History Main / SteelEarDrums

* Simoultaneously averted ''and'' played straight in an episode of the 90's ''{{Zorro}}'' revival: Having caught Don Diego's servant Felipe listening in on their plans, and told it's OK as he's deaf, one bad guy fires his huge musket right beside his ear -- at which another bad guy who was close by mutters "And now I am [deaf] too!" The kicker? Felipe (common to most versions of this character) is only ''pretending'' to be deaf, and while he passes the gunshot test, when he's rescued by Zorro a few short hours later he's clearly hearing him normally.

* ''MythBusters'' is generally good about showing the team using hearing protection.

In RealLife hearing protection exists for a reason. Exposure to 140 decibels (the loudness of gunfire) can cause pain and permanent hearing loss. That's why people at a shooting range typically wear earplugs.

* Hell, this troper plays the clarinet in an ''orchestra.'' Players who sit in front of the trumpet section are issued earplugs because if you sit in front of any decent trumpeter, when the music gets loud and/or intense, ''you face the very real threat of having your eardrums ruptured.''
* As an amateur musician (drummer) with a fair bit of performance experience, this troper takes issue with people who do not use ear protection when practicing with very loud insrtuments. While it's okay in a large room with minimal reverb, in a tiny basement rehearsal space like mine, earplugs are necessary. When a foolish bassist refused to take a pair of earplugs, this troper gave a quick demonstration on why his basement, when combined with a drum kit, will make you deaf. As the bassist tuned, I simply hit a crash cymbal with an ordinary amount of force. In this room, that creates around 120 decibels of volume. The bassist got the point.

* This troper's brother was deafen for a month after a M1 Abrams tank fired its main cannon....50 yards away.

* Played incredibly straight in the {{Kickass}} film adaptation, where Dave has the superpower of "[[http://likestoramble.com/2010/07/17/kick-ass/ not going deaf when firing two Gatling guns on either side of his head]]".

** Also lampshaded in a later episode, where the Agents are driving around decked out with MP5 submachine guns in anticipation of a major shootout. Hotch tells Rossi "Try not to shoot that inside the car", to which Rossi remarks "You mean, try not to deafen you?" "Exactly." A few minutes and one ATV-riding, heavy machinegun-equipped unsub later, Morgan and Prentiss show up in an SUV and Morgan shoots the unsub right through his own SUV's window. Prentiss lambasts him for blowing away her eardrums.

Most "aversions" that involve a character's hearing being affected (and the effect being demonstrated on the other side of the FourthWall) go under ShellShockSilence, the TruthInTelevision version.

* As an amateur musician (drummer) with a fair bit of performance experience, this troper takes issue with people who do not use ear protection when practising with very loud insrtuments. While it's okay in a large room with minimal reverb, in a tiny basement rehearsal space like mine, earplugs are necessary. When a foolish bassist refused to take a pair of earplugs, this troper gave a quick demonstration on why his basement, when combined with a drum kit, will make you deaf. As the bassist tuned, I simply hit a crash cymbal with an ordinary amount of force. In this room, that creates around 120 decibels of volume. The bassist got the point.

-->'''Joey:''' ''[running through a script]'' Dude, [[NoIndoorVoice why are you shouting?]]

-->--''{{Friends}}''

* [[IntangibleMan Kitty Pride]] must have these, she's stood at ground zero during everything short of a nuclear blast.

Most "aversions" that involve a character's hearing being affected (and the effect being demonstarted on the other side of the FourthWall) go under ShellShockSilence, the TruthInTelevision version.

Contrast ShellShockSilence, the TruthInTelevision version.

* Averted in the movie ''{{Children of Men}}'' after Theo witnesses a bomb go off in the street and we hear a sort of dull ringing in the background.
-->'''Julian:''' Y'know that ringing in your ears? That 'eeeeeeeee'? That's the sound of the ear cells dying, like their swan song. Once it's gone you'll never hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts.

* Partially averted in the ''{{Lost}}'' episode "LA X", in which the soundtrack is muted and a faint whining sound played over it to represent some characters having trouble hearing...for a couple of minutes, in the aftermath of a ''nuclear explosion''.

* FirstPersonShooter games generally ignore this issue, because it would be difficult to implement and would probably push the game too far on the Sliding Scale of Realism Versus Playability.
** However, some games have special weapons (e.g. Flashbang grenades) which simulate this effect (usually by replacing the game's normal sounds with a high keening, which gradually fades over a few seconds).
** Most first-person shooters have the player take on the role of a soldier, and are thus arguably justified in ignoring this; how many times do you see a soldier on the battlefield stop to put in earplugs?
** Played with in ''{{Half-Life}}'' - being too close to an explosion will result in a ringing sound, along with physical damage. Guns however, are unaffected.
*** And, in the first one, firing a gun inside an air vent is ''really freaking loud''. Not enough to make you deaf, but it hurts your ears.
** It's excusable in games with characters in the military (or otherwise knowing beforehand that they're going to be around gunshots), as it can be assumed they'd know enough to wear earplugs.
* Averted in ''{{Vietcong}}'', where firing a gun, getting shot or standing close to an explosion will result in some seconds of tinnitus. In the "Tunnel Rat" mission, your commanding officer even tells you to stick to using a pistol while in the tunnel, as anything else would make you go deaf.
** Also averted by ''{{Call of Duty}}''.
** And in ''[[UnchartedDrakesFortune Uncharted: Drake's Fortune]]'', though there it's limited to explosions.
* Averted in ''ArmedAssault'' (''[=ArmA=]: Combat Operations'' in the United States), where you can be rendered temporarily deaf by loud sounds such as explosions and rockets be fired nearby (try it from a helicopter!) The ACE mod introduces ringing ears as well.

* Averted in the ''{{FEAR}}'' games when it comes to explosions. Everytime an explosion goes off close to the player, the sound drowns out for a bit and you can hear the ringing in your character's ears for a short while.

* ''MassEffect 2'' had a mild aversion; being hit or almost hit with explosions resulted in a brief moment of soundlessness in the game. Otherwise played straight, but possibly justified in that they're military men and women who wear devices in their ears that serve as universal translators; presumably they're capable of filtering out noise as well.
* Likewise averted in ''[[BattlefieldSeries Battlefield: Bad Company 2]]''. Nearby explosions will cause a dull ringing that will drown out other battlefield noises for a couple of seconds.

* Averted in ''{{Vietcong}}'', where firing a gun, getting shot or standing close to an explosion will result in some seconds of tinnitus.

** [[{{Magikchicken}} This Troper]] assumes there's a HandWave of some sort, or at least that the producers were aware of this trope, because it's averted later when [[spoiler: blood runs from Stark's ear after a BrownNote device is used to temporarily paralyze him.]]
* Similarly, I remember a movie which featured a shootout inside... what was it? A grain silo or something. A cylindrical metallic chamber, anyway. If you have doubts about how loud this would be, try dropping a penny into a steel drum.

** [[FridgeLogic You'd think]] being intangible would really remove any sense of hearing in the first place, since sound waves have to strike your eardrums before you can hear anything. (Of course, by that logic ''none'' of your external senses would work, SoYeah.)

----