Same as Fooped, I've been playing the drums for almost 40 years, ever since I was three.
I never used hearing protection.
When I last had my hearing tested, there was only a very slight loss.
The biggest problem I've had was getting Raynauds (loss of circulation in the fingers) after being on the road with a band all summer all over the country.
some people have a higher propensity to hearing damage than others.
The problem is that you will never know what your tolerance
level is until you've already exposed yourself to potentially damaging
noise, and even then, it's imperfect. (tolerance may vary according to
sound frequencies, etc. ) As far as I know, there is no way for an audiologist
to gauge what an individual's potential is for hearing loss via loud
noises. It is like trying to test whether or not something is fire retardant
by lighting it on fire... yeah, if it burns you know it's not... but maybe you
didn't want that thing to catch on fire!
I know what you are talking about though.... You hear stories of vets who
used to do mortars and artillery that have little loss and then there are guys
with SEVERE loss. Some of it makes little sense. I think the DOD is
doing research now to try to come up with some kind of a drug that can
help prevent hearing loss; eg, for troops to use before they go into a
combat area, etc.
-Mike