Thanks for the tip. I can just imagine wearing tractor muffs to the supermarket. :-) I will remember that, though.

I have used tractor muffs when working in open plan or other less-than-ideal sonic environments. I recommend Protector brand.

Mum had a progressive nerve deafness: notches completely missing from the spectrum right where my rather deep speaking voice goes (as a result, I sometimes unconsciously modulate up two semitones when talking to older women), and general loss of acuity across the board.

The other odd thing with her was that sometimes sounds arrived out of order: 1,2,4,3 kind of thing.

She was noticeably afflicted by the time she’d reached my age, so I may have dodged that particular genetic bullet.

I’m glad your eardrums grew back. You’re pretty lucky.

Just why do I have to have such acute hearing? It’s not really all that useful and can be very painful.

Fluoro lights and TV sets on stand-by are still annoying, but my sensitivity is a bit diminished. I can still hear people talking to each other as they leave the pub a quarter-mile away, but a lot of that’s the acoustics of our valley.

After the accident, the Rather Insensitive GP said, in one of those raised voices with exaggerated pronunciation reserved for use on the deaf and/or daft: “You’ve got hardly any eardrums left. Hey, I’ve never seen all the little bones working before, hahaha.”

I wasn’t sure whether to try and off myself then and there, or to put the bastard’s lights out, so I did neither.

(Long Story Snipped)

Since I got my wee tympanic membranes back, I’ve tried to go easy on the noise levels. So far it seems to have preserved me at slightly better than expected for my age.

Yeah, I’m a freak.