Ear Protection


I'm just curious about how often you wear ear protection. I know that growing up my grandfather had hearing problems due to war and loud working environments. He always advocated ear protection to his kids and grandchildren. I always wear ear protection when mowing, using the tractor, weed whipping, flying, loud concerts, really anything louder than I could hear a soft voice from ten feet. I've never measured it but feel it is important. I let go a little when listening to music but prefer medium volumes.
I know this has come up before but does anyone have any experience one way or the other? Do you listen louder and louder over the years? Are you aware of hearing loss or do you ignore it? How do you test it?
bjesien
If you want to preserve your hearing the first thing you should do is not use earbuds (e.g., ipod, etc.). You test hearing loss by going to a specialist and testing your hearing; it's as simple as that.
Ooou! Ooou! Tell the morons in the cars with Ghetto Blaster bass speakers they will lose they're losing low-frequency hearing while listening to bass heavy music.
I wear ear protection regularly when needed. I've ridden motorcycles for over 25 years. If you haven't ridden you may not realize the level of noise caused by the wind rushing past your head and through the helmet at 60mph is quite loud. For the past 8 years I've used custom molded earplugs, which I wish I'd been using earlier. I don't know if I listen louder than when I was younger, but my wife certainly seems to think I always listen too loud.
Beavis,

Like second hand smoke it is driving up next to them. Toxic air waves at its best.

I do feel at time rolling my window down and asking them to turn it up louder just to see if they are that stupid to do so.