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Chemist-
You're 33. I'm 53.
Hearing loss is real strange. Very few people admit it, especially to themselves. But, slowly, you loose interest in music. You think it's just "maturity". Then you find yourself telling your SO to stop talking to you from the other side of the room. Then you find yourself cranking the TV louder and LOUDER as the movie gets interesting. Pretty soon, the most comfortable place to be is with long time shooters....because NONE of them hear either!
Finally, you find yourself hobbled in social situations and, if you're smart and self-responsible, you learn to smile and deal with it. Know why? Your hearing was an asset that nobody but YOU sold off.
There are so many of us that have done this, inch by inch. Today, I wear two hearing aids...and I'm hardly the exception. I'm not ashamed of it, nor severely hobbled by it, but I'd give anything to have 33 year old ears again. I'd protect 'em with my life.
One more thing: It's not "years" of shooting without protection that does it. It's just those impetuous strings of shots off the porch, when you're "indestructible". For me, it was when I bought a home in the mountains and "could" shoot off the porch; at age 33! As my audiologist has said to me, "That ringing in your ears? That's nerves dying. And they do not rejuvenate".
Rich
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