My hearing loss is totally service related. I went deaf in one ear because some kid in a Modern Warfare lobby in 2009 told me he was gonna have intercourse with my mother at a volume of 130 decibels.
This might be obvious but idk, lol. Why don't soldiers wear simple earplugs like for construction and loud machines? They're not too deafening for communication and I figure they'd be better than nothing, right?
@@TheNotoriousMrDeewith the stress of combat, your hearing can be really selective. idk if you've ever had an experience where you were focusing super hard on something and everything else tuned out, but that's kind of how it can be. plus, you don't always have time to put in earbuds, since not every engagement is one you're prepared for. my buddy in the marines was issued earbuds with his kit, and he says even the people who gave it to him said they weren't ever gonna be used
@@gohsk1512CEO grindset--f🤬ck those flesh automatons and their non aug ears, they can just recombinate a new set and stop complaining that it's "making them miserable" or something
I think its hilarious you brought up the movie Heat... I use that movie as my #1 example of how gunfights would actually go. The director specifically wanted it to be more real sounding, understanding that when guns are blazing, thats ALL you hear
@@GunnerHeatFire They often do have full size powder loads, else the gun won't cycle, especially as there is no dwell time, or pressure curve from pushing the projectile. Which is part of why direct impingement types (ar15/m16 family) often need to have a BFA or blank firing adapter or special muzzle device to cycle properly, as the gas system needs pressure to send the bolt carrier backwards
It's a fine enough example for audio but it is not a great example for "how gunfights would actually go." Lots of funky things happen in it. Everyone's shooting in full-auto; people in real life almost always use semi-auto when shooting rifles, doubly so when unsupported. The volume of fire the robbers put out is higher than it could realistically be: With actual 30-round mags and full-auto, even with a few pauses for their long bursts, they'd be reloading every few seconds. The robbers land tons of hits in full-auto, offhand, while under a ton of fire, from both ahead and behind, with essentially 0 indications of being suppressed (not even flinching).
Just in case anyone asking "why M1 Garand makes 168 dB noise and 16-inch battleship gun makes only 195 that doesn't seem too much", decibel is logarithmic, meaning each increase of 10 dB represents a 10-fold increase in sound intensity. So 27 dB difference doesn't mean 27 times more intense, but almost 1000 times (intense, not "louder", because how we perceive loudness is pretty weird and I'm not smart enough to explain that)
@@TearsofsoilYou're right that it's logarithmic but the rest you said is wrong. The volume of the sound is proportional to 10 raised to the decibel number divided by 10. Therefore a 27 decibel increase means 501 times the sound intensity. (10^2.7~=~501)
I was diagnosed with hyperacusis (from a work accident) in 2007. At the time there was little to no treatment available. When I was starting another job in 2015, I went looking for a simple factsheet I could give the H&S people at my new employer and found heaps of advice and support available through the NHS. It's really for the newly diagnosed, when it is still treatable, but I was surprised how much it had come along in under a decade. Apparently, this is because it affects a lot of our veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and the forces developed solutions to start treating it early, Also, thanks for mentioning the impact on factory workers. My mother suffered hearing loss as a teenager working in a factory in WWII. she was told, at the time, it would "just wear-off" and that she would get used to the noise.
As a Marine Corps vet, I can assure you that any service in a combat MOS can result in hearing loss. I started as an 0341 mortarman and moved on to 0844/45 Observer and have slight hearing loss issues due to that exposure. The VA is starting to admit that hearing loss is covered, as it should be.
Another Kansan too and a Marine? 😁 When I was discharged from the Marines back in 2023, I was told several times that hearing loss could not be claimed anymore since we were "peacetime" or something along those lines, but not sure how true that was.
@@khangnguyen7280, I was medically discharged in 1989 as a GMG2 after 8 years in. My hearing loss came from M2, M14, M60 and 3'50 on LST 1189. Later it came from a 16"50 on the battleship Missouri and more small arms. My rack was right by a large blower that was on 24/7 and only turned off when on shore power, slept by that thing 3 months straight back in 1986. VA awarded me service connected hearing loss back in the late 1990's and issued hearing aids.
@@khangnguyen7280that sounds idiotic brother. I don’t really have much ground to stand on for hearing loss according to my tests but I know I have it due to trouble with conversations sometimes. Most of my damage is from ranges and a loud helicopter ride.
@@khangnguyen7280 Jesus. F'in VA offices doing everything they can to deny a vet a claim. Just give it to them if they served. The mental anguish of serving, is enough.
@@khangnguyen7280 I've not heard that at all from my VA in Leavenworth and Topeka. I get the same treatment as my Dad and Uncle who are Vietnam vets, and I served 1986 to 1990.
That scene you referenced from Heat reminded me of how when I was in, our battery unironically used that exact gunfight scene as a distinct example of a covered retreat while under fire.
Half deaf in my right ear. We were sitting on the range at night for the 11B to qualify on the .50 and I had taken one plug out to be able to hear people speak. No warning, no "fire" no nothing. Nothing was said about starting. The gunner just starts opening up. Sitting in that Humvee was like an echo chamber. It literally felt like someone jammed a knife into my ear. Profressively just keeps getting worse as I get older. Not like I could make a claim since I didn't have the ear pro in my right ear... Still I'm mad to this day because they gave absolutely no warning that the gunner was about to start firing LIVE rounds...
"Not like I could make a claim since I didn't have the ear pro in my right ear" Make the claim. VA also looks at the job you did in the military as part of your claim. I filed a claim for hearing loss shortly after I was medically discharged in 1989. At first VA said I had no basis for my claim as I was not exposed to loud noises as part of my job. VA then asked me what my job was when in and I told them GMG. I was then told I was exposed to loud noises and sent to audio. You send for your military records from Page Ave. Then you get help from the VFW, American Legion or DAV and they will file on your behalf. BUT NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give anyone the original paperwork from your records, always give them a copy, let them see the origianls but do not let them keep them.
Armies are also rapidly developing and adopting the use of suppressing devices on their weapons throughout the common ranks. This has the equal benefit of denying the enemy accurate location of your positions but also protects their hearing.
@@historyisawesome6399it depends really, i've seen some footage of men with stock AK's alongside men with completely kitted out M4's and .308 rifles. i think a lot of it is that most of the ukrainian army allows personal weapon usage and purchasing of attachments and stuff. this is just from what i've seen though, i am by absolutely no means an expert. i just play video games and watch youtube a lot lol
I've heard claims that a suppressor will clog up with carbon deposits after firing a few dozen rounds (rapidly with no cleaning), but it probably depends on gunpowder quality, barrel length (longer barrels burning more powder before the muzzle), and suppressor design.
@@JWQweqOPDH nah, a quality suppressor doesn’t need to be cleaned that often. Modern 3D printed cans are more sensitive to carbon buildup, but way more than dozens of rounds. Conventional baffle stack designs do generate a lot of back pressure that sends a lot of hot gasses and fouling into the action of a DI gun like an M4, and generally induces more wear and tear on the gun, so the gun itself needs to be cleaned more regularly. Newer 3D printed designs minimize the amount of blowback and are referred to also as “flow through” cans as well.
I remember when I was in an 8" artillery battalion. I could not hear a woman's voice on the radio. I only passed the hearing test because I could see the warrant officer pushing a button to cause the tone. When she pushed a button, I pushed a button. Never heard a single beep. Fortunately, my hearing recovered in subsequent years.
I once participated in an ore-smelting demonstration at an old steel mill. Just next to us there was a hot-riveting demonstration, much like what is pictured at 5:02 . It is an incredibly loud process, so much so that I had to wait for them to finish setting their rivet before I could speak. This was only one pneumatic riveter, I can't imagine a whole factory full of them.
Johnny, thanks so much for making this video. So many ex-service personnel have hearing loss, and you're right, it's invisible. I have hearing loss from my Australian Army days firing an M60, and most vets I know from back in the day also have hearing damage. Did you know the link between Washington and Moscow back in the Cold War wasn't a phone, but a teleprinter? Not only were many staff in the White House veterans, and so had hearing trouble, but almost the entire Politburo had problems too. Apparently the PPSh-41 has a nasty habit of venting back towards the firer, making particularly high in dB. Better to have a written record when people with hearing loss were communicating to each other!
I'm from a country where guns are uncommon and I'm not in an industry where firearms are needed. The first time I heard guns go off in a shooting range in another country, I thought it would be fine if I just "toughed it out" like some others at the range. My ears actually started to hurt after hearing a few more shots so I immediately put on hearing protection. The biggest rounds being fired there were .45 caliber. It's hard to believe some militaries still refuse to acknowledge hearing damage among soldiers.
Wait until you hear a 12 gauge... A common pistol (like 9 mm or .45 acp) is very annoying but still passable on outdoors. A shotgun, even with hearing protection, is on another level.
The only place where it gets even remotely more quiet is when YOU are the one behind the gun. God help you if you have to sit on the bench next to someone with a muzzel break that blows gas sideways.
I was 10% but have no idea what it's at now. First filed for leg in 1990 and was given 10% and that increased to 30% few years later. Then VA pulled me in for hearing and other health issues and I was awarded 60% before 2001 but can't recall the year. I then went to 70% around 2015, that is an interesting story. In mid Oct 2020 VA pulled me in for a C&P and by end of Oct 2020 I was awarded 100% SC T&P.
I was in a loud rock band for years, and only notice my tinnitus when somebody mentions it. when you pronounced it as 'tynytus' at 00:19 it did not trigger. Amazing!
The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan is the first depiction of the noise in combat that I remember seeing that accurately depicts the temporary deafness that would result from repeated explosions and gunfire going on all around you. But I do wonder about hearing loss even in earlier gunpowder battles - muskets, like all firearms, were incredibly loud and soldiers standing side by side firing for prolonged periods of time must have made them almost deaf.
_Archer_ does a great job as well. And line infantry was definitively deaf, after all there's a reason all commands are underlined with sabre movements in front and gentle nudges by the sergeants pike from the back...
Imagine a cannon deck on a Napoleonic-era man-o-war. They couldn't fire all cannons at once or the recoil stops would rip the hull apart, so you'd be consistently deafened by rhythmic thunderclaps (inside a cramped ship) one after the other lol.
@@TheNotoriousMrDeedrachinefel recently did a response to this! Apparently wax and cotton wadding was very common. The main problem was actually hearing *over* the cannons, not the deafness itself. Can’t help but feel bad for those that didn’t quite have enough time to plug their ears though…
I remember that classic Tamiya 1.35 machine gun squad that had some dudes shooting a MG34 over the shoulder and it must have been brutal to do that for real.
I can usually ignore my continuous tinnitus until I’m reminded of it. Thanks Johnny. A famous Hollywood director, I think it was Billy Wilder, suffered significant hearing loss after hitching a ride on a B25. It made his postwar films more difficult to direct.
I retired in 2003. In 1995 after coming back to Florida from Hawaii, I woke up around 4am because I thought our fire alarm was going off. Everything was fine in the house, so I went outside to check. The "Ringing" was still loud as hell & as I learned shortly afterwards it is "Tinnitus". The ringing - Never - stops. Not even for a second in 29 years. I have managed to live with it, but it was difficult to go to sleep for the first few years. The V.A. solution, hearing aids. That only amplifies the ringing. So I do without the hearing aids and the benefit from that is a lot of times I can't hear my wife~! Shalom
I'm in the same boat as you. My tinnitus varies in loudness and frequency and sometimes hard to understand some words. But something happens sometimes and wondering if happens to you. Out of the blue I will hear a small "pop" in one of my ears and lose hearing in that ear. Hearing then returns after a few minutes but with louder ringing.
@@samuelschick8813 It stays a steady ringing like a siren blasting as long as I am awake. My sinus problems increase it at times, but I have not had the pop like you have. My wife get angry at times because I miss what she is saying & ask that she repeat what she just said. If I am outside "active" like swimming in the pool or playing golf with friends I do not notice it as much.
@@politicsuncensored5617, Sometimes mine keep me from sleep for a few days. As for the hearing aids. I could turn them up which would "cancel" the ringing. But then every sound was way to loud, like screaming in my ears. You remember the old TV sign off noise from back in the day? Mines like that noise.
@@ML-dk7bf If I swim in our pool it does the same thing for me. I like to walk at the beach about 5 miles from our home. The wave-wind sounds blanks it all out.
I was close to a grenade explosion in Vietnam in 1969. It buggered my hearing and now at 78 I have constant tinnitus and a couple of types of vertigo. Hearing aids aren’t doing much for me now and a lot of my life is miserable as a result. Fortunately I saw it coming and ducked down behind sandbags. It went off less than 18” from my left ear. However if I hadn't seen it coming and ducked.......
There was a comment here explaining how they get their tinnitus to go away. The short version is to muffle your ears with your palms and then drum your fingers on your neck for at least one minute up to five minutes for temporary reprieve. I'm glad something simple works for them and hopefully for you too.
@@nathanirick8693 I didn’t read it all Nathan so thanks for pointing that out to me. However I’ve been putting up with the tinnitus for 30 years or more and I guess Im used to it, and it’s the hearing loss and vertigo that are the main problems these days. Thanks mate.
@@diggerrob6356you know what, double thanks to you for that service! I really hope you get the respect especially since I assume you volunteered in one of the hardest time/places to be.
Work at the VA and can't thank you enough for bring attention to one of most service connected yet not service connect diagnosis that flies by my DOS like blue screen (or the much user friendly yellow/beige app) on a daily basis when we contribute to reports on our vets for all med staff.
Always use hearing protection when doing housework. You wouldn’t believe how loud a vacuum cleaner is. Mowing and hedge trimming too. Another is riding a motorcycle.
Even people who spend their career away from combat get permanent hearing damage such as the military IT guys who work in server rooms clearly labeled with “hearing protection required” signs but they aren’t given any hearing protection…
This is funny to me cuz i am a Submarine Sonar Technician, all they do is tell us to "get your autiogram done" so i go. Once i never...ever...pushed the button. The lady opened the door and said, "great job, no changes!" At that point i realized that its all a farce.
Growing up around guns, being an LEO for 32 years, 20 of that on SWAT and as a range master, I can attest it took a toll on my hearing. When we built our indoor range I made sure that everyone that helped me had electronic ears. Everyone else was required to wear earmuffs whether they wanted to or not, some tried earplugs only and that’s fine for outside but inside your surrounded by sound bouncing back at you. I didn’t give them the choice. Even after all that I still hear ringing right now as I type this.
When I went to an indoor firing range I wore ear valves under my shooting muffs. I have a lot of hearing loss from my time in the Canadian military from the time on a range when we fire many 250 rounds belts of 7.62 NATO rounds through a GPMG (general purpose machine gun) rather than carry it all back to a nearby Deuce and a Half truck. We didn't have proper hearing protection then. When we went to a nearby hut for a briefing we realized we could not hear a thing. Fortunately a lot of the hearing came back. I take great pains to protect the hearing that I still have.
they gave us earplugs in the army but made sure to get cheapest piece of crap possible so they fell out of our ears during shooting and i agree closed space, building, aircraft, machineguns sure but out on open field our shots sounded like little pops
Mawp…mawp….mawp! Here’s a little reprieve for tinnitus. Clasp your hands over your ears, fingers facing towards the base of the neck, meeting over the spine even. Place the lower meat of the palms snug in the ear. Drum - hard, but rhythmically - with the fingers on the nape of the neck for a minute, or two, or five. And I mean a minute - not just a few seconds. Its done wonders for me. Sometimes it comes back fast after but other times it’s days before the EeeeeeEEEEE comes back for a burst. If it works, tell others, and damn tinnitus!
Thankfully my army have issued active ear protection (Comtacs) since mid 90's. I still suffered some measurable loss on one ear, probably the one I put toward the many, many AT-4s trainers we used. Dumb fact: One time on the internet I was accused of "stolen valor" or not having been in the military was when I told some american soldier that I was given active ear protection, and appearently I was lying because "only special forces are given those".
I had my ears ringing from firing a single 22 LR (I found an illegal rifle under the bed of a relative and I was a naughty kid). AFAIK, it has 130 DB, despite being one of the most silent firearms and allegedly 130 DB is also the loudest scream recorded. It's just 10 DB above a suppressed rifle shooting supersonic rounds (subsonic may be "only" 80 DB). A full-sized rifle can reach 160 DB, which is close to the level where you can break glass! Tank cannons can shatter glass in their environment and Naval cannons can break every single glass in a port if fired anywhere near a port... (Something idiots did during a test shot!) 200 DB would be enough to rupture lungs and 250 DB would be ground Zero of Hiroshima! You'd need to be at least 20m away from a service rifle (160 DB) for it to be somewhat tolerable noise (95 DB) and you'd easily hear it 300m afar (60 DB). Only after 5km would it be impossible to sense if no other sounds overlap. Keep in mind that 80 DB can be dangerous for hearing if exposed for a long time, but it won't feel loud if you work all day in such an environment. Similarly, when you leave a quiet place and go to a busy street 70 DB will be very loud to you... Lastly, it's possible that you cannot hear a sound that is damaging your ears! It may feel like you're diving, or feel vibrations on your skin, but the frequency is not processed by your ears.
Love the detour into talking about manufacturing! The topics of workers’ conditions and day-to-day factory operations aren’t as flashy as the boots-on-the-ground military stuff, or even the more technical side of design and procurement, but I think it’s way more interesting, if for no other reason than overexposure to the rest.
I worked for one summer during college in the late 1980's at a compressor remanufacturing plant. The use of a handheld airgun to dry parts after it came out of the solvent bath was piercing. After the first day I brought my own earplugs from home. That one ten hour shift without any earpro has lead to a lifetime of tinnitus. The fact that only one other person I met at the factory had even considered earpro seemed insane to me. I doubt things have gotten any significantly better.
Good content bro I just got it recommending. Nice to see military content that is not only about what kind of guns they used. Ofc I liked that content too but nice to see the other side
I was on active duty in the Navy, from being on the flight deck for 2 hours while we were getting vert rep, to being the magazine captain in mount 51 and blasting off rounds all the time. And the needle guns, and other air tools. Then I go into the Army and suddenly everyone is wearing hearing protection. Got to fire the M-16 for a year in Iraq and never wore hearing protection. And anyone who ever fired one knows what I am talking about.
I'm looked after by Australian Veterans Affairs for service related damage to my knees, they also by default look after my mental health (even though they do not necessarily admit liability they still cover it) Every time I get a review, they send me to get a hearing check. At a basic level it adds to their database of the long term effects, and it will also facilitate medical intervention and even compensation if it deteriorates. Luckily, I have only developed mid range tinnitus with minor hearing loss, it's been stable for decades and easily tolerated. My hearing damage was more to do with "industrial" noise as a mechanic, than gunfire. One of the benefits of a living in a civilised society I guess.
I worked in my countries airforce as an aircraft maintainer. The majority of that time spent on the flightline with jet engine noise. I would literally be stood right next to the aircraft with its engines running and part of the pre flight checks were to go right underneath the engines to check all panels were closed and secure and that there’s no leaks. I always got the impression that the only reason my countries airforce provided ear muff style ear defenders and foam ear plugs was because…. Liability. By making the PPE kinda available the airforce can legally say they made the risk as low as reasonably practicable and therefore any hearing loss can’t be service related. I also reckon the yellow foam ear plugs were always in the background so that if you didn’t use them, the airforce could say hearing loss was your own fault for not wearing the PPE. Interestingly we’d have a regular hearing test, but failing it meant nothing, we still did the same job afterwards. After the airforce I wanted to be a train driver, but I was worried when I found out they had a hearing test as part of the medical exam. TLDR: I reckon the military only took hearing loss seriously for legal liability and so they didn’t have to pay out. And it’s not just the Army who gets hearing loss.
the VA declined my tinnitus once, I immediately fought back and explained to them I was a mechanic in a Artillery unit, it took nearly 5 months for the desicion to be changed to "service related". there is nothing to be ashamed of, if you got hurt then claim it.
My grandpa was in the Air Force during Vietnam and worked on F-4s and cargo planes. Mainly Phantoms though and he had severe tinnitus from it. I remember always having to speak up to him even in the car.
I was on a military airbase a couple of decades ago where they receive a lot of VIPs in small bizjets (I was there to talk about a new radio network that was going to be installed). While I was talking with the officer running the receiving area, a bizjet arrives, an officer in uniform walks out, checks papers, shakes a hand or two and lets the aircraft taxi to dis-embarking. The engines are running the whole time and they are *loud*. The officer was wearing a cap and no headset. So I asked the guy I was talking to 'what about ear protection?' and he replied 'not allowed, it looks bad to the VIPs, so we have these', and he showed me a pair of those crappy yellow foam things that you squish and insert into your ear canal. I bet they all had issues a few years down the line.
6:55 there's a great scene from the Anime Jormungand where a former arty gunner asks his squad to cover their ears and open their mouths before firing an artillery piece (out the back of a transport plane)
Dammit, Johnny! How do you keep thinking of the oddest little military trivia that everybody knows but nobody thinks of, then making an episode out of it?! P.S. I can't even imagine how loud one of those 8-barrel Bofors guns was while firing.
i've been wondering why gun people make such a big deal out of ear pro since they seemingly weren't used by soldiers in WWII. i couldn't find proper info on this topic anywhere online, it drove me nuts, so thank you.
I remember vividly having to repeat myself for an Iwo Jima veteran in my hometown whom I'd interviewed on a few occasions as a teen. He was shot through the thigh in the initial landing and sat in a shell crater for over a day until he could be safely med evac'd off the beach. Can't even begin to imagine how loud it was
I remember a line from Robert Vaughn in The Bridge At Remagen where he told the civilians to open their mouths and breathe out when the explosion goes off. Always remember that for some reason.
The sound of these TH-cam adds are significantly louder than any video. Sometimes I cannot change or skip those. So I guess that damages hearing aswell.
My grandfather was in the horse Artillery in World War I. He definitely suffered hearing loss, even though he was eventually invalided out with a busted leg. My father spent some of World War II as the number two on a 20 mm AA gun. The rest of it he spent inside on a radar set I think. He didn't seem to have noticeable hearing loss. But then he managed to smoke for almost 50 years without any lung damage either according to the doctors - God knows how. When I was a cadet, only the instructors were considered worthy of hearing protection and I do have quite bad tinnitus which I've put down to that - although I did attend a George Thorogood concert once.😁
Good video!!! When in US Army during the 1980s-1990s EARPLUGS were part of the uniform. We were required to have an earplug case dangling from our left breast pocket at all times regardless. Reason for that was there was NO EXCUSE not to where your earplugs whether in the motor pool working on a vehicle or going to the rifle range. Ear protection was available at all times. Yep - you got into some sort of trouble when discovered not wearing hearing protection. Have been DENIED benefits due to hearing loss as a DoD Civilian employee and always F-A-I-L yearly hearing tests - more of a joke any more just to see if can hear anything during those tests. Fail my yearly hearing tests, then get recommended to higher echelon and fail their tests. Nobody does anything afterwards either, it's like the providers/testers are "baffled/confused" what to do because I fail these tests so miserably. It is just a big f..king joke!! VA does not do anything either - at least for my situation.
I had a very good friend who was a Master Chief Gunners Mate all through the Second World War, Korea & even into Vietnam. He was in charge of gun stations on a number of naval vessels. That man talked louder than just about anyone I ever encountered. He was also about as deaf as a post.
I feel sorry for those that got tinnitus from service as they get to remember what it was like to not have it. I've had tinnitus since I was a child so I always thought it was normal to hear Eeeeeeeeeee when it was quiet.
I was a 240L machine gunner in the 82nd, bro hearing loss is no fucking joke. I'm so thankful that my homie was our Signals guy and he snuck me and the other gun team some Peltor Comtac IIIs before we deployed to Afghanistan. If I wouldn't have had those, I would've been miserable - my tinnitus is already pretty bad, but without those Peltors, I would've been screwed
Hate to argue with sim players doing it rough who are experts but as a crusty grunt who actually was a forward scout and a member of a heavy weapons platoon shooting M40 106mm RCL Rounds and SFMG's from '87-'90 , finally got the only hearing aid free this year but even though Tinnitus is approved as service related , still have to pay $4000+ for a device that ACTUALLY stops Tinnitus instead of magnifying it like the lowest cost shit i could afford and have to use.
My hearing loss is not related to being in the army, rather than working in a bowling alley... repairing those machines when a ball comes smashing down the neighbouring lang is litterally deafening!!!
I spent 20 years exposed to jet engines, mobile gas turbine engines, high rpm diesels, high pressure air discharging, and assorted loud noises. I was given 10% disability for tinnitus and zero for hearing loss. I’ve been diagnosed at 60% loss in my left ear and 40% in my right. I’m told that because I can’t hear and repeat words spoken into headphones in a sound proof booth that it doesn’t show disability and the VA won’t cover hearing aids. Tell that to the people that speak a a frequency that I hear as muffled mumbling.
I was in the U.S. Army 1971-1973 Field Artillery, 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzers. When I ETSed my ears were ringing but I just wanted to go home so I never complained about it. My hearing progressively got worse over the years and when I finally went to the VA at age 45 and had my hearing tested, they told me that my hearing loss was not service connected. Now I am 71 and nearly deaf in my left ear and not much better in my right ear. My wife stays upset with me for constantly saying: "Huh?" "What did you say?" A message for young veterans, get to the VA before you get too old and let them know about your hearing problems.
Easy solution: one ear plug in one ear plug out. Soldiers can hear footsteps and shout commands normally in one ear, while the other ear is preserved to function post service as normal.
"measurable hearing loss" is what they told me on being discharged. Coast Guard late 70's early 80's. No gunfire, just chasing rust with a chipping hammer and being in very confined spaces.
Yeah I remember the movie Heat. Only watching it on TV of course doesn't in any way resemble how loud gunfire is but few movies comes as close to conveying this loudness at all. And Heat is definitely an exception in that regard.
Really good video JJ and also something you hardly ever think about in life as well considering our times. Putting cotton balls in your ears during the wars along with hearing aids really is rough along with services. Then again with military guys they have it rough dealing with the guns and gunfire along with explosives it's more than getting a serious injury which isn't always seen and other topics still could look into C4 and plastique explosive, RPG-7, T-54/55 tanks are good, AK-47, Stinger, SA-7 and MANIPAD missiles among other anti-aircraft weapons anyway really a whole lot out there.
I was in US Army basic training in 1963. There was no mention or thought of hearing protection when we were on the rifle range. Today I suffer from hearing loss. Not from the Army but from working in computer rooms for 50 years. Very noisy places.
Shooting 556 dummy rounds wihtout protection will hurt like hell at some point. I can't imagine how you'd be crazy enough to fire Machine Guns and Artillery without any.
My hearing loss is totally service related. I went deaf in one ear because some kid in a Modern Warfare lobby in 2009 told me he was gonna have intercourse with my mother at a volume of 130 decibels.
Thank you for your service
Unfortunate, but I heard it was just common during the Console Wars.
The squeaker... the most despicable lifeform in video games
Hahahaha
thank you for your service 🙏
Why is there no audio?? I only hear a slight “beeeeep”.
@@Stefan_W.you’re joking, right?
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
You and me bro.
We all hear the same song. 45 years of eeeeeee.
That’s not tenitis that’s elevenitus
When a person claims that the noise doesn't bother them anymore and they are used to it, they have hearing loss.
Well crap then lol
Explain the chirp of them ceiling birds
@@ScreechingPossum kek
Oh well I guess
@@ScreechingPossum Smoke detectors are racist.
It is shameful that modern military's tried for so long to deny that this was even a thing. Just like football and concussions.
Hell, they still try to, so many vets are withheld from their benefits due to "non service related injuries"
Shameful but believable - they couldn't hear anyone complaining.
Same with back and joint problems due to carrying heavy equipment for extended periods of time.
This might be obvious but idk, lol. Why don't soldiers wear simple earplugs like for construction and loud machines? They're not too deafening for communication and I figure they'd be better than nothing, right?
@@TheNotoriousMrDeewith the stress of combat, your hearing can be really selective. idk if you've ever had an experience where you were focusing super hard on something and everything else tuned out, but that's kind of how it can be. plus, you don't always have time to put in earbuds, since not every engagement is one you're prepared for. my buddy in the marines was issued earbuds with his kit, and he says even the people who gave it to him said they weren't ever gonna be used
Me, watching this video with my tinnitus ringing, thinking about the 3M earpro lawsuit…
That was real? Man i thought those tv commercials were fake or smth
@@nursestoylandthey were real. Cutoff was December 2023. Payouts started right after
@@nursestoyland Yes. Was a huge scandal. hundreds of thousands of our soldiers earpro was not effective.
"What about their ears??? They don't need those...."
@@gohsk1512CEO grindset--f🤬ck those flesh automatons and their non aug ears, they can just recombinate a new set and stop complaining that it's "making them miserable" or something
SORRY. I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY MILITARY GRADE TINNITUS!!
Eh?
@@BigBubbaloola mawp? mawp?
3M earplugs
oi mate you got a license for that? civilians shouldn't be in possession of military grade stuff
PLAY WHATEVER YOU LIKE! BUT PLAY IT LOUD! (Good Morning Vietnam reference).
My hearing loss is service related.
I'm a kindergarten teacher
That's survival instinct.
I can hear the kindergarten near me right now. It's several streets over, and the window is shut.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your service
I think its hilarious you brought up the movie Heat... I use that movie as my #1 example of how gunfights would actually go. The director specifically wanted it to be more real sounding, understanding that when guns are blazing, thats ALL you hear
It was also because they used blanks fully loaded with gunpowder, as most movies only use them quarter filled, Correct me if I’m wrong.
@@GunnerHeatFire They often do have full size powder loads, else the gun won't cycle, especially as there is no dwell time, or pressure curve from pushing the projectile.
Which is part of why direct impingement types (ar15/m16 family) often need to have a BFA or blank firing adapter or special muzzle device to cycle properly, as the gas system needs pressure to send the bolt carrier backwards
His other movie took me by surprise. Collateral is more of a thriller movie so the sudden and loud af action scene scared the shit out of me.
It's a fine enough example for audio but it is not a great example for "how gunfights would actually go." Lots of funky things happen in it. Everyone's shooting in full-auto; people in real life almost always use semi-auto when shooting rifles, doubly so when unsupported. The volume of fire the robbers put out is higher than it could realistically be: With actual 30-round mags and full-auto, even with a few pauses for their long bursts, they'd be reloading every few seconds. The robbers land tons of hits in full-auto, offhand, while under a ton of fire, from both ahead and behind, with essentially 0 indications of being suppressed (not even flinching).
Nowadays you can add the Tarkov Raid movie to the list. Incredibly loud and raw sounding gunfights.
Just in case anyone asking "why M1 Garand makes 168 dB noise and 16-inch battleship gun makes only 195 that doesn't seem too much", decibel is logarithmic, meaning each increase of 10 dB represents a 10-fold increase in sound intensity. So 27 dB difference doesn't mean 27 times more intense, but almost 1000 times (intense, not "louder", because how we perceive loudness is pretty weird and I'm not smart enough to explain that)
no, every 10db is a 10x increase in power (3db = 2x), a 3.16x increase in sound pressure (6dB = 2x), and a 2x increase in audible volume.
@@TearsofsoilYou're right that it's logarithmic but the rest you said is wrong. The volume of the sound is proportional to 10 raised to the decibel number divided by 10. Therefore a 27 decibel increase means 501 times the sound intensity. (10^2.7~=~501)
Thanks a lot! Good enough is good enough!
@@JWQweqOPDHmfw people don't understand how log and base10 works
For the laymen: The higher the number goes up, the faster your eardrums fk up.
But...but...the ping of the M1 Garand told everybody you were out of ammo! That's when the Kamaikaze Banzai Blitzkriegs always started!
Rumor is that if the Poles hadn't had an M1 Garand run out of ammo in 1939, WW2 would never have happened.
I heard it was the Persian Immortals on Wargs from Cardassia who defeated Poland by capturing their supply depots.
Yall are hilarious 😂
@@LonovavirDid he ever get that monument on Cardassia Prime?
These were probably isolated incidents. You'd have to be right on top of the guy to hear that over other weapons being used.
I was diagnosed with hyperacusis (from a work accident) in 2007. At the time there was little to no treatment available. When I was starting another job in 2015, I went looking for a simple factsheet I could give the H&S people at my new employer and found heaps of advice and support available through the NHS. It's really for the newly diagnosed, when it is still treatable, but I was surprised how much it had come along in under a decade. Apparently, this is because it affects a lot of our veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and the forces developed solutions to start treating it early,
Also, thanks for mentioning the impact on factory workers. My mother suffered hearing loss as a teenager working in a factory in WWII. she was told, at the time, it would "just wear-off" and that she would get used to the noise.
Stop bragging. You're not *THAT* cute.
@@tomconneely1361 Makes me sick how people are treated like cogs. Thank you for sharing
As a Marine Corps vet, I can assure you that any service in a combat MOS can result in hearing loss. I started as an 0341 mortarman and moved on to 0844/45 Observer and have slight hearing loss issues due to that exposure. The VA is starting to admit that hearing loss is covered, as it should be.
Another Kansan too and a Marine? 😁 When I was discharged from the Marines back in 2023, I was told several times that hearing loss could not be claimed anymore since we were "peacetime" or something along those lines, but not sure how true that was.
@@khangnguyen7280, I was medically discharged in 1989 as a GMG2 after 8 years in. My hearing loss came from M2, M14, M60 and 3'50 on LST 1189. Later it came from a 16"50 on the battleship Missouri and more small arms. My rack was right by a large blower that was on 24/7 and only turned off when on shore power, slept by that thing 3 months straight back in 1986. VA awarded me service connected hearing loss back in the late 1990's and issued hearing aids.
@@khangnguyen7280that sounds idiotic brother. I don’t really have much ground to stand on for hearing loss according to my tests but I know I have it due to trouble with conversations sometimes. Most of my damage is from ranges and a loud helicopter ride.
@@khangnguyen7280 Jesus. F'in VA offices doing everything they can to deny a vet a claim. Just give it to them if they served. The mental anguish of serving, is enough.
@@khangnguyen7280 I've not heard that at all from my VA in Leavenworth and Topeka. I get the same treatment as my Dad and Uncle who are Vietnam vets, and I served 1986 to 1990.
HUH? MY WHAT?
Beat me to the punch! 😂
@@chardaskie BEAT WHAT? WHAT?
THE SHERRIF IS NEAR!
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears
@@chardaskie NO THANKS, I ALREADY HAD LUNCH!
That scene you referenced from Heat reminded me of how when I was in, our battery unironically used that exact gunfight scene as a distinct example of a covered retreat while under fire.
Half deaf in my right ear. We were sitting on the range at night for the 11B to qualify on the .50 and I had taken one plug out to be able to hear people speak. No warning, no "fire" no nothing. Nothing was said about starting. The gunner just starts opening up. Sitting in that Humvee was like an echo chamber. It literally felt like someone jammed a knife into my ear. Profressively just keeps getting worse as I get older. Not like I could make a claim since I didn't have the ear pro in my right ear... Still I'm mad to this day because they gave absolutely no warning that the gunner was about to start firing LIVE rounds...
Fuck that bro- glad you’re working through it
"Not like I could make a claim since I didn't have the ear pro in my right ear" Make the claim. VA also looks at the job you did in the military as part of your claim. I filed a claim for hearing loss shortly after I was medically discharged in 1989. At first VA said I had no basis for my claim as I was not exposed to loud noises as part of my job. VA then asked me what my job was when in and I told them GMG. I was then told I was exposed to loud noises and sent to audio. You send for your military records from Page Ave. Then you get help from the VFW, American Legion or DAV and they will file on your behalf. BUT NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give anyone the original paperwork from your records, always give them a copy, let them see the origianls but do not let them keep them.
You absolutely can make a claim and should.
There is no hearing safe way to fire the M2. It bone conducts past any plugs or muffs.
Sherman said it best, War is Hell... and F-ing loud too.
He's right on that.
Armies are also rapidly developing and adopting the use of suppressing devices on their weapons throughout the common ranks. This has the equal benefit of denying the enemy accurate location of your positions but also protects their hearing.
In all the clips from ukraine every soldiger russian and ukrianian has a silincer
Those are high end units.
@@historyisawesome6399it depends really, i've seen some footage of men with stock AK's alongside men with completely kitted out M4's and .308 rifles. i think a lot of it is that most of the ukrainian army allows personal weapon usage and purchasing of attachments and stuff. this is just from what i've seen though, i am by absolutely no means an expert. i just play video games and watch youtube a lot lol
I've heard claims that a suppressor will clog up with carbon deposits after firing a few dozen rounds (rapidly with no cleaning), but it probably depends on gunpowder quality, barrel length (longer barrels burning more powder before the muzzle), and suppressor design.
@@JWQweqOPDH nah, a quality suppressor doesn’t need to be cleaned that often. Modern 3D printed cans are more sensitive to carbon buildup, but way more than dozens of rounds. Conventional baffle stack designs do generate a lot of back pressure that sends a lot of hot gasses and fouling into the action of a DI gun like an M4, and generally induces more wear and tear on the gun, so the gun itself needs to be cleaned more regularly. Newer 3D printed designs minimize the amount of blowback and are referred to also as “flow through” cans as well.
I remember when I was in an 8" artillery battalion. I could not hear a woman's voice on the radio. I only passed the hearing test because I could see the warrant officer pushing a button to cause the tone. When she pushed a button, I pushed a button. Never heard a single beep. Fortunately, my hearing recovered in subsequent years.
"I remember when I was in an 8" artillery battalion." Playing with the small guns I see.
So you are Nicholas cage 😂
They get you to face the other way now lol
I once participated in an ore-smelting demonstration at an old steel mill. Just next to us there was a hot-riveting demonstration, much like what is pictured at 5:02 . It is an incredibly loud process, so much so that I had to wait for them to finish setting their rivet before I could speak. This was only one pneumatic riveter, I can't imagine a whole factory full of them.
Johnny, thanks so much for making this video. So many ex-service personnel have hearing loss, and you're right, it's invisible. I have hearing loss from my Australian Army days firing an M60, and most vets I know from back in the day also have hearing damage.
Did you know the link between Washington and Moscow back in the Cold War wasn't a phone, but a teleprinter? Not only were many staff in the White House veterans, and so had hearing trouble, but almost the entire Politburo had problems too. Apparently the PPSh-41 has a nasty habit of venting back towards the firer, making particularly high in dB. Better to have a written record when people with hearing loss were communicating to each other!
I'm from a country where guns are uncommon and I'm not in an industry where firearms are needed. The first time I heard guns go off in a shooting range in another country, I thought it would be fine if I just "toughed it out" like some others at the range. My ears actually started to hurt after hearing a few more shots so I immediately put on hearing protection. The biggest rounds being fired there were .45 caliber. It's hard to believe some militaries still refuse to acknowledge hearing damage among soldiers.
Wait until you hear a 12 gauge...
A common pistol (like 9 mm or .45 acp) is very annoying but still passable on outdoors. A shotgun, even with hearing protection, is on another level.
The only place where it gets even remotely more quiet is when YOU are the one behind the gun. God help you if you have to sit on the bench next to someone with a muzzel break that blows gas sideways.
10% tinnitus gang
I was 10% but have no idea what it's at now. First filed for leg in 1990 and was given 10% and that increased to 30% few years later. Then VA pulled me in for hearing and other health issues and I was awarded 60% before 2001 but can't recall the year. I then went to 70% around 2015, that is an interesting story. In mid Oct 2020 VA pulled me in for a C&P
and by end of Oct 2020 I was awarded 100% SC T&P.
I was in a loud rock band for years, and only notice my tinnitus when somebody mentions it. when you pronounced it as 'tynytus' at 00:19 it did not trigger. Amazing!
The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan is the first depiction of the noise in combat that I remember seeing that accurately depicts the temporary deafness that would result from repeated explosions and gunfire going on all around you. But I do wonder about hearing loss even in earlier gunpowder battles - muskets, like all firearms, were incredibly loud and soldiers standing side by side firing for prolonged periods of time must have made them almost deaf.
_Archer_ does a great job as well. And line infantry was definitively deaf, after all there's a reason all commands are underlined with sabre movements in front and gentle nudges by the sergeants pike from the back...
The deafness is temporary at first but it accumulates as time goes on and one is exposed constantly. I speak from experience.
Imagine a cannon deck on a Napoleonic-era man-o-war. They couldn't fire all cannons at once or the recoil stops would rip the hull apart, so you'd be consistently deafened by rhythmic thunderclaps (inside a cramped ship) one after the other lol.
@@TheNotoriousMrDeedrachinefel recently did a response to this! Apparently wax and cotton wadding was very common. The main problem was actually hearing *over* the cannons, not the deafness itself. Can’t help but feel bad for those that didn’t quite have enough time to plug their ears though…
@@Bigswinn Oh yeah I remember hearing about the wax, now. Good idea, that
I remember that classic Tamiya 1.35 machine gun squad that had some dudes shooting a MG34 over the shoulder and it must have been brutal to do that for real.
There's places where they still train for that. I've seen photos/vids from several European armies doing it.
I still have one new in the box.
It should have been just 11:32 of tinnitus, great content as always!
Wait, that ringing wasn't from the video?
JOHNNY!! I LOVE THE RINGGING IN THE BACKGROUND THROUGH THE VIDEO!! GREAT DETAIL!!,..
I can usually ignore my continuous tinnitus until I’m reminded of it. Thanks Johnny. A famous Hollywood director, I think it was Billy Wilder, suffered significant hearing loss after hitching a ride on a B25. It made his postwar films more difficult to direct.
😅 sorry...
I retired in 2003. In 1995 after coming back to Florida from Hawaii, I woke up around 4am because I thought our fire alarm was going off. Everything was fine in the house, so I went outside to check. The "Ringing" was still loud as hell & as I learned shortly afterwards it is "Tinnitus". The ringing - Never - stops. Not even for a second in 29 years. I have managed to live with it, but it was difficult to go to sleep for the first few years. The V.A. solution, hearing aids. That only amplifies the ringing. So I do without the hearing aids and the benefit from that is a lot of times I can't hear my wife~! Shalom
I'm in the same boat as you. My tinnitus varies in loudness and frequency and sometimes hard to understand some words. But something happens sometimes and wondering if happens to you. Out of the blue I will hear a small "pop" in one of my ears and lose hearing in that ear. Hearing then returns after a few minutes but with louder ringing.
@@samuelschick8813 It stays a steady ringing like a siren blasting as long as I am awake. My sinus problems increase it at times, but I have not had the pop like you have. My wife get angry at times because I miss what she is saying & ask that she repeat what she just said. If I am outside "active" like swimming in the pool or playing golf with friends I do not notice it as much.
@@politicsuncensored5617, Sometimes mine keep me from sleep for a few days. As for the hearing aids. I could turn them up which would "cancel" the ringing. But then every sound was way to loud, like screaming in my ears. You remember the old TV sign off noise from back in the day? Mines like that noise.
My mom has mild tinnitus and she likes to sit by the creek, because the gentle noise of flowing water blanks out the tinnitus.
@@ML-dk7bf If I swim in our pool it does the same thing for me. I like to walk at the beach about 5 miles from our home. The wave-wind sounds blanks it all out.
I was close to a grenade explosion in Vietnam in 1969. It buggered my hearing and now at 78 I have constant tinnitus and a couple of types of vertigo. Hearing aids aren’t doing much for me now and a lot of my life is miserable as a result. Fortunately I saw it coming and ducked down behind sandbags. It went off less than 18” from my left ear. However if I hadn't seen it coming and ducked.......
There was a comment here explaining how they get their tinnitus to go away.
The short version is to muffle your ears with your palms and then drum your fingers on your neck for at least one minute up to five minutes for temporary reprieve.
I'm glad something simple works for them and hopefully for you too.
@@nathanirick8693 I didn’t read it all Nathan so thanks for pointing that out to me. However I’ve been putting up with the tinnitus for 30 years or more and I guess Im used to it, and it’s the hearing loss and vertigo that are the main problems these days. Thanks mate.
@@diggerrob6356you know what, double thanks to you for that service! I really hope you get the respect especially since I assume you volunteered in one of the hardest time/places to be.
Finally hearing loss has gotten some attention, I’ve unironically had 2 people tell me i wasn’t deaf because i listened to music or watched a video
Shoulda answered with: "WHAT?"
Pretty ignorant of them to assume it's a binary yes/no, as opposed to a spectrum of hearing loss.
Can you make a video about the companies and families that profited the most of world war 1.
I like this idea!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqSmedley Butler in his book War is a Racket he has many interesting points on this.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Or ones that did, didn't, then did again (whoever still owns Krupp, Mitsubishi, etc)
Especially with stuff happening now.
Especially with stuff happening now.
Work at the VA and can't thank you enough for bring attention to one of most service connected yet not service connect diagnosis that flies by my DOS like blue screen (or the much user friendly yellow/beige app) on a daily basis when we contribute to reports on our vets for all med staff.
Always use hearing protection when doing housework. You wouldn’t believe how loud a vacuum cleaner is.
Mowing and hedge trimming too.
Another is riding a motorcycle.
Even people who spend their career away from combat get permanent hearing damage such as the military IT guys who work in server rooms clearly labeled with “hearing protection required” signs but they aren’t given any hearing protection…
This is funny to me cuz i am a Submarine Sonar Technician, all they do is tell us to "get your autiogram done" so i go. Once i never...ever...pushed the button. The lady opened the door and said, "great job, no changes!" At that point i realized that its all a farce.
In the army they almost didnt let my friend in cause he didn't pass the hearing test.
Growing up around guns, being an LEO for 32 years, 20 of that on SWAT and as a range master, I can attest it took a toll on my hearing. When we built our indoor range I made sure that everyone that helped me had electronic ears. Everyone else was required to wear earmuffs whether they wanted to or not, some tried earplugs only and that’s fine for outside but inside your surrounded by sound bouncing back at you. I didn’t give them the choice. Even after all that I still hear ringing right now as I type this.
And my annual goose hunt hasn’t helped either but this year I plan on making a change.
When I went to an indoor firing range I wore ear valves under my shooting muffs.
I have a lot of hearing loss from my time in the Canadian military from the time on a range when we fire many 250 rounds belts of 7.62 NATO rounds through a GPMG (general purpose machine gun) rather than carry it all back to a nearby Deuce and a Half truck. We didn't have proper hearing protection then. When we went to a nearby hut for a briefing we realized we could not hear a thing. Fortunately a lot of the hearing came back. I take great pains to protect the hearing that I still have.
they gave us earplugs in the army but made sure to get cheapest piece of crap possible
so they fell out of our ears during shooting
and i agree closed space, building, aircraft, machineguns sure
but out on open field our shots sounded like little pops
Mawp…mawp….mawp!
Here’s a little reprieve for tinnitus. Clasp your hands over your ears, fingers facing towards the base of the neck, meeting over the spine even. Place the lower meat of the palms snug in the ear. Drum - hard, but rhythmically - with the fingers on the nape of the neck for a minute, or two, or five. And I mean a minute - not just a few seconds. Its done wonders for me. Sometimes it comes back fast after but other times it’s days before the EeeeeeEEEEE comes back for a burst. If it works, tell others, and damn tinnitus!
That actually works, wow! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thankfully my army have issued active ear protection (Comtacs) since mid 90's. I still suffered some measurable loss on one ear, probably the one I put toward the many, many AT-4s trainers we used.
Dumb fact: One time on the internet I was accused of "stolen valor" or not having been in the military was when I told some american soldier that I was given active ear protection, and appearently I was lying because "only special forces are given those".
That black hawk down scene is the reason I use earpro for everything loud-related.
Listening to this while also listening to my loud ass tinnitus
My tinnitus isn't service related, it was standard issue!
You make some the best war history videos on TH-cam, thank you
Well thank you for the kind words!
I'M WATCHING THIS AT FULL VOLUME
WHAT?
I even had to turn up the subtitles.
10:36 ...JESUS H. CHRIST, MARINE! THAT IS U.S. NAVY PROPERTY YOU'RE SHOOTING!!!
...instant NJP!
my husband’s right ear was damaged during his service but he gets excellent treatment for it
Now I fell sad
@@benettybrito why?
@@MayumiC-chan9377probs cause most vets get no treatment for it
I never served but I had a situation at a gun range where my headset fell off my friend was firing a krinckov AK. I just stumbled upon this video
I had my ears ringing from firing a single 22 LR (I found an illegal rifle under the bed of a relative and I was a naughty kid). AFAIK, it has 130 DB, despite being one of the most silent firearms and allegedly 130 DB is also the loudest scream recorded. It's just 10 DB above a suppressed rifle shooting supersonic rounds (subsonic may be "only" 80 DB). A full-sized rifle can reach 160 DB, which is close to the level where you can break glass!
Tank cannons can shatter glass in their environment and Naval cannons can break every single glass in a port if fired anywhere near a port... (Something idiots did during a test shot!) 200 DB would be enough to rupture lungs and 250 DB would be ground Zero of Hiroshima!
You'd need to be at least 20m away from a service rifle (160 DB) for it to be somewhat tolerable noise (95 DB) and you'd easily hear it 300m afar (60 DB). Only after 5km would it be impossible to sense if no other sounds overlap.
Keep in mind that 80 DB can be dangerous for hearing if exposed for a long time, but it won't feel loud if you work all day in such an environment. Similarly, when you leave a quiet place and go to a busy street 70 DB will be very loud to you... Lastly, it's possible that you cannot hear a sound that is damaging your ears! It may feel like you're diving, or feel vibrations on your skin, but the frequency is not processed by your ears.
Love the detour into talking about manufacturing! The topics of workers’ conditions and day-to-day factory operations aren’t as flashy as the boots-on-the-ground military stuff, or even the more technical side of design and procurement, but I think it’s way more interesting, if for no other reason than overexposure to the rest.
Watching that one guy shoot the metal bar 💀
No wonder my earbuds came with 3 different sizes of tips (small, medium, large)!! Fascinating history!
I believe that is due to different size ears
Thanks for the Romeo Dallaire cameo at 0:0:24
Not Dallaire. That's a PPCLI Warrant Officer, not an Artillery General.
@@richardcanningYes, didn’t see that crown insignia on the shoulder. That guy is a splitting image of him though.
Fuck yeah! Thought that was him!
USMC Airwing. Noise all day every day for the entire enlistment.
You know in movies when they show two guys talking in the back of a Huey? Yeah, nah.
I worked for one summer during college in the late 1980's at a compressor remanufacturing plant. The use of a handheld airgun to dry parts after it came out of the solvent bath was piercing. After the first day I brought my own earplugs from home. That one ten hour shift without any earpro has lead to a lifetime of tinnitus. The fact that only one other person I met at the factory had even considered earpro seemed insane to me. I doubt things have gotten any significantly better.
“created unheard of destruction”
Haha nice one Johnny
I knackered my left eardrum firing an Enfield P53 rifled musket. Stupidly loud gun
That scene in Blackhawk down made an impression with me.
Thank you for this video. It's valuable to the public and very well done.
Good content bro I just got it recommending. Nice to see military content that is not only about what kind of guns they used. Ofc I liked that content too but nice to see the other side
I'd probably fall into depression if my screaming tinnitus went away. It's like a close friend at this point.
How it's 'posed to be
I was on active duty in the Navy, from being on the flight deck for 2 hours while we were getting vert rep, to being the magazine captain in mount 51 and blasting off rounds all the time. And the needle guns, and other air tools. Then I go into the Army and suddenly everyone is wearing hearing protection. Got to fire the M-16 for a year in Iraq and never wore hearing protection. And anyone who ever fired one knows what I am talking about.
My tinnitus is so constant that I forgot it was a thing until it was mentioned and I realized it was still happening.
Same here.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it's there in the background I've just gotten used to it.
I'm looked after by Australian Veterans Affairs for service related damage to my knees, they also by default look after my mental health (even though they do not necessarily admit liability they still cover it)
Every time I get a review, they send me to get a hearing check. At a basic level it adds to their database of the long term effects, and it will also facilitate medical intervention and even compensation if it deteriorates.
Luckily, I have only developed mid range tinnitus with minor hearing loss, it's been stable for decades and easily tolerated.
My hearing damage was more to do with "industrial" noise as a mechanic, than gunfire.
One of the benefits of a living in a civilised society I guess.
Australian veterans affairs sucks ass and they apologise publicly every 2 months because of it.
I worked in my countries airforce as an aircraft maintainer. The majority of that time spent on the flightline with jet engine noise. I would literally be stood right next to the aircraft with its engines running and part of the pre flight checks were to go right underneath the engines to check all panels were closed and secure and that there’s no leaks.
I always got the impression that the only reason my countries airforce provided ear muff style ear defenders and foam ear plugs was because…. Liability. By making the PPE kinda available the airforce can legally say they made the risk as low as reasonably practicable and therefore any hearing loss can’t be service related. I also reckon the yellow foam ear plugs were always in the background so that if you didn’t use them, the airforce could say hearing loss was your own fault for not wearing the PPE.
Interestingly we’d have a regular hearing test, but failing it meant nothing, we still did the same job afterwards.
After the airforce I wanted to be a train driver, but I was worried when I found out they had a hearing test as part of the medical exam.
TLDR: I reckon the military only took hearing loss seriously for legal liability and so they didn’t have to pay out. And it’s not just the Army who gets hearing loss.
the VA declined my tinnitus once, I immediately fought back and explained to them I was a mechanic in a Artillery unit, it took nearly 5 months for the desicion to be changed to "service related". there is nothing to be ashamed of, if you got hurt then claim it.
My grandpa was in the Air Force during Vietnam and worked on F-4s and cargo planes. Mainly Phantoms though and he had severe tinnitus from it. I remember always having to speak up to him even in the car.
I was on a military airbase a couple of decades ago where they receive a lot of VIPs in small bizjets (I was there to talk about a new radio network that was going to be installed). While I was talking with the officer running the receiving area, a bizjet arrives, an officer in uniform walks out, checks papers, shakes a hand or two and lets the aircraft taxi to dis-embarking. The engines are running the whole time and they are *loud*. The officer was wearing a cap and no headset. So I asked the guy I was talking to 'what about ear protection?' and he replied 'not allowed, it looks bad to the VIPs, so we have these', and he showed me a pair of those crappy yellow foam things that you squish and insert into your ear canal. I bet they all had issues a few years down the line.
Really well researched narration with interesting b-roll in the background.
Nice.
6:55 there's a great scene from the Anime Jormungand where a former arty gunner asks his squad to cover their ears and open their mouths before firing an artillery piece (out the back of a transport plane)
Dammit, Johnny! How do you keep thinking of the oddest little military trivia that everybody knows but nobody thinks of, then making an episode out of it?!
P.S. I can't even imagine how loud one of those 8-barrel Bofors guns was while firing.
One thing to note is that dB are exponential
20 dB is 100 times more intense than 10 dB.
It is perceived as roughly 4 times louder
The VA gave me 10 percent disability for my hearing loss.
i've been wondering why gun people make such a big deal out of ear pro since they seemingly weren't used by soldiers in WWII.
i couldn't find proper info on this topic anywhere online, it drove me nuts, so thank you.
I remember vividly having to repeat myself for an Iwo Jima veteran in my hometown whom I'd interviewed on a few occasions as a teen. He was shot through the thigh in the initial landing and sat in a shell crater for over a day until he could be safely med evac'd off the beach. Can't even begin to imagine how loud it was
Johnny really had a "you're" "your" moment 💀
I remember a line from Robert Vaughn in The Bridge At Remagen where he told the civilians to open their mouths and breathe out when the explosion goes off. Always remember that for some reason.
The sound of these TH-cam adds are significantly louder than any video. Sometimes I cannot change or skip those. So I guess that damages hearing aswell.
My grandfather was in the horse Artillery in World War I. He definitely suffered hearing loss, even though he was eventually invalided out with a busted leg. My father spent some of World War II as the number two on a 20 mm AA gun. The rest of it he spent inside on a radar set I think. He didn't seem to have noticeable hearing loss. But then he managed to smoke for almost 50 years without any lung damage either according to the doctors - God knows how. When I was a cadet, only the instructors were considered worthy of hearing protection and I do have quite bad tinnitus which I've put down to that - although I did attend a George Thorogood concert once.😁
Good video!!! When in US Army during the 1980s-1990s EARPLUGS were part of the uniform. We were required to have an earplug case dangling from our left breast pocket at all times regardless. Reason for that was there was NO EXCUSE not to where your earplugs whether in the motor pool working on a vehicle or going to the rifle range. Ear protection was available at all times. Yep - you got into some sort of trouble when discovered not wearing hearing protection. Have been DENIED benefits due to hearing loss as a DoD Civilian employee and always F-A-I-L yearly hearing tests - more of a joke any more just to see if can hear anything during those tests. Fail my yearly hearing tests, then get recommended to higher echelon and fail their tests. Nobody does anything afterwards either, it's like the providers/testers are "baffled/confused" what to do because I fail these tests so miserably. It is just a big f..king joke!! VA does not do anything either - at least for my situation.
Excellent video. Very original idea - something that is still properly discussed from everything from a front line soldier to tank operators.
I had a very good friend who was a Master Chief Gunners Mate all through the Second World War, Korea & even into Vietnam. He was in charge of gun stations on a number of naval vessels. That man talked louder than just about anyone I ever encountered. He was also about as deaf as a post.
I feel sorry for those that got tinnitus from service as they get to remember what it was like to not have it. I've had tinnitus since I was a child so I always thought it was normal to hear Eeeeeeeeeee when it was quiet.
Hearing Loss is the least worry during an Artillery Barrage especially to those on the receiving end.
I love the constant ringing in the background of the whole video, very thematic. How do I turn it off though once the video stops?
I was a 240L machine gunner in the 82nd, bro hearing loss is no fucking joke. I'm so thankful that my homie was our Signals guy and he snuck me and the other gun team some Peltor Comtac IIIs before we deployed to Afghanistan. If I wouldn't have had those, I would've been miserable - my tinnitus is already pretty bad, but without those Peltors, I would've been screwed
Hate to argue with sim players doing it rough who are experts but as a crusty grunt who actually was a forward scout and a member of a heavy weapons platoon shooting M40 106mm RCL Rounds and SFMG's from '87-'90 , finally got the only hearing aid free this year but even though Tinnitus is approved as service related , still have to pay $4000+ for a device that ACTUALLY stops Tinnitus instead of magnifying it like the lowest cost shit i could afford and have to use.
Yuh huh
Also I caught that title typo Johnny haha
haha it's not a JJ video without a typo or two >.
hearing numbers like 2.5% of soliders being disabled due to hearing loss seems really low when i imagine the sheer noise.
Disabled means there is massive hearing loss. Also I bet many more lost their hearing years later as it progresses over time.
@@menninkainen8830 And how many of them reported it to the VA? Suspect there are a whole lot more that we don't know about.
My hearing loss is not related to being in the army, rather than working in a bowling alley... repairing those machines when a ball comes smashing down the neighbouring lang is litterally deafening!!!
I spent 20 years exposed to jet engines, mobile gas turbine engines, high rpm diesels, high pressure air discharging, and assorted loud noises. I was given 10% disability for tinnitus and zero for hearing loss. I’ve been diagnosed at 60% loss in my left ear and 40% in my right. I’m told that because I can’t hear and repeat words spoken into headphones in a sound proof booth that it doesn’t show disability and the VA won’t cover hearing aids. Tell that to the people that speak a a frequency that I hear as muffled mumbling.
when you mentioned loud movie guns, I immediately thought of HEAT lolol
I was in the U.S. Army 1971-1973 Field Artillery, 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzers. When I ETSed my ears were ringing but I just wanted to go home so I never complained about it. My hearing progressively got worse over the years and when I finally went to the VA at age 45 and had my hearing tested, they told me that my hearing loss was not service connected. Now I am 71 and nearly deaf in my left ear and not much better in my right ear. My wife stays upset with me for constantly saying: "Huh?" "What did you say?" A message for young veterans, get to the VA before you get too old and let them know about your hearing problems.
Easy solution: one ear plug in one ear plug out.
Soldiers can hear footsteps and shout commands normally in one ear, while the other ear is preserved to function post service as normal.
I Like how you decide to add no audio and just movie clips
"measurable hearing loss" is what they told me on being discharged. Coast Guard late 70's early 80's. No gunfire, just chasing rust with a chipping hammer and being in very confined spaces.
Yeah I remember the movie Heat.
Only watching it on TV of course doesn't in any way resemble how loud gunfire is but few movies comes as close to conveying this loudness at all.
And Heat is definitely an exception in that regard.
Funny how always get cool movie ideas from your informative videos to boot!
Really good video JJ and also something you hardly ever think about in life as well considering our times. Putting cotton balls in your ears during the wars along with hearing aids really is rough along with services. Then again with military guys they have it rough dealing with the guns and gunfire along with explosives it's more than getting a serious injury which isn't always seen and other topics still could look into C4 and plastique explosive, RPG-7, T-54/55 tanks are good, AK-47, Stinger, SA-7 and MANIPAD missiles among other anti-aircraft weapons anyway really a whole lot out there.
I was in US Army basic training in 1963. There was no mention or thought of hearing protection when we were on the rifle range. Today I suffer from hearing loss. Not from the Army but from working in computer rooms for 50 years. Very noisy places.
Shooting 556 dummy rounds wihtout protection will hurt like hell at some point. I can't imagine how you'd be crazy enough to fire Machine Guns and Artillery without any.