Ear Problems...

Rusty Jones · Post by **Rusty Jones** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:31 pm

has anyone experienced significant hearing damage from using a whip... I get a slight ringing in my right ear (right handed) after big cracks and sometimes it lingers awhile (like the rest of the day...) I got some ear plugs today to wear while cracking and I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem...

ecwhips · Post by **ecwhips** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:05 pm

Outside of almost losing my right ear while learning the Coachman's crack, no. Although that's the crack most likely to make your ears ring, as the whip cracks basically 2 inches from your ear when you get it right.

Jim

Indiana Jerry · Post by **Indiana Jerry** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:27 pm

You're talking about tinnitis (sp?), right? A ringing that doesn't go away? I've heard plenty about it - but not related to whips. My brother plays guitar, and he and many of his colleagues (can you call guys in spandex 'colleagues'?) suffer from it. But that's from sustained exposure to high decibels...doesn't seem like the whip itself should cause that, but if you've picked up tinnitis already, the whipcrack would certainly cause your ears to ring.

(Back to the mosh pit.)

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:32 pm

Sometimes, when I get my whip to go off really loud, my eardrum vibrates a little. It's like haha .. ow! haha.

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:04 pm

In the fall of last year, I started suffering from tinnitis. I went to the doctor complaining of a constant ringing in my ears. He tested my ears, and as he was looking at the results, he said, "are you right handed and shoot guns a lot?" I said, "well yes, I am right handed and I was a police officer for 27 years". He said, "well, that pretty much explains the results of your hearing tests."

I am carefull now when whipcracking. It doesn't bother me when I crack a whip or when someone else cracks one if they are not cracking it towards me.

GraveRobberGreg and I are always jostling for position while we are cracking whips. I'll get in a spot where he is pointed away from me and I am happy. He will turn and talk to me while he is cracking his whip and I'll yell at him to not point it at me. So, I will move and then he will move so he can see me. Then I'll end up telling him to pick a spot and stand still, and I will go find a spot for me. We just end up going around in circles.

Loud noises on a regular basis are very bad for your ears. I am paying a price for all the loud noises I have been subjected to over the years. Once it happens to you, your choices are something to make a noise to mask the noise that you hear or anti-depressant drugs if it drives you crazy. Once you have it you will never experience peace and quiet ever again. Can they operate on it and fix it? No. Can they give you a pill to make it go away? No.

Protect your ears so you won't have to be sorry. And if you are cracking your whip with me and I ask you to please not crack it in my direction and you continue to do it in my direction, I will move. If you keep it up and think it is funny, I'll dot your eye.

Post by **Dalexs** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:29 pm

ecwhips wrote:Outside of almost losing my right ear while learning the Coachman's crack, no. Although that's the crack most likely to make your ears ring, as the whip cracks basically 2 inches from your ear when you get it right.

Jim

I was going to say, if any crack is going to make your ears ring, its the coachman. I learned that one last year, and my teacher kept telling me as I was doing it wrong, I'd know when I did it right...
Sure enough! BAM, right next to my ear!

Needless to say, wearing earplugs is. They are just as important as eye protection.

Dalexs

Rusty Jones · Post by **Rusty Jones** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:30 am

Yeah I crack to my right with my overhead crack usually and ringing starts at one crack and after about 10 or so mixed in with other whipworking today my right ear is still ringing (noticibly less) This is not the first time, it happened before and lasted about a day and a half...

I guess I got weak ears :c/ or a POWERFUL crack :cD or both :c|

thanks for the responses guys, I'll probably be cracking with earplugs when practicing from now on so I can be sure not to regret not doing it later...

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:59 am

When I first started learning how to use a whip, I had that same problem. I would often crack excessively loud and too close to my ear. It did cause some ringing like you describe, though I couldn’t say if that affected my hearing to any significant degree. As I learned to control the volume and where the whip cracked it became less of an issue for me. There is no question that the loud sonic booms are bad for your ears, It’s also a good reason to learn how to crack your whip more softly, however the coachmen’s crack will give you a reminder. If you are having that problem I would certainly advise earplugs.

Dan

Texas Raider · Post by **Texas Raider** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:20 am

Ear plugs are a definite plus. If anyone is nervous at all about the noise of a whip, just go ahead and use them, you have absolutely nothing to lose (accept your hearing). Don't feel like a wimp 'cause you are using ear plugs, WAY better safe then sorry. I went to probably 100 or so rock concerts thru the 80's and ALWAYS wore plugs. People may have thought I was dorky, but I'm thankful today. I said I'M THANKFUL TODAY (to those of you who didn't wear ear plugs to concerts

).

Anyhoo, any exposure to repetitive loud noises (like a whip or gun) has the potential to (and usually does) damage your ears, and once damaged, there is no repair. So be safe and do it.

On a side note, almost all of us that live in cities have some degree of tinitus due to the constant noise and hum of the surrounding environment. If you don't believe me, take a hike out to the middle of nowhere, and I mean THE BOONIES, where there is not a city for a hundred miles. No traffic, no power lines, no water(river). You'll realize it then. When there is absolutely no noise, you will be annoyed by the hum of your ears.

TR

Indiana Cromeens · Post by **Indiana Cromeens** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:40 pm

Indeed many a crack leave my ears ringing, however being a guitar player and a DJ, I'm used to ringing ears due to loud music so It's nothing new to me

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:52 pm

Indiana Cromeens wrote:Indeed many a crack leave my ears ringing, however being a guitar player and a DJ, I'm used to ringing ears due to loud music so It's nothing new to me

That just means that you REALLY need to protect your ears before you permanently damage them. When you get to my age and you no longer want to do those things, you will be sorry when you have trouble going to sleep at night because you can not turn off the noise.

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:53 pm

I've noticed a crack always seems louder to observers than the one doing the cracking. If I'm with a group and hand off the whip to someone else it seems far louder. I ask, 'Was it that loud when I did it?" and they usually say, 'Oh, yeah!"

You're generally sending the sound away from you, aren't you?

Maybe it depends on the crack or where you go to do it (I like to crack in industrial parks with lots of flat surfaces to report the sound, or cliff bases) - or even the length of your whip. that would determine where the crack is actually going to occur in space, no?

The sound has never much bothered me. Maybe it will if I start doing different cracks.

Rusty Jones · Post by **Rusty Jones** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 1:04 pm

Well also, I crack in my back yard, but others who have to go to parks and places where people ocasionally mistake whipartists for loons, the earplugs would probably make the whip user appear to be more of a hobbiest and less of a crackpot...

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 1:13 pm

Rusty, between Greg and I, we own over six acres of land where we can crack whips. We don't go to the park to crack because we have to, we go because we want to. We have fun there.

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 1:13 pm

Rusty Jones wrote:...places where people ocasionally mistake whipartists for loons...

How could people be mistaken for loons? These things make an entirely different sound. ...more of a 'Coo loo coo coo coo coo cooo' than a 'whoosh CRACK'.

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:29 pm

Bufflehead Jones wrote:Rusty, between Greg and I, we own over six acres of land where we can crack whips. We don't go to the park to crack because we have to, we go because we want to. We have fun there.

Must be nice.

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:20 am

Yeah Strider, I know what you mean with all of the problems that you have had out there.

Rusty Jones · Post by **Rusty Jones** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:07 pm

I might do the same but there are no real nice parks around here, (I most of them here have a lot of kiddy areas and I wouldnt wanna crack around 'em)... cracking with a buddy is probably a lot more fun too, but I dont know of any other whip crackers in the area...

EDIT: Also wanted to mention that my right ear just now stopped ringing from cracking about 48 hours ago... time to crack some more ;c) (with ear plugs)

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:32 pm

Rusty, if the nearest park was a long way off, we probably wouldn't bother, but Greg has a nice, big park just a short drive from his house. It has soccer fields, baseball fields, kid areas and lots of wide open fields. in fact, if you are in one of the big, wide open areas, it doesn't seem to make that much noise.