Tinnitus

[A_____R_______]

Bummer topic. But I haven’t really seen any discussion about it in noise circles ironically. Anyone dealing with it and have anything to say about how they’re continuing to work with it? I’ve been dealing with it after one gig three months ago and definitely had an initial “everything’s fucked” period, turned down gigs, etc, but generally I’m adapted now. Still a bit of phobia around live show volumes making it worse, mostly interested if anyone is using anything beyond foam plugs.

Oh yeah and it goes without saying, wear plugs if you don’t. After years and years of never even considering it, one ~20 min set ended up doing me in. Not even a noise set!

[holy ghost]

I have it, mildly I'd assume as I'm able to tune it out a lot of the time. If I start thinking about it it'll become more prevalent, like when you start thinking about blinking or something. I know they say it never goes away but I have noticed it less and less during the pandemic when I was not going to shows and playing in bands. I have also stopped wearing headphones and I think that was a big part of it.

I know at one point I was VERY aware of it, and it seemed to really bother me a lot more. Now I know it's there but I rarely think about it.

I have a friend who's a therapist and he swears "CBT for Tinnitus" is a real thing.

[Bubble-Congeries]

I've never had a professional diagnosis, but I suspect I have mild tinnitus. It isn't something I usually notice, it just presents itself occasionally as a sense of going deaf in one ear or the other as a high pitch tone fades in. I feel a slight sense of vertigo and then the tone slowly receeds and my hearing returns to normal. IDK if that's even tinnitus or just a brain tumor or me having mini-strokes or what. But it's something I've experienced for quite a few years without it becoming noticeably worse. It's not something that I can "choose to notice" at any time like HPPD, it just pops up randomly. Maybe it isn't tinnitus after all?

The most painful gig I ever attended was a Buckethead show in town. Every time he stepped on his env. filter pedal was excruciating, and my hearing was fucked for a week. I had to resort to wearing over-ear protective muffs, particularly in bed, because it helped to ground my hearing loss in a sense, which made the muted sound of everything less distressing. Driving was hard, functioning at school was hard. I'm just glad my hearing seems to have regulated/healed after that period.

[Namahs]

Slight highpitched ringing in my ears. Never diagnosed but it's there.

Usually couple days after shows I hear it more clearly or sometimes even after rehearsal if we're having too much fun moving some air haha. Sucks tho.

I've been looking for some good custom earplugs etc but god damn they are expensive.
Yes I'd rather keep my hearing but when you simply cannot afford 300€-1500€ for proper earplugs then you just have to deal with cheaper options for now.

Went for a long time without any earplugs to shows. Kid me was rather stupid it seems.

[Remi]

Regular tinnitus and permanent deafness here.

I live in a world in which everything sounds muffled as if I were standing behind cotton walls, yet some frequencies can just start ringing and drive me insane but they usually show up when I feel physically exhausted. It's like having your audition processed by a completely messed up equalizer, with some frequencies I hear really well and some that have completely disappeared. I do the things a lot of partially deaf people often do, read on lips, wear hearing aid (but I dislike it because it's physically exhausting for the brain to process louder noise for several hours at a time), make people repeat things 3 times, use subtitles all the time, etc. If two people talk and the TV is on or a car drives by, it all turns into an unintelligible mess.

And then comes the tinnitus, which I've noticed has been there for years (I've always worn earplugs at gigs or during bandpractices though, as the noise is painful.) I usually ignore it, or hardly ever notice it anymore, but sometimes it gets really painful and there's nothing I can do about it. As it seems to increase when I'm physically exhausted, which is caused by the extra efforts processing sound all day, I wear either noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs throughout most of the day. I can't live without them.

Tinnitus and deafness are serious issues. I'm not sure about tinnitus but please don't uselessly endanger your ears. Take good care of them. Once your hearing is gone, it doesn't come back. I see mine getting worse with the years, I know it's been impacting my musical activities too (say when my bands mix stuff, I don't hear the same things as my bandmates) and it also drives my girlfriend nuts because it's exhausting for her to repeat everything she says constantly or to feel ignored because I don't hear her when she talks to me. I also have to say this has made my social life mostly non-existent for a good 15 years until I realised I was deaf and dealing with regular tinnitus, it also has impacted/damaged my professional life, and until I got diagnosed and then got my hearing aid, it made my life terrible.

[ChicagoAnimal]

I have been tested and evidently my hearing is very good for my age despite many years of playing and seeing shows.

I do, however, have pulsate tinnitus in my left ear. It comes and goes in regards to stress and health. At the moment, I am in better shape than I have ever been and cannot hear it. However, if I starting smokings cigs, drinking beer, and eating like garbage again, it comes roaring back within a month. Stress, too, will indulge it.

I always beg people to not wear headphones. They are so bad for your ears.

[FrenziedDestruction]

i have some mild tinnitus, occasionally a high pitched ringing will come out of nowhere and gradually recede -- even if i have not been listening to anything loud. sometimes when it is deathly quiet i will hear a high pitched noise as well. i have pretty much always worn ear plugs to shows and try to remember to use them frequently during practice. i do think there is a disservice done to people with the prevalent attitude that earplugs are for wimps -- personally i love sound and if looking a little uncool is the price i have to pay to keep enjoying it then it is a inconsequential one. i am unfortunately a little less careful about volume when listening at home on speakers and would frequently crank headphone volume to cover up annoying sounds on the bus or wandering in public -- definitely wish they had noise cancelling headphones back then!

i have seen a doctor about my hearing recently and she said i was "well within" the acceptable range for a person of my age so i think overall i am in much better shape than many in that regard.
i do sometimes wonder what listening to noise or other music genres is like with a hearing aid, i hope that it restores some of the magic for the people that use them as losing my hearing is a fear of mine. i dont know what i would do without music/sound.

[ChicagoAnimal]

i have some mild tinnitus, occasionally a high pitched ringing will come out of nowhere and gradually recede -- even if i have not been listening to anything loud. sometimes when it is deathly quiet i will hear a high pitched noise as well. i have pretty much always worn ear plugs to shows and try to remember to use them frequently during practice. i do think there is a disservice done to people with the prevalent attitude that earplugs are for wimps -- personally i love sound and if looking a little uncool is the price i have to pay to keep enjoying it then it is a inconsequential one. i am unfortunately a little less careful about volume when listening at home on speakers and would frequently crank headphone volume to cover up annoying sounds on the bus or wandering in public -- definitely wish they had noise cancelling headphones back then!

i have seen a doctor about my hearing recently and she said i was "well within" the acceptable range for a person of my age so i think overall i am in much better shape than many in that regard.
i do sometimes wonder what listening to noise or other music genres is like with a hearing aid, i hope that it restores some of the magic for the people that use them as losing my hearing is a fear of mine. i dont know what i would do without music/sound.

If you are getting a high pitched noise that comes every once in awhile and goes away, that is actually a normal part of the aging process. That is not the tinnitus that people fear, which is constant.

[FrenziedDestruction]

If you are getting a high pitched noise that comes every once in awhile and goes away, that is actually a normal part of the aging process. That is not the tinnitus that people fear, which is constant.

ah well nothing to worry about there then, just the ever encroaching specter of total oblivion.