Anyone suffer from Tinnitus?

[trackfive]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else suffer from Tinnitus...mild or severe? I've been to one too many loud shows in my time and I now have the ringing in my ears that never goes away. It's only noticeable in a super quiet room, but it's always there. Besides lowering the listening level, is there anything else you people do to prevent it from getting worse?

[Sugarite]

Foam earplugs work great if you put them in sideways and only cover the ear opening rather than stuffing them in. Knowing when it's too loud is the most important factor.

[Kickin.da.speaker]

I've had tinnitus for about 7 years now. It started when I started sound engineering, and not because of loud levels, but because of repeated long period of listening.

Anyway, It used to drive me crazy but I just got used to it. Since then I've performed shows were the level was unreasonable, and the tinnitus gets terrible for half a day or so, and then I forget it's even there.

[accession]

Yep! I've got it, mild though, I think/hope. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

The worst offender to the cause I find is monitoring with headphones. How loud are headphones? Has anyone SPL tested them to see what a safe listening level is? There's just no way of knowing how loud they really are.

Phil

[toecat]

Funny about 5 years ago I suffer from a minor case. Went to a Dwight Yoakam concert, it last for about a week. Funny I alway thought it would happen at a rock or heavy metal show, not a country show. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[wcody]

I've suffered from tinnitus for years (like most, too many db's). Earplugs are the way to go. If you don't mind spending the money (about $100), visit your local audiologist and get a set of "musician's earplugs." They take a personal mold of your ear canal, and different attenuating filters are available. Nice thing is that they attenuate the sound fairly evenly across the audio spectrum. I gig with them all the time.

This web page gives a nice description of these ear plugs.

Also, to help me sleep (which is usually a quiet time!) I use one of those "sound soother" noisemakers set to "waves" or some other white noise. It effectively masks the ringing, and I can get some sleep.

[wcody]

I've suffered from tinnitus for years (like most, too many db's). Earplugs are the way to go. If you don't mind spending the money (about $100), visit your local audiologist and get a set of "musician's earplugs." They take a personal mold of your ear canal, and different attenuating filters are available. Nice thing is that they attenuate the sound fairly evenly across the audio spectrum. I gig with them all the time.

This web page gives a nice description of these ear plugs.

Also, to help me sleep (which is usually a quiet time!) I use one of those "sound soother" noisemakers set to "waves" or some other white noise. It effectively masks the ringing, and I can get some sleep.

[Doug Ring]

I've had a mild case of it for a number of years. The last time it was really bad was after a Steve Earle concert in The Barrowlands, Glasgow. That good ol' boy sure is deaf! I always put something in my ears now, even just cotton wool or tissue paper helps.

I found that swimming can help, as long as you get your head under water. It's just an easy way to wash out the inside of your ears. It may be that wax build up aggravates timmitus. I'm no doctor, I just know what works for me.

[syMPh]

i've had it since a middle ear infection at age 13! it wasn't till later on i discovered amplifiers etc,etc(like LOUD distorted ones!)... it's remained constant since it started and i find it quite easy to forget it's there! i'm just cautious of concerts with "distorted" PA's, i find that i can listen to a real loud band, as long as it's through a kinda clean PA. bad sounding PA's and awful tones kinda hurt my ears (yeh, yeh i know, bad sounds hurt everyone's ears!!) admittedly , i don't see live bands much lately... listen to your ears, do they say "give me a break" if they do, then give them one!! BTW, i find ordinary foam earplugs work well to keep high SPL's out, but if i'm mixing (or playing) the best earplug is the knob on the front panel of your 001, labelled vol!!! besides , if your in tune with your ears and you're really listening to what they're telling you (when they're sore, that is) , then your mixing is going to benefit by turning down also!! try not to let yourself get distracted from their needs and everything will be cool!! get your girlfriend/wife/partner/whatever {just as long as it's not rufus the dog}! to kiss them nightly!! hehe, it's a great excuse anyway!!

[McGriffy]

Oh yea, got some tinnitus these days. No doubt the years of loud gigs with no hearing protection, combined with all the practice for them, contributed. However, I trace the more immediate appearance of ringing in the last few years to a period of several months that I spent working directly in front of a rack of six or eight large compter servers. Medium to low level exposure over a long time can have an effect as well. Don't quote me on the numbers but I think I recall that the OSHA recommendation for an eight hour work day is down in the 90 to 95dB range. I'll bet many of us monitor louder than that in a control room. Yet one more reason for calibrated monitors. The film business has used 85dB as their reference point for a long time.

DMcG