I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
My hearing was ACTUALLY permanently damaged when a sticky iron weight fell on a leg press machine at a 24-hour fitness about 5 years ago.The weights looked like these: http://www.presentationzen.com/.a/6a00d83451b64669e201156eb4...One extra weight slab was "stuck" to the group that was supposed to get lifted. It was stuck because the weights at the gym were grimy from many years of use without being cleaned. The extra slab, when it reached the top, finally detached and slid down maybe 20-30 inches, and made a sound that everyone in the gym heard, but right next to my ear. A few people even made angry faces at me for being a noisy lifter.Ever since then, to this day, I have had tinnitus in that ear, and many sounds come in like "static", for lack of a better explanation.All I can say is be careful with those weights if they get sticky, and if they are near your ear...