Exactly. It’s cumulative over the years. I did not respect my hearing. I pay for it now when the terrorists try and tell me about their day at school. And not being able to hear their little voices kills me.Shoveling ear corn into a hammer mill when I was a kid, mowing half a dozen yards for spending money, skill saws, tractors with muffler
taken off, bomb dump blowing up in my face during Vietnam Tet of '68 [7 kiloton blast wave], too many other sounds to recall, icing on the cake was years later with family dog barking one morning wanting to go out, instant hearing loss and loud tinnitus came out of nowhere. It accumulates over the years.
Largest category of disability payments from WW2 is from hearing loss or tinnitus, got so bad a number of years ago got into the VA system and now cannot hear s*** without hearing aids. When I go to the range, I take off my hearing aids, stuff soft foam protection in my ears, then put on standard ear muffs to keep what little hearing I have left.
You just don't realize you're losing your hearing until the damage reaches the breaking point, and then it's too late. It will never come back.