Hearing loss one ear and detecting...

Yes sir!

I’ve dealt with pretty serious hearing loss since my late teens, I will say it was all self inflicted mainly by stupidity and a bit of a lack of common sense. In my youth (and I still am an avid shooter) but now unlike then I wear hearing protection. It never crossed my mind I was doing irreversible damage, but it sure was fun, but now I’m paying the price.

Currently I have tinnitus in both ears, with my left being worse from wear. Really the finishing touches was me purchasing a 30-06 pistol right out of high school, the muzzle blast on that thing was/is tremendous. But hindsight is 20/20.

Since I started detecting, I’ve battled trying to overcome this, and I finally found a good compromise by using a set of Kiler Bee II’s Which have independent volume controls. It works fantastic, but I have a mantra I say when donning then “cord on the left, cord on the left” because if I inadvertently swap them, that first hit... BOOM!....wowsa. Wakes me right up!

Hope this helps, and would like to say to anyone and everyone out there, please take care of your hearing! Being around loud noises can take its toll, even brief periods are harmful.

My wife lost all hearing in her left ear and I'm still detecting just fine !!

What? No sense of humor? If not, you better get one. I've got 6 years on you and the hobby just gets harder and harder. Knees, back, shoulders,heat,cold. Thing is, the hobby is so fun, you find a way to carry on.

In the meantime, if you have any skills, invent a detector for deaf people just in case. Maybe different vibrations or a needle with color scale. Necessity being the mother of invention and all. Good luck!!

Very sorry this has happened to you, Alkazoo. Make sure you are going to the very best doctor possible, even if you have to travel some distance to get there.

Hearing in both ears is mainly to determine direction. Would think you could still do okay detecting with only one. Prayers for healing and that your other ear remains healthy. Keep us posted.

I've been completely deaf in my left ear since birth so i don't know what I'm missing out on! Been MDing for a couple years now and I just a use a pair of mono headphones with independent volume control.

alkazoo said:

Hiya forum, anyone here have total hearing loss in one ear or close to it and still detect ok? alkazoo

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Well since you stole my avitar, you just as well have my deaf ear too. Had it for a couple ears. no problem with detecting . just with people trying to talk to me.

Lots of folks use headphones that only have one ear covered. They apparently have no problem hearing targets.

You should be fine with hearing in one ear while detecting. At least being deaf in the other ear you will not hear the wind blowing Cars passing by and folks saying "What have you found".

You may have an advantage over the rest of us who hear all that noise.

I wear hearing aids to help me hear. Audiologist says i have Profound Hearing loss. So without hearing aids there is a lot of things that i do not hear. I still find the occasional good target.