ND’d 9mm glock 19 indoors - hearing damage

[rydah]

I fired a round laying down in the back of my truck bed with my 16 inch braked 308 once. For about 3-4 days all I heard was muffled noises and really loud scratching, it was 2 weeks before I could tolerate a loud conversation and about 3-4 months before I felt I’d recovered from it.

Sitting here now I’ve got constant loud ringing in my ears like everyone else that shoots a lot. But honestly my hearing isn’t that bad. I was tested recently and was surprised.

I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just wear foam plugs, avoid loud noises and allow them to heal.

 

[Athos300]

I doubt your hearing will be impaired in terms of picking up noise from that, but yeah, welcome to the tinnitus club. I was conducting a gunnery shoot with minigun and 20mm 6 years back with inadequate (issued) earpro as the good stuff wouldn’t fit under our helmets when worn with comms at the time. Unless you’re directly behind the minigun that fucker is LOUD! Long story short, constant tinnitus and my right ear drum pops when subjected to loud noise, but I undergo annual hearing tests and have no loss of hearing so you’ll be fine.

Maybe if you’re shooting with a buddy get in to the practice of showing clear to each other to avoid further mishaps or get smarter friends with better drills.

 

[Nashhh]

Thank you guys for all of your wisdom on the topic.

The ringing has gone down a good bit in the last 24 hours which is a great relief. I went to another Otology doc for a 2nd opinion and going back to my original doc on Tuesday.

My hearing has improved, but still not back to where it started. I’m aware that I might not regain all of it, but I have found hope in the small improvements each day. I use a hearing test iPhone app with some high end studio headphones and the results have matched my audiograms.

I’ve read every medical study I could get my hands on and I’ve been doing anything that has shown improvements after a noise induced trauma. I know that most won’t probably help, but since my ears are my career, I feel like I need to try everything that might help.

Here is what I’ve been doing.

Day 2 - intratympatic dexamethasone injection
Daily - magnesium power dissolved into warm water
2x Daily - ear and head exercises that are supposed to increase blood flow to the inner ear.
Daily - LOTS of total silence. Ear plugs when leaving house, I only have them out to do my work (1-3 hour work days below 65db)
2x weekly - acupuncture to stimulate kidney health (Chinese doc says ear trauma can also stress kidneys)
Daily - herbal supplements from Chinese doc
Diet - no grains, sugars or alcohol. Very low sodium.
Week 2 - started oral dexamethazone.

Again, who knows if any of those have contributed to the small amount of progress so far, but it’s worth a shot if any of them do actually help.

I only share all of that in case it can help someone else who stumbles on this one day after having their jackass friend Nd a glock next to them indoors. Haha

God forbid I ever need to use a gun indoors for self defense, but just in case, I now have ear protection on top of my gun in my nightstand.

thanks guys!