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Author
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Topic: Hand Calling vs Hearing Question
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ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
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posted April 29, 2015 12:20 PM
I use both hand calls and e-callers. I have pretty success with either. However I have very good hearing, not necessarily sensitive hearing, but very good. When I hand call it irritates my ears. I can't help but think it has to damage one's hearing over time. It bugs me enough that I'm considering only carrying a hand call in case my something goes wrong with my e-caller, or I just feel I need to offer a different sound. A lot of you guys are older and more experienced than me. Do any of you think your hearing has been affected by hand calling over the years?
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted April 29, 2015 12:25 PM
My hearing is so far gone, I can't begin to even relate, let alone offer any insight!
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted April 29, 2015 01:13 PM
I can only echo what dave said. A lifetime of unprotected sex and unprotected shooting has resulted in very severe nerve damage.
Good hunting. El Bee
Edit: here's the thing. Unless you hunt with earplugs, the sound of a handcall is relatively minor compared to a gunshot.
[ April 29, 2015, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31449 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Moe
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4494
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posted April 29, 2015 01:48 PM
I used to shoot a shotgun an average if 1000 times a week. Even with protection it takes its toll. Add to that the hunting and chain saws and log splitters I now have a permanent ringing in my ears. The last thing I would worry about is a mouth blown call damaging my hearing.
If it bothers you try wearing some foam ear plugs. They're not effective enough to stop the damage from shooting but I think the volume of a call would be easy for them.
Many times, tho, I've heard a coyote before I saw them so I don't wear ear protection when calling even tho I probably should.
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I snatch kisses. And vice versa.
Posts: 593 | From: Oregon | Registered: Nov 2013
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted April 29, 2015 01:50 PM
Hearing loss.......long story less long.
Hearing is basically detecting vibrations. Hair-like cells in the inner-ear pick up and transmit vibration. Loud noise beats these cells down. Think footprints on grass. After noise exposure, the cells will spring back up again much like grass after being walked on. Too much noise / too constant noise and the cells get beaten down past the recovery point. Think a path worn in the grass.
Simple solution; ear plugs.
I like the E.A.R. brand. They're a yellow foam plug on a blue plastic cord. Roll 'em up, insert into ear canal, let 'em expand and forget about them.
I've got hearing loss in both ears and Tinnitus (ringing) in the left. You don't want either.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7576 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Yotehntr
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3684
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posted April 29, 2015 03:19 PM
If you have a smart phone you can download a decibel app. Check and see the level and do a quick search and find out what is safe. (Just a suggestion) Wish I had to worry about it. To many years working in a plant
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Yotehntr Calls Put something pretty on your lips! ;)
Posts: 53 | From: Murfreesboro, TN | Registered: Oct 2010
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted April 30, 2015 05:50 AM
Wear a pair of those Walker game ears. I think it was Tim Behle one year at the campout? With the muffs on, he could hear another guy walking in the sandy creekbed from out of sight distances, at dusk!
If it's worth it, a win,win situation. Amplifies sound, yet protects your hearing from loud harmful noise. I think Troy needs a pair?
Good hunting. LB
edit: to clarify on something said by koko. The little hair like cells in your ear, (called cillia, or something like that?) anyway, they are not "beat down" but are so damaged that they are vibrating constantly, and i mean constantly in the true sense of the word! So this vibration causes the ringing you hear in high frequency decibles. The vibration of these little hairs is exactly what allows you to hear wide spectrum sound. So, the ringing causes INTERFERENCE. As an example, it's like trying to watch TV with someone vacuuming in the room. The loud sound interfers with your ability to understand what OREILLY is saying.
[ April 30, 2015, 06:05 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31449 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Brent Parker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4354
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posted April 30, 2015 06:18 AM
I was going to suggest the same as Leonard, I set of electronic muffs either ear pros or Sordins are good as well but expensive. I worked most of my young adult life in a heavy machining and stamping facility doing machine repair and have had constant ringing in my ears since my mid-late 30's. I can't tell a difference. I relied on the number on the remote for my volume control more than anything. Hand calling doesn't bother my ears at all.
Posts: 172 | From: 2 miles east of Vic | Registered: Mar 2013
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Fur_n_Dirt
So. Ariz. Zone Tech. Expert
Member # 4467
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posted April 30, 2015 09:07 AM
LB, I have a pair of those..
Complete protection and hear pretty damn good.. overall, its sort of a pain.. another piece of equipment to carry, organize, and take on and off..
Right now, I'm using my custom ear protectors (you know, the ones found at the gun shows that custom fit you) and they are working good and don't get in the way of the stock.
The suppressors have been helping a lot if I don't ear protection..
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--- It's all simple if you know what you are doing ---
Posts: 437 | From: Tucson | Registered: Sep 2013
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TRnCO
FUTURE HALL OF FAMER
Member # 690
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posted April 30, 2015 10:04 AM
I wore the Walker ear muffs for a couple of seasons before I got my suppressor. If you don't get the volume adjusted equally on each side, you can't tell direction of sound. Sure you can hear a mouse fart at 200 paces, but which direction the sound came from, you won't have a clue. And if there's any wind, it'll drive ya nuts with all the wind/white noise.
When I could hear coyotes howling while wearing the muffs, I quickly ripped them off my head so that I could determine direction of the sound.
I don't wear any hearing protection now while calling. I rarely use my hand calls any more although I carry a set with me all the time, just in case the ecall decides to crap out on me. I've got enough hearing loss that I don't think I can do any more damage if I were to blow on any of my hand calls for a day of calling.
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Is it hunting season yet? I hate summer!
Posts: 996 | From: Elizabeth, CO | Registered: Aug 2005
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Moe
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4494
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posted April 30, 2015 10:11 AM
Cilia are found in the trachea and lungs. There are some in your kidneys, too.
Hammer, anvil and stirrup are bones found in the ear. These get damaged by loud noises and make you hard of hearing.
http://www.earq.com/hearing-loss/ear-anatomy
A friend gave me a pair of a type of game ears but the batteries are expensive and they're bulky. I usually wear them when I trim the lawn or use a chain saw.
Tinnitus is a real pain in the ass. I have a constant ringing and roar in my ears. The audiologist I was seeing told me that there's no help for it. I spent a 3 day weekend cutting and splitting 6 cords of wood. When I was done I had the ringing in my ears and thought it would go away in a day or two. It's been 30 years and I still have it. My wife is always asking me to turn down the TV. When I get it to the level she wants I can't understand what the people are saying so I turn on the captioning.
I think fur is talking about what they used to call prescription ear plugs. A plastic that's inserted into your ears where they harden and fit your ear canal perfectly. The problem I had with those is that after a while they lose their elasticity making them hard to get in and out. Maybe they've improved?
I sometimes wonder if, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have been a shooter. I really don't think so. Do golfers go deaf??
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I snatch kisses. And vice versa.
Posts: 593 | From: Oregon | Registered: Nov 2013
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booger
TOO BIG TO FAIL
Member # 3602
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posted April 30, 2015 10:24 AM
I am like TR, I carry my hand calls in case my e-caller happens to die mid-stand. Most of my hearing loss happened 30+ years ago when I was young and dumb and figured that real men didn’t need hearing protection when shooting.
I find myself now turning my head to point my ear at the person talking so I can catch all of the conversation…not quite like Grandma Moses and the ear horn, but damn close!
When I got my first Tally Ho in 1999, I was driving 45 minutes one way to work. I spent about 30 minutes of the ride getting down the intricacies of blowing an open reed…I didn’t pay attention to the volume I was blowing, and I got out of the car many mornings with my ears ringing. In addition to the shooting, those sessions didn’t help out either.
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If we ever forget we are one Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under--Ronald Reagan
Posts: 911 | From: Bob Dole Country | Registered: Apr 2010
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Fur_n_Dirt
So. Ariz. Zone Tech. Expert
Member # 4467
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posted April 30, 2015 11:17 AM
Damn, there's a lot of Tinnitus going on around here!
I once did a bad move and shot my AR with a muzzle break without protection.. I thought my ear drum popped out of my ear that day..
I've always wondered how bad my hearing got. So I went to Costco and got a free hearing test..
Here's my results. She's said I hear fine, but I do have one frequency drop that definitely comes from shooting guns. If I don't hear my wife, I blame that damn frequency band! ha ha
[ April 30, 2015, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: Fur_n_Dirt ]
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--- It's all simple if you know what you are doing ---
Posts: 437 | From: Tucson | Registered: Sep 2013
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted May 01, 2015 06:06 AM
From my experience, the whole game of calling coyotes is brutal on your body. Yep, I have tinnitus as well. Ironically, and true (my hand to God), the one frequency range I have the most trouble hearing is the same as my wife's voice. If she isn't looking at me when she speaks, even sitting in the car, I just cannot hear what is being said, even without any ambient noise. Constant ringing. Sometimes, it will settle down and it's so quiet it drives me nuts. Always have to sleep with a fan on for the white noise.
About six years ago, I started having back problems. Two disks in my lower lumbar bulged. The physical therapist that treated me is married to a hunter and she assessed my sitting posture when I call. The angle of my legs to my back was such that I put excessive torsion on the part of my back with the disc trauma. I now have to wear a vest to which is attached a four-inch thick gel core butt pad that corrects that angle enough that I'm not causing myself more problems. Helps immensely.
At the same time, by her recommendation, I switched to almost exclusively using an e-caller because, as she said, the constant huffing and puffing into a mouthcall causes your diaphragm to repeatedly hammer your viscera which, in turn, sends each of those slams into your lower back and, as much as I call, would just make my back hurt. I carry hand calls in case the caller dies, and did manage to have that happen this year and called a double for a calling coyote virgin to score his first deuce on, but I use ecalls almost 98% of the time because I have a prescription.
Finally, I like my guns heavy. Absorbs recoil in the sticks better. My AR weighs in at 12#, 2# less than my 22-250. I have a (bad) habit of always throwing it over my left shoulder when walking to and from. As a result of that fact, and the fact that I shoot off the left shoulder and it gets the beating from recoil (sure, .223 recoil isn't much, but it is cumulative when you shoot a lot), things go to shit and I now have two disks in my neck giving me problems. Pain is under control after three rounds of epidural shots, but I am presently not allowed to carry either a gun, or my mail satchel, on my neck, both of which restrictions are a PITA in my life.
Personally, I don't see the hunting for me being the causal factor. I see the AMOUNT of hunting I do as the problem, and that shit ain't gonna change.
[ May 01, 2015, 06:10 AM: Message edited by: Cdog911 ]
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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