Tinnitus--Head Count

[musicalmartin]

i had a lot of trouble with my ears when I was a kid and also played in bands .I rode motorcycles .I also covered motorsport races including F1 very close up,pit lane ,garages etc ,all without ear plugs .I dont have it .I am a bit deaf .
My wife has done none of these but gets it really bad .She says possibly it was being pillion on my motorcycle in the 60's with out a crash hat.Certainly she is sure its gets worse with stress .I wish I could help her .

[Kebmel]

Yes both ears, I don't know if it is hereditary, most probably not. My father was a gunner @ El Alamein, Cassino etc and had hearing loss, mine I suspect was bought on from constant engine noise from a forklift.

I now wear hearing aids tuned in to top frequencies I've lost, and since getting them, the tinnitus has been reduced considerably, but it was never really bad.

Apparently the small hairs in your eardrums somewhere called silae? become overstimulated and vibrate more when you have tinnitus. Well something like that.

I think I'll try the earbud mic covers @ next band practice.

[Radspin]

I've got it in both ears but luckily I don't hear it unless I pay attention, or if I'm tired or have had too many drinks. I wish I would have used hearing protection when I was younger. My tinnitus is an extremely high-pitched, over 15,000 Hz tone in both ears. The ultimate irony is that I can no longer hear anything above 12-14kHz in either eexcept for the tinnitus.

[fltpkr]

Yes, for twenty+ years. A high pitched hiss,like air escaping from a pinhole in a tire.
Worse in my left ear than right, and sometimes not even noticeable. Sometimes pretty loud. I did a fair amount of shooting as a young person, and worked around F4's in the military, played in loud bands since I was 14 with no ear protection. Stupid.

[redstringuitar]

Yeah, I've got it, courtesy of 100watt Marshalls, "competitive" drummers and using ridiculously powerful firearms without hearing protection.
Seems to vary in severity, I only really notice it when all around is quiet...one thing I can't do is have a conversation in a noisy place, my ears just can't pick out what the other person is saying.

[Ron Garson]

Me too, in both ears, but worse in the left than the right! 30 plus years of working with headphones on (I'm a location sound recordist) has taken its toll!

[Glen W]

Mine kinda clicks & chirps at times along with the high-pitched hiss-whistle, left side mostly. I can remember hearing the hiss late at night as a kid of 10 or 11. Maybe I was born with it (or maybe smashing rolls of cap-gun caps with rocks & hammers started it all ).

I'm sure these things haven't helped over the years:
Standing next to a racecar, pouring bleach on the tires during burnouts (early '70s with a AA fuel dragster team).
Standing in front of my Marshall amp (mid '70's).
Working in a power plant (everyone wears ear protection now, though).

I am used to it, and the sounds themselves don't really bug me too much. It's the sounds that get masked from it that plague me. Conversations. I have trouble with hearing people talk when there is any background noise present.

[drewsblues]

Right ear for me... eeeeeeeeeee... never goes away.

[Big Mike Simpson]

Right ear here...

[DavidP]

in both ears... Most aggravating at night when I'm in a quiet environment. I'm seriously looking at some quality hi-fi earplugs, as the Hearos don't do it for me and I usually end up removing them when gigging.

[Esquire1]

Some hearing loss, but luckily no ringing... I feel for all who do.

[Robert H.]

Got it---I think as a side effect from meds I take.
I hear it in the silence---especially at night.
But that is life. Everyone has something....

[kelnet]

Oh yeah. I have it bad.
Right after high school, I started working in a sawmill. I hated the earplugs, so I often didn't wear them. Then I started playing in a band, and went on the road, playing 6 nights a week. No earplugs.
In my thirties, I had a part-time job doing security at the Pacific Coliseum. Lots and lots of loud concerts, and still I often didn't wear plugs. The tinnitus started in my late thirties, and now it never goes away.

Wear earplugs, kids. You'll thank yourself later.

[Al Watsky]

Just back from the ENT gettin' the ears checked.
The ringing/rumbling has been there for a very long time.
Target shooting as a kid. Concert at the Boston Garden, 1970 or 71.
Zep. Been ringing every since.
Just got back from Roskilde Amsterdam, a very loud spot on the globe
these last few days.
Use filtered plugs -25 db and solid ones when its just silly loud.
Just got off a plane , 'skinda loud right now.
Its annoying, but not impossible to deal with.
When I'm not careful, 15 minutes with a Princeton on 3 in a small room is enough
to set it worse in no time. So , be careful out there.

[bandeapart]

Hearos "high fidelity" Ear Plugs:

Here's my review:
So I went out and bought a pair of these at GC this morning before practice (I had to talk them down to $12.99, they tried to get me to pay $18 something). I went off to practice and used them. They do look a bit silly cuz they have these clear plastic stick things that stick out of your ears, but the stupid look is kind of worth it. I've always avoided ear plugs, tissue in the ears, and things of that nature because they always muffled the sound to a terrible tone. These were slightly different. If inserted deep into the ear, they aren't much better than average ear plugs. I found a sweet spot with them. If you place them only about halfway in your ear, you really cut down the dB level that you're taking in as well as still keeping the majority of your tones and band's mix in tact. If you don't have $200 to spend on custom molded, very high end ear protection, I suggest these. I typically can't stand any ear plugs and usually pull them out after the first song and say, "f*ck it." With these, I went through a 3 hour practice and I didn't really think about them being in my ears for most of the time.

[bluetele54]

...for a while now...seven years with Elvin Bishop didn't help,as EB liked to play loud!!!...

...I'm secure in being able to get a sound at low volume,so I try to play with folks that are the same way...small amps,and dynamic players in all "chairs" help...

...even classical players get it...I've read the ones who play near the brass have issues,but I figure when it gets to forte and then to triple forte,you're gonna' suffer no matter where you're placed...

...even being on the street in an urban environment can lead to hearing loss and cause tinnitus...I remember hitting caps with a hammer as a kid (dumb kid),and one time it caused hearing loss for a couple of days in my right ear...

...part of the territory is hearing loss...turn down,make a statement in a graceful manner...

...problem is,too many of the obnoxious,talent challenged are trying to be heard,and we have to suffer their insensitivity...

[MikeSRV69]

I am kind of amazed that I don't have ear issues. I am 42 and have played out since junior high. I have never worn plugs. I did, however, give up the heavy metal thing in late high school and thusly have not spent the years since standing in front of a half stack. I play blues, rockabilly, country, etc, all 'small amp' styles in comparison. I always put my amp up on something so I can hear it better without being too loud. Whatever the reason, I am glad I don't need plugs, as I don't like playing with them. I figure if I need to put plugs in, we are just too damn loud and need to turn down.

[Larry F]

Mine is pretty loud, but I always seem to ignore it. But listening to it now, it is pretty loud. High frequency steady tones, different notes in each ear.

[drewsblues]

Originally Posted by Larry F

Mine is pretty loud, but I always seem to ignore it. But listening to it now, it is pretty loud. High frequency steady tones, different notes in each ear.

Wow... what interval do you go around hearing? Hopefully it's consonant!

[e-merlin]

I've had it for probably half my life. I grew up on a farm, had loud cars and car stereos, and most of the trucks I've driven in my line of work haven't been very quiet either.

[cwcowell]

Lollapalooza '94 did me in. Both ears. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 24 hours a day.

As medical maladies go, it's pretty minor. But it can be incredibly aggravating.

[absurdplanet]

WOW! I am amazed at how many responded here.
Right now, my ears are ringing and it's not good!
In time it will pass . . . Hopefully before bed time--that's the worst.
When I hear the chirping sound--sometimes it sounds like crickets--that's when
it's hell on earth.
Oh well--it was worth it--thousands of great gigs--only wish I knew then what I know now.

[Buckocaster51]

Count me in.

I call it "The Crickets."

Is there a way to make all of the kids around here read this thread?

[Tele Joe]

I've had it for as long as I can remember and it is certainly no joke. I've been to the doctor and I have slight hearing loss. Sometimes it's really frustrating and upsetting. I've noticead it gets worse after being in a loud environment but also from eating junk food or salty foods.

[squeezebox]

About 5 years ago, mine started after getting a home recording studio and using headphones a lot....Prior to that, years of construction work and amplified music with no protection was how I lived

It comes and goes, although it's been going away a bit lately since I started on an ear wax removal regimen that started after i had to go to the ear doc after my daughter shot water into my right ear with a "noodle" at the pool....forced a bunch of wax deep into the ear canal...happened on a Saturday, so I spent a long weekend basically deaf in my right ear 'til I could get to the Doc on Monday....(DEBROX is my ears new best friend)

Anyway.......Still no protection used at band practice even though I have some custom earplugs (still lose too much high end with them...shame on me for not using them) but I now always wear protection when using power tools, mowing the lawn, etc....even covered my ears during home "fireworks show" this past Saturday night

I warn my kids all the time now when I see them with ear buds plugged into their I-Pods to BE CAREFUL, TURN IT DOWN...hopefully it is not falling on deaf ears

[Mr. Saba]

Yep... me too. I credit standing too close to the PA system at too many concerts in High School, and then one summer I had a part-time job which required frequent use of a jack-hammer. Then 20-or-so years of riding a motorcycle without earplugs has given me a constant ring in both ears (I wear them when I ride now, though).

As others have noted, if it's too quiet when I try to sleep it becomes quite annoying, and I have fallen into the bad habit of sleeping with the television on to drown out the ringing. I should probably get a white-noise generator and turn off the TV...

[TELECASTERbstrd]

I'm in.

[emu!]

I've got it bad in the left ear...from a shotgun blast in the teen years.

BUT, my mother always complained of ringing in her ears, and she NEVER shot guns or listened to loud music. I think tinnitus comes with age.

I was really hoping those new-fangled lasers could fix the ringing...kinda like they can fix your bad eyesight. Maybe there will be a break-through. Lord knows there's a HUGE marked for a fix of some sort.

[JimmyJam]

Got it in my right ear.
My eardrum can stand loud noise only so long before I feel the buzzing.

[TxTeleMan]

Both ears. Several years.

[Dep]

I have it in both ears.

It came from spending too much time shooting on a FATS machine (Fire Arms Training System) that used actual primers in the guns used to shoot the screen.

Had I worn ear plugs, I'd probably be fine today.

Dep