Originally Posted by Carusoswi
One more thing . . . I could be wrong - but, in my experience, in truly noisy situations where exposure will certainly cause hearing loss, one can actually hear conversations, etc. better with protection in place than without. I will often attend a wedding reception, for instance, and slip a pair of ear plugs in my pockets just in case the music volume at the reception gets out of hand (it usually does as the evening wears on). I swear I can hear conversations better with the plugs in place than without. It becomes more difficult to speak in that situation, however, because you perceive your own voice to be at a much higher level than it actually is.
Interesting stuff - thanks for posting this topic, AllenG.
Caruso
I agree completely. I've worked for steel fabricators, in machine shops, and coal fired powerplants (before becoming a bookkeeper) and conversation is best heard through foam earplugs. The way it works, I believe, is that high frequency noise is easily dampened, while the low pitch sounds penetrate. It's kind of like your neighbor's stereo. All you get are the bass notes booming through the walls.
Oddly, I do really well with car noise while riding without the hearing aid. You lose the exhaust and air noise, but the tire sound is right in my range.
Just in passing, I'll mention that my hearing problems come from a series of relatively minor head colds with sinus infections about 12 years, and have very little relationship with noise. When I left the industrial scene, I relied on my right ear. It is now so bad they weren't even able to fit it with a hearing aid.