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Post by Luther Moore on Jan 5, 2012 20:17:48 GMT 12
I have spoken to a vet today who was telling me how he is deaf in one ear from the Corsairs in WWII. I have also heard of another Pilot being deaf in one ear from the war as well. He mentioned something about a sonic sound that they couldn't hear but it would later make them deaf.
Anyone know more about this problem?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2012 20:42:46 GMT 12
Just the constant exposure to constant excessive noise of any sort harms your hearing, and the noise of a radial engine a few feet in front of you thrumming away for hours will certainly be dangerous to audio health. In fact any constant pitch for more than half an hour will do damage, and the louder it is the worse it is. It is true what people say about stereos making you go deaf, and the same goes for engineering workshop noise, lawnmowers, a compressor or even the hissing hose of an airline that hisses away like white noise is doign you harm if you're exposed to it at length.
Another consideration is the noise from the guns. The flying helmet wasn't particularly designed for ear protection back then.
The open cockpit pilots had it worse, in the likes of the Vildebeest, Baffin, Vincent, Gordon, Swordfish, etc, sitting behind the radials in the open air, and firing their guns next to their ears, most of those guys went deaf eventually.
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Post by Luther Moore on Jan 5, 2012 21:09:27 GMT 12
Agreed on that, but he mentioned it being a sound you couldn't hear but it was doing damage.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2012 21:33:54 GMT 12
Yes, white noise. It's all around you and does the most damage. Look it up.
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Post by chinapilot on Jan 7, 2012 21:14:27 GMT 12
I am def DEAF from flying...
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Post by Luther Moore on Jan 7, 2012 22:04:49 GMT 12
Cool story bro.
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 8, 2012 8:32:05 GMT 12
The Bomber Boys call it Merlin ear and get hearing aids plus batteries from Vet Affairs , although one of them swears it was the screech of the twin Wasps in the Lockheed 10A he flew for a few years.
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Post by htbrst on Jan 8, 2012 8:39:50 GMT 12
Yeah, my Grandfather blamed merlins for his hearing problems.
From memory he said that the Whitley was worse than than the Halifax (despite 2 engines vs 4) as the engines in the Whitley were so much closer to where he was sitting piloting the aircraft.
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Post by shorty on Jan 8, 2012 9:29:51 GMT 12
Flying in Bristol Freighters gave you a pretty good indication of what it was like!
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Post by Luther Moore on Jan 8, 2012 15:42:19 GMT 12
I spoke to someone who said it was caused by the screeching of the canopy and he didn't know until he turned up at a reunion and everyone else was wearing hearing aids. He receives a pension for it.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 8, 2012 15:53:58 GMT 12
He was probably talking about the whistling stream of air forcing through the canopy crack, as it would be a high pitched white noise and sitting next to it for any lengthy period will do a lot of damage to the high pitch range of hearing. Sitting behind or beside a huge piston engine or two will do additional damage to other hearing ranges.
It is just another form of "industrial deafness", a dreadful ailment that has affected so many. Now we understand the cause and the ways to prevent it, and there are far better health and safety rules in place which hopefully everyone these days adheres to for their own sake.
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Post by jonesy on Jan 8, 2012 16:00:15 GMT 12
Dad had hearing loss in one ear also, and I believe his Nav had the opposite one (flew Mossies) He was also eligible for hearing aid but the stubborn old bugger wouldnt do it!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 8, 2012 17:06:10 GMT 12
My Dad also had industrial deafness hearing loss from working in factories and engineering industry. He refused to wear his hearing aids too. He reckoned they were too uncomfortable. So it was us who suffered from his "What did he say?" all through TV programmes. ;D
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Post by corsair67 on Jan 8, 2012 18:28:23 GMT 12
I suppose air gunners had the same problems, caused by being in a very confined space with two or four Brownings in close proximity?
Nowadays we have teenagers who can't hear properly - and not because they don't want to hear what they being told - but rather because they have their bloody iPods so loud! ;D
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Post by Luther Moore on Jan 8, 2012 18:33:24 GMT 12
I'm deaf in one ear from my ex girlfriend. Just like the planes she was slowly doing damage.
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Post by corsair67 on Jan 8, 2012 19:05:00 GMT 12
I'm deaf in one ear from my ex girlfriend, just like the planes she was slowly doing damage. Any high-pitched whine will do that to you. ;D |
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 10, 2012 11:54:57 GMT 12
What did you say?
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