I’m a big music fan and take care of my ears, being the first to wear earplugs, even at concerts etc.
However I seemed to have developed a problem after a week or so of driving a vehicle with a whistling turbo. The noise doesn’t seem that bad but it seems prolonged exposure has had an effect. I expect anyone else who has used the vehicle either can’t hear it as it’s high pitched, or doesn’t care for their hearing like I do for mine.
Now I have a ringing sound in my left ear which accompanies all sound include my own voice if I talk loud enough (I can’t hear it in a quiet environment). About two weeks of being careful and vigilant earplug use and it hasn’t gone away.
I have told work (ie the client… I’m on agency) and have been asked to make a note on the defects sheet, and that’s about it for now.
I’m going to have a word with the agency, I’m not sure what they can do to help me, but at least if I report it which may help me in the future. I’m also going to get an appointment with the GP.
I would go see the doc as it mite be something else there are some medical centres that have a hearing test you can take did it myself for my track card long time back
if its whistling that loud to affect your hearing there may be a fault with the exhaust system like a blown manifold gasket or a leaking downpipe (i have this in my 320d at the moment and it whistles its ■■■■ off but it sounds cool haha )
also just to note having a window down and having radio on in the daf i drive strangely gives me deafness in my left ear after a while which i find weired
take care of your ears , after 40+ years on the road i have ended up with 25% hearing in both ears . it’s no joke , even with hearing aids i can’t hear the sounds of nature and can only hold a conversation at close quarters . it is too late when you have lost it , use ear defenders if you think you need to or you could live to regret it . on the lighter side , if i switch the hearing aids off i can’t hear the wife wittering on,.
Forget all the jokes & the pi55 taking ,i have got a constant ringing in my right ear,doctors have confirmed that it is tinnitus…Cause of this they say was driving for many years with the window down,this was the years before the comforts of air conditioning…Too late for me now but keep the window up whenever I can now
Hearing loss creeps up on you without you noticing it, so beware of what you might be doing every day that you hadn’t thought was particularly noisy.
I now suffer from Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) after 40 years of being exposed to noisy engines in the cab and workshop and also having my music volume too loud. I have always driven with the driver’s window at least partially open, but now have to make a conscious effort to shut it if on the motorway. I find that unless I wear ear defenders when unloading roll cages in the back of a fridge trailer, or when handling return empties, that it aggravates the ringing and interferes with that night’s sleep. It seems that the Tinnitus wants to compete with the loudest noise heard during the day and stays at that level for the next few hours. My hearing now interferes with my work, since I can no longer hear small air leaks easily, so I have to resort to using an aerosol of leak detector spray. I am forever saying ‘What?’ since I don’t always realise that someone is actually talking to ME. Luckily once they have my attention it’s all OK.
Will:
Forget all the jokes & the pi55 taking ,i have got a constant ringing in my right ear,doctors have confirmed that it is tinnitus…Cause of this they say was driving for many years with the window down,this was the years before the comforts of air conditioning…Too late for me now but keep the window up whenever I can now
aye we have a hearing test lined up at work in the near future for the drivers and plant men,to see how bad we are (prob a base point for compo in the future),speaking for myself its the window down thats fd up me up not content with doing my right ear for 20+yrs im now doing my left one.
Thinking o all the scrap machines / heaps o crap i drove .
i did my H&S noise course last yr…and realised ■■■■…
it just sneaks up and bites you…
I have tinnitus witch can be annoying not caused by driving but loud bangs wish I took more care as I’m only 28 but it lets me ignor the planer some times
I’d imagine it realy affected drivers in previous years driving old atkinsons an ERFs etc
Inface between the noise the comfort levels no health and safety big fry ups every day and 40 woodbines a day it’s surprising any drivers made 40
Persistent tinnitus is experienced by approximately 10 per cent of the adult UK population¹ making it one of the most common physical symptoms. Prevalence increases with age, but tinnitus is also common in children.
There is a trend for more women than men to report tinnitus and for women to describe more complex tinnitus sounds. It is slightly more common in unskilled rather than professional social groups and this difference is not explained by differences in noise exposure.
Bilateral tinnitus is the most common presentation, followed by left-sided tinnitus. The latter is not accounted for by greater noise exposure.
There is a high co-morbidity between clinically significant tinnitus and anxiety and depression, however, care is needed in establishing whether a patient is suffering a psychological disorder. Many patients feel that a mental health assessment means that their tinnitus is not being taken seriously.
Have you been taking any medication? I have tinnitus in my right ear, believed to have been caused by a powerful prescribed medication (I can pinpoint the time and day that it started). I’m not complaining about the treatment, I wouldn’t be writing this if I hadn’t had it, but just see a similarity as only 1 ear affected. I’d get yourself referred to an ENT unit to have the diagnosis confirmed.
As an aside at a collection point this week the loader had had a cochlear (sp) implant having been deaf since birth and he was really praising the implant.
