Anyone Play Ice Hockey?

Just wondering if anyone plays and if so, how do you deal with the noise? I tried playing again after T but it is incredibly loud. If I wear ear plugs I can't hear what's happening and the noise and vibration from the bumps on the ice makes my T do weird things (with the plugs in).

Is this something I just have to drop? Or is there a way?

 

Telis,
I don't skate but as a musician, playing can be difficult but you have to do what you love. Maybe get custom molded musican earplugs. Way better for sound attenuation, but the physical sounds are not possible to alter. The ones that go through your skates to your bones. Unless they make a more cushioned skate I suppose.
What do you mean by weird? Is it worse? Is it temporary?

 

Perhaps stick with tennis for now...

 

Hey Larry, if I skate outside the Ice is pretty rough at times. If I wear plugs it feels like someone is tapping my skull turning my T into beep beep beep every bump I hit, plus my T is perceived louder with the plugs in. I skated for 1 min with plugs in and couldn't take the noise (absolutely unreal) Sounded almost deafening with the beeping. Maybe it would be different on proper in door ice which is smoother and a lot softer, not sure. I use cotton, ear muffs and a toque to reduce the outside noise of my skates cutting the ice (this is also very loud). The ice being cut up when I skate reaches over 80db. Maybe it's loud because I'm somewhat of a bigger guy (250 pounds) but it's loud. I don't know if what I'm doing is protecting enough but as I've said I can't take the ear plugs (full protection).

Kind of tough, I skate on my own and a large group of guys show up and I want to play so bad. I just pack it in and watch from the sidelines for a bit . Sports are one of the very few things I somewhat still enjoy with T so it's hard to give them up.

 

Sorry man.
The only other thing I can think of is Bose noise canceling ear buds. I use them at the gym. They won't plug your ears as much but will provide noise canceling and if you use your music or white noise apps (thats what I do) it distracts brain a little.
I use them when riding my Harley and they work great.
Take care.

 

Telis
If there is no damage being done to your auditory system, then I would play play play!!! I understand you experience pain during jarring movements (ugh, so sorry dude, I can't even imagine) but I would do my best to press through, there is always a way. Start slow, don't over do it, never stop!!

You're an athlete, it's what you do and who you are; don't stop, just make adjustments and take common sense measures.

I play racquetball (also very loud) and I had custom ear plugs made so I could continue (so glad I did). It was a way for me to tell the world of T to go to a place where the sun don't shine but it's just as hot! I can only name a couple things better than engaging your entire being in a sport (body/mind focused on jamming one in the back of the net) and benefiting not only from the physical workout but also having a good time with your buds!

Mark

 

Thanks a lot Mark, good advise as per usual.

Yes, even if I can skate outside, throw some pucks around with a few guys it's still a lot of fun. I would love to get back to competitive hockey but I don't think it will happen, although maybe I can find a way, who knows.

This might sound a little weird but I could swear that with ear plugs in my auditory system is cranked to a level 10, my brain somehow hits the gain knob. I hit bumps on the ice and it is loud, or at least it sounds that way. I take a shot, it's the same...LOUD! Same with when I play tennis...the hammering running on the pavement (when I have plugs in) is perceived or is loud? I don't know, is it louder? Or is it just lack of outside information masking the internal noise? I mean if the internal noise is actually louder with plugs in, especially if it's louder than the exterior noise, why am I wearing plugs in the first place? Seems like a no win situation. Confused.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head -- "Or is it just lack of outside information masking the internal noise?" I don't have H but from what I've learned it is not good to plug your ears (entirely). The only analogy that makes any sense (to me) is that H is like an overused tendon (sore, inflamed, weak); yes, there is cause to give it a rest but not using it can be just as bad. That's how my audiologist explained it to me; but, again, I don't have H (just reactive T).

So, I think you will need to find that ever elusive balance between 'use and lose' vs. 'use and abuse'. I've been going through physical therapy for my ankles for a year now (MRI says they are a mess) and I've had to learn how to strengthen them without abusing them (it hurt like heck for the better part of a year) but I'm so glad I stuck with it.

If you can do things without causing damage I would do it; in doing so you give yourself an opportunity to find that balance on just how much to plug your ears (for protection) and how much to expose them (for growth). It is a worthy endeavor; one that you can (and should) take at your own pace. When I started running again, I started out as the slowest man on the planet (really, a 90 something on a walker past me ) but I'm so glad I did.

I realize ankles aren't the same as T/H, but there are parallels -- start slow, be patient, NEVER stop!! You're an athlete, it's what you do; put one in the back of the net for you T-bros

 

@Telis Have you been able to play hockey since T/H? My situation is slightly different because I'm a goalie but I really don't want to have to hang up the gear and let my mens league team down as I'm the only goalie. My worry is that I'll get my bell rung with a shot and make my situation even worse.. I'm going to ask my audiologist what she thinks (she is a TRT specialist) but I have a feeling it's not a good idea.

 

Hey, I tried to go back, was way way too loud, I left 10 min in unfortunately.

I state and handle the puck outside on my own everyday in the winter, boring but better than totally hanging up the skates. Guess as a goalie you don't really have that option.

 

I don't play hockey so I can't specifically comment, but I did decide that T wasn't going to keep me off my motorcycle. I wear plugs. They make the T more noticeable. That's okay because I'm doing what I love and I'm protecting myself from damage.

 

I would ride with plugs no problem, hockey on the other hand is not doable. You need your hearing to play this sport. Blocked ears plus the occlusion effect, you dont even know what's going on out there. I don't hear anything but my own breathing, and a booming sound from the occlusion effect (hitting ruts in the ice) plus my T.

It's not only not fun, it's dangerous, I feel like I'm going to get seriously injured out there. It's a extremely fast game, a game of awareness, a game of communication, you need your hearing for this one unfortunately.

 

Well, that sounds like a tough decision, then. Do you have a good sense of how loud it actually is? That is, is the sound intolerable to you basically because of hyperacusis, or is it actually so loud as to be damaging? If the former, it seems like some people with H do well with various kinds of exposure therapies... if the latter, then it's just damaging, and should probably be avoided? The latter is why I gave up shooting sports; even with plugs in, guns are unreasonably loud, people who do a lot of shooting over a long time frame, even with protection, generally suffer HL as a result.

 

That's good to hear as I've wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle for most of my life and just began to start saving for one about a month before I got T. What kind of bike do you have and what kind of plugs/helmet do you use?

 

I've got a royal enfield bullet 500 at the moment which has been a great learning bike, but, my plan is to get rid of it before I move in the fall, and then next spring get a Zero brand electric motorcycle.

Basically, my bike is about 110db at full rev, which means even with 32db foam plugs fully inserted, I'm getting close to 80. That doesn't seem to bother me at all for short rides, but if I'm on it for a couple hours, I notice that my ears do seem a little fatigued when I take the helmet off, and I also question how much protection plugs really afford because all the engine noise is concentrated in lower frequencies which are hard to block.

With electric bikes, engine noise really isn't a factor, so what you're left to deal with is wind noise. This can still be considerable -- 95-100db at highway speeds -- but that means that 32db plugs knock it back to 70db, and wind noise is also higher frequency which means that plugs should be very effective at controlling it.

The Zero bikes are fairly expensive; the fully loaded model is around $15,000. But, they're relatively zippy, they max out at over 100mph, and the sporty model can do 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. My bike maxes out at about 87mph; in general that's faster than I want to ride, but, a lot of what keeps you safe on a motorcycle is your ability to get the hell out of the way of cars; if I'm doing 70 on my bike, I'm already in the higher end of the RPMs, which means my pickup from 70-85 is not very good. The electric bikes are very torquey, and so it would be more reasonable to expect to be able to jump from 70 up to 100 in a hurry if you needed to get away from an SUV that didn't see you. Because of these limitations, I pretty much only ride my bike in 55mph zones.

 

Figured I'd show you this @linearb , http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/the-sena-noise-control-helmet-is-the-first-helmet-with-1737599543 . A new helmet that has noise cancelling tech in it. I think it mainly cuts down on wind noise but looking at the graph it looks like it also reduces everything else some as well. Might be worth looking into if the only reason you are looking into a zero bike is the noise. Also @Telis I've been playing hockey for a couple months now and everything has been fine so far. I wear surefire sonic defender earplugs because they stay in place and also they have a little flap that you can open up to reduce the attenuation levels so your T doesn't ramp up as much but they still cut down the sharp noises such as sticks and pucks hitting the boards etc. Hope all is well

 

Thanks man! Do you get the occlusion effect? Where you can hear bumps on the ice and other internal noises really loud while your ears are plugged? I find yelling out there with plugs in really bad, also the bumps on the ice sounds like a loud drum in my ears with ear plugs in. Maybe that flap helps with this issue?

 

If you imser

If you cut about 5mm off the back of earplugs and insert them MORE than flush with the ear canal opening, then see there will be less occlusion effect. I say cut because u dont need full 33db protection while playing hockey.

 

Personally I don't really notice much occlusion while I'm playing. I don't yell as much as a player does though and I don't skate around to much but I still do both and it doesn't bother me really (I'm a goalie). Maybe it's the flap that helps, not sure. I use the EP7 model that needs replacement comply foam tips but I think sweat deteriorates them quicker, maybe thats why I don't notice much occlusion. Heres the link to their options http://www.surefire.com/tactical-equipment/hearing-protection.html . They also sell them on amazon. Just thought I'd relay the message to you to maybe give it a try, 30 bucks isn't much if it helps to play hockey again. Also what dan said may help with occlusion too.

 

Hey man, I've tried cutting them, and you mean insert them deep right? To reduce the chamber space that is created between the plug and the ear drum?

 

Oh yeah it's the flap/port that helps, it's lets sounds escape that are created internally. I will have to try them. Thanks again

 

Yes thats what I mean exactly...but also there must be nothing sticking out of the canal, it has to be flush (even less) then the opening, will be a little hard to get them out so have tweezers handy, i was once stuck with 1 plug in for a whole day lol.

 

this is super awesome! I can't wait until someone makes a motorcycle helmet that can do this...

 

No problem @Telis, I'll try and remember to see how much occlusion happens during my next game and let you know! @linearb yeah shouldn't be long now, on their website they say coming soon. Hopefully it's not a ****-ton of money. That plus earplugs and I'd have no worries about riding with T at all.

 

Oh ok. I will try that.