of piston slap.
Considering my mileage, I’m not in too bad a shape, but there is one thing that causes some problems, and that is tinnitus.
I don’t know if any of you are familiar with this delightful little phenomenon, but it is a whistle. A quite loud, high frequency whistle. And I hear it all the time.
I don’t know exactly when it started, but I have had this whistle whistling in my head for quite a few years now. The Doc says it could be down to not wearing ear protectors when I’m out shooting. He could be right but I’m not going to lower my standards now. Ear protectors are poncey. I might sue myself for damages though?
I have long since learned to ignore the whistle, so it doesn’t bother me much, but it does have some weird side effects.
One is that I can’t listen to something if there is another noise. I can’t talk on the telephone if the television is on, and I can have difficulty conversing if there is a lot of background noise. Apart from that, I have exceptional hearing and can detect a foreign accent at huge distances [which may explain my higher than average score amongst the locals].
Also, sometimes I can have difficulty determining the direction of a sound.
I got up early this morning [another of the delights of age]. Later, I was minding my own business when the alarm went off in my mobile phone. I use it as an alarm clock.
I couldn’t see the phone around and started hunting. The strange thing was that wherever I searched, the phone seemed to be quite close. Sandy was getting quite agitated too, as she hates that alarm. I found it in the end. It was in my pocket.
One of the causes of tinnitus is prolonged exposure to loud noises.
So in forty or so years, we are going to have a generation frantically searching for their mobile phones.
Car stereos and iPods are going to have a lot to answer for.
Heh!!
Shite, sounds horrible.
I have an opposite problem, Im 30, and I was told that my ears will lose sensitivity when I get older. Here is the thing, I can hear very high frequency noises, like the whine of the old TV tubes, rattle of the Fluorescent light bulbs, I am at work now, and there is a monitor beside me and I know the tube will die.
Rattle of hard drives, weird chargers and those electric things they use to deter mice from the house that people cannot hear.
I have been like that for years, I hope that listening to loud music will kill it as it’s really annoying, but looks like I could end up with Tinnitus.
Dammit, and the weather put me in a good mood today !!
A Chara Grandad,
I thought this post was going to be funny – but its not really. One could take the michael out of people with tinntus but thats not really funny either. So I hope this makes you smile Grandad.
Its not relevant to gardening at all and i suppose had to go somewhere http://ballyboughal.net/its-friday-cheer-me-up/
slán agus beannacht
peter
Robert – You will probably lose that sensitivity. My sound is exactly like an old 405 line TV, only a hell of a lot louder. Strangely, I can still hear mouse deterrents!! So drop that loud music – you may get what you wish for, and end up with both!!
Beautiful day, isn’t it?!!
I feel your pain. I’ve had it since I was 15 years old, I’m 31 now.
I can also hear those mouse deterrents when most people can’t hear them, they drive me mad.
Dave – Bloody hell!! You started young? Don’t worry about me, incidentally – I’m certainly not looking for sympathy. I’m so used to it, that I don’t notice it unless I’m having a ‘loud’ day.
@Robert-I like you have particularly sensitive hearing. Sometimes if I walk under a telephone line I feel as if my head will explode. People think I am mad. Good to know it’s not only me.
@Grandad -Absolutely marvellous day today. Look at that sun.
Hot off the press . . mouse deterrents don’t work! I’ve got three in my roof (deterrents, not mice) and the buggers are still skittling around (mice not deterrents). They’re crafty and dodge the sound waves by slinking round the rafters.
Seriously though I had an aunt who wouldn’t consider air travel because of the ringing in her ears. Pretty awful thing to have. And you younglings at 30 something, must be hell!
Lottie – I’m sitting here with the door open to the garden and the sun streaming in. Great stuff!! I have to stake up a few plants later though before the gales tomorrow..
Baino – Are you sure they are mice? 😉 Or maybe they have hearing problems??
@lottie , nope you are not alone on that one.
@grandad, ya, ill keep clear of loud noises, but my perchant for playing Loud Video games when everyone is out of the house is not helping 🙂
The day is fantastic, smoke breaks is the best I can do as my cubicle cannot see a window, and I dont think my tan is getting any better under this office lighting.
Peter – I agree! I didn’t intend this to be a health debate – it was just a Head Ramble I had. How come you are posting on someone else’s blog?? [Good one, by the way.. 🙂 ]
Robert – Quit the video games and take up the pipe. Then install a wireless router and move your desk outdoors. The job is Oxo!!
Not able to do that one at all, Video Games is my job as well, so im pretty much scuppered with my choice of career.
For now 🙂
The Pipe, hmmm, I dont know, its all the preperation before the smoke, I tried rollys and loved them, but , yea, im not so hot with the rolling, so I think I need to get that right first before I step up to the pipe!
Robert – Half the fun of the pipe is in the preparation. Very relaxing, and you don’t shed bits of tobacco all over the place.
oh dear. hate to have tinnitus. But I know you love your pint of Guinness – same as my good self. My hearing problem is not painful, but it sure as shite is annoying. I’m slowly losing the hearing due to listening to much noise over the god knows how many decades, apparently.
There I am in the pub, enjoying my ArthurG, when all of a sudden a crowd walk in. All that background noise is not loud, but it means I cannot hear my conversation with the lads at the bar. It’s all muffled.
It’s the same if the bloody barman puts feckin racing on the telly.
So now I’m the old fart who nods at everything, smiles when looked at, and generally looks senile.
God bless the net. I don’t have to listen.
cheer up Grandad, I said CHEER UP GRANDAD.
You know the feeling
I was deaf in one ear until I was 19 then it returned and scared me to death – everything was so loud!!! I believe in ear defenders – mine are not ‘poncey’ – they have the words “Bullshit Protectors” written across the top!
Nobody questions it…….
grandad,
yeah re the other blog – i realise i had too much to say and it wasn’t all about gardening/ green stuff – adrian mc mahon [and the man on the bridge – who darren hates] roped me into it. For non green matters only!
Aha! I like non-eco-friendly stuff. I suffer badly from Green Fatigue too 😉
I love it when you talk about getting old…makes me feel better 🙂 now where is my friggin’ cane!
🙂 And there are still people out there who think I’m a spotty 20 year old college kid!
GD I have tinnitus,But mine sounds of cricket’s and whistling,or whistling crickets.I would drive my wife nuts asking if she heard crickets all the time.My tinnitus came about from things going BOOM and shooting.Ah the good old days of youth did not give a shit and now as i am older.Damn i was dumb.
Ok, first off, where on earth are y’all living, I’m in Dublin and while its warm there’s a great whopping dirty cloud ruining the sky. No blue to be seen.
Secondly, yipppeee, finally some folks who know how annoying it is to not know the direction sound is coming from. Many the times I’ve turned the place upside down to locate the ringing phone. As for multiple sounds coming from multiple directions (ala pubs) ooooohhhh, I feel a headache coming on. I wonder what pure absolute total silence is like?
Huh?
Yeah, I got it too.
Lots of us I’m afraid and it gets very little attention.
I’ve been bugging the ATA.org folks to upload small audio files of the different kinds of Tinnitus, but no luck.
They can even decide how to pronounce it! TIN-eye-tus or TIN-it-us… assholes.
They have a CD which I ordered “Sounds of Tinnitus” (insert your jokes here) that has sample sounds.
Mine comes from too many cars/motorcycles without mufflers. iPods will cause an epidemic…
I have hearing aids because I was told that if I could amplify the “real sound” instead of the fake, it would help. Didn’t.
So I guess we need to form a support group and YELL AT EACH OTHER.
I’ve had it since I was a kid and I’m 31. Due to flying on planes I think…
It makes me sensitive to quiet noises, like footsteps and pens dropping, probably as I am trying to tune out of the tinnitus. When it is quiet I notice when it sometimes churns into second gear and is more high-pitched than usual. I’ve just bought a sleep aid that creates a gentle whirring sound, that helps detract other noises.
Welcome, Jasmine 🙂
I am amazed at the number of young people who seem to have tinnitus! It must be the noisy environment we live in. I know exactly what you mean by sensitivity to other noises too. Weird.