Tinnitus, Anyone?

Tinnitus sufferer here. Gigs can be painful even with plugs. Certain sounds even at a low volume at just the right (wrong) frequency fuck me up. 30% hearing loss in my right ear courtesy of me being a fucking idiot and playing somewhere near 700 gigs and never standing anywhere other than to the left of the drummer and not wearing plugs.

Yeah, similiar problem here, with certain frequencies, they resonate in a peculiar and unbearable way. That said, its just nice to know i'm not alone with the problem, thanks for the replies everyone.
 
Musicians ear plugs here.

Always! When tracking, at gigs, clubs and even loud bars.

To me it's a must, I can't understand ANYBODY who doesn't protect his hears, let alone audio guys...

Anyone here doing live sound with pro-earplugs in?
 
i wear my plugs at almost every oppurtunity.... sepends how goood the sound is at a venue, i still dont like wearing m live!
 
Well, now im suffering from insomnia because of it, its that bad right now. It infuriates me that kids arent educated in ear damage/tinnitus. Hearing is such an important part of anyones life, let alone people that rely upon them for critical mixing. Kids need to be taught to treat their hearing with respect and not throw countless barages of loud music at it.

Sorry to hear you have it too, skyweaver, i feel your pain, remember youre not alone. :)
 
??? Shouldn't some of the blame lie upon the engineers that insist on mixing/ running PA's too loud, to the point of distortion? I mean, these are the people that should be "educated" in peoples hearing and use that knowlegde.
Not to say that all the blame lies with engineers, I mean, I use to listen to my walkman/ diskman on 90-100% volume all the time in highschool.
 
Well, now im suffering from insomnia because of it, its that bad right now. It infuriates me that kids arent educated in ear damage/tinnitus. Hearing is such an important part of anyones life, let alone people that rely upon them for critical mixing. Kids need to be taught to treat their hearing with respect and not throw countless barages of loud music at it.

Sorry to hear you have it too, skyweaver, i feel your pain, remember youre not alone. :)
so what do you suggest for these 'kids' to prevent hearing damage, other than ear plugs
 
Since you can blow out your ears with your cellphone, there could be some educational stuff in school? Like: "this is how your ears get fucked up if you crank your mp3-player all day long. Also, as soon as you drink alcohol, your natural "brickwall limiter" is turned off, meaning that your ears will get more damaged. Look at these diagrams, and listen to these examples. Hearing - Good, falling asleep, stinking drunk with your head in the speaker - baad."
 
Hell, being sick can fuck your hearing, as I found out the hard way.

My mother had some ear problems decades back and she still doesn't pick up low sounds - we don't know why she lost that and not highs, but it's annoying as fuck because I normally talk below her hearing.

Neither of us could have been helped by earplugs because it was illness - I can understand refusing liver transplants to raging alcoholics, but there are cases where there was just nothing to be done on one's part to prevent hearing problems.

Jeff
 
Yeah I go to sleep with a fan going. I find it's the best noise for me because I tend to focus to much on music and can't get to sleep, and I find a fan nicer then white noise or something like that.

Holy shit, i thought i was the only weirdo doing that!
If there is no fan switched on in the room while im trying to sleep, chances are i won't sleep at all because i HATE pure silence, and it brings out and accentuate the ringing, noises and shit like that while trying to sleep... (al gore hates me.)
it's bad enough to have a tune go off all the time while trying to sleep after a day of mixing, so a fan does it for me as well, and i wear earplugs as well. :lol:

I used to fall asleep whenever i heard big fans like on a ship or in a building, so it really makes me feel more comfortable.

earwax and a infected wisdom tooth can be the reason for tinnitus as well, so be sure to exclude those first.
 
Hell, being sick can fuck your hearing, as I found out the hard way.

I don't think it hurt my hearing any (as far as I can tell), but I do remember having a cold a few months ago and it hurting my left ear when I would swallow. Its amazing how colds, tooth aches and what not can effect the ear/hearing.

Also, I remember when I was 16 and having a noticed drop in volume in my right ear for a few days. I think it was from ear wax build up......or listening to Machine Head's "The More Things Change" album too loud in my headphones. Either way, the right ear went back to normal after assaulting it with that ear cleaning stuff.
 
Earplugs folks. Never leave home without them. Keep a set in your glovebox because you never know when you'll need them. ALWAYS wear them to practice, gigs, & work.
I've lost a touch of my extreme highs in my left side thanks to an asshole throwing a firecracker at my head when I was 18. Other than that, no problems.

My sympathies to you guys struggling with tinnitus. I've read somewhere that it's mostly a mental condition. A fan or some other form of white noise generator can work wonders for it.
 
I think I've been lucky, since I was very young I was always pretty good about keeping a pair of plugs with me at all times and wearing them at band rehearsals, concerts, firing ranges, etc.

While it is kind of a bummer to wear cheap ear plugs when you're trying to enjoy somethings nuances, I think I made the right choice to start carrying them with me when I was young.

On top of that I've been mostly a studio guitarist a good part of my musical career. Not a lot of live practices in front of a 4x12, more time spent in the control room with the amp miked up somewhere else instead. That has probably helped a good deal as well.
 
Had tinnitus for 10 years now (27) , and at the worst, I was awake for 2 weeks and it almost drove me insane... Try to relax in your jaws and your neck. Sometime it helps:D

I allways use airplugs!
 
Had tinnitus for 10 years now (27) , and at the worst, I was awake for 2 weeks and it almost drove me insane... Try to relax in your jaws and your neck. Sometime it helps:D

I allways use airplugs!

I suffer from tinnitus for a few months now. It got better, to the point i can nearly not hear it! So it didn't hit me that hard i guess.

But always, when i read the word tinitus i comes back! so i think it might be a mental thing too. Also when it is really quiet it gets louder. I always wear earplugs these days during rehearsal and stuff, and i also got myself a nice InEar System for live use which i run pretty low volumewise.

I feel for you guys... :( It sucks!
 
I do live sound and wear plugs... I would just keep it down, but then a billion people come up to you and say, 'I can't hear the [insert instrument here]' so up it goes, and in go my earplugs...
 
Talk about coincidence...this thread just popped up again today, and tonight, out of the blue...my ears started ringing and won't go away. Does it make you feel nauseous?
 
I browse this forum occasionally now, didn't expect to see this thread up again seeing as i started it so long ago. So, i thought i'd post, as its been so long. Can't believe its been 8 months since my last post on this subject.

Does it make me feel nauseous? Well, its reduced me to clinical depression, insomnia, self harm, ideas of suicide daily, alcoholism and drug abuse. Also, i split with my partner of 3 1/2 years because she couldn't cope with what it has done to me. I barely have the energy to pick up a guitar anymore, let alone record, a sorry state of affairs. I hope your tinnitus gets better soon, grywolf627.