oyajipunk Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 I have a history of being around road-racing motorcycles, with very loud exhausts, and live music, and of course the drums. I have always tried to use ear plugs, but sometimes didn't. Since about a month ago, I have noticed a ringing in my ears. It confuses me because it is close to 10 years since I was around motorcycles, and the same time since I stopped going to live gigs regularly. I still play the drums, but always with earplugs, and haven't even played live or been to a live gig for six months. Why would my ears start ringing now? Anybody who has been diagnosed with tinnitus, how did you first know you had a problem? Immediately after an event? Years after? I want to hear from other people before going to the doctor's for the bad news... Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerCafe Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 Well, I'm obviously not a doctor, but here a few facts about Tinnitus that may help you figure out what's going on. We hear by means of sound waves which pass through the external auditory canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate.The vibrations are transmitted by the three small bones, the auditory ossicles in the middle ear to the cochlea. The fluid inside the cochlea is set in motion and this in turn stimulates the nerve endings in the cochlea.The impulses are transmitted to the brain via the auditory nerve, where the sensation of sound is perceived.A common cause of Tinnitus (and Hyperacusis) is when the tiny hairs in the cochlea are damaged due to exposure to loud noises or a blow to the head.There is a conductive cartilage and bone surrounding the ear as well as blood vessels and nerves to and from the ear. All of these play a part in hearing and they can play a part in Tinnitus.There are structures in the brain that can also interfere with the perception of sound which results in Tinnitus.There are also numerous medical procedures and medications that can cause or aggravate Tinnitus. There are documented cases of Tinnitus coming on people from tragic events in their lives, such as a death in the family. Loud sounds are not the only cause for Tinnitus. The good news is, it's never to late to treat it! I would encourage you to take this very seriously, as I'm sure you are, and try to figure out what has caused it. You may or may not have nerve damage. Damage to the ear drum doesn't always mean you have nerve damage. I would be curious to hear from you (no pun intended); tell us what the Tinnitus sounds like or what noises do you here? Buzzing, hissing, reverberating, echoing, humming, clucking or cracking, gurgling or whirring sounds? All of this will help diagnosis your problem. Drummer Cafe - community drum & percussion forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passeist Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 Sorry to be so obvious, but see a doctor. It could be serious. On the other hand, ringing in the ears can be caused by something as minor as a bit of allergies or sinus blockage. Best to get it checked out, just in case. I've read in a number of places that once you have tinnitus it never goes away. Not true. I had a pronounced ringing in my ears for nearly three years and it did go away, although my right ear remains sensitive to loud volumes and high frequencies. I still can't get over how stupid I was. I used earplugs all the time when playing, and at particularly loud shows, but still I had the ringing in my ears. Somehow, I was too dense to realize that using power tools without earplugs was the source of the problem, not drumming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidereal Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 You can even get symptoms from some sort of dental problems like tooth decay. The point is, yeah, go to a doctor, go to a dentist, go get it checked out. If there's no diagnosis physically, it could be a mental thing. Ringing in the ears is weird like that. Incidentally, I was working on a sound design project a few years ago and I was tweaking a waveform with massively high frequency overtones... through headphones at high volumes and for too long a period of time. Stupid move. I had congestion in my ears, followed the next day by ringing. The ringing kept me awake nights and didn't go away for about 5 days... they were the worst 5 days I can remember. A real psychological mind-fuck. I take much better care of my ears now. Man... this subject always depresses me. Be good to your ears kiddies... and eat your vegetables. Just for the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyajipunk Posted December 21, 2001 Author Share Posted December 21, 2001 Thanks for the information people. I do intend going to a doctor, I just wanted to study up on the topic a bit first. With the help of your information I feel I will be able to help the doctor help me more (does that make sense?). I.E. I will be able to answer his questions and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. I'll report on the results. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubeDude Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 Wait til you have your 1st anxiety attack because of it. Very nice. You'll start thinking "maybe I'm going deaf" and freak the hell out. My ears ring almost as loud as the average ambient noise... highly irritating, and it freaks me out when I try to sleep. Aspirin will also induce this miserable experience from allergies. Get some custom fitted plugs that have a flat freq response, and you'll be very happy with them compared to the funky foam ones that kill your music. Heres a link to one of my posts elsewhere... http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36129&highlight=tinnitus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwarf Posted December 22, 2001 Share Posted December 22, 2001 One thing that hasn't been mentioned - when you do damage to your ears when you're younger the ringing usually goes away kinda quickly. What happens is that, as you get older - say middle age, the hairs inside your ears which have taken so much damage up to that point decide that they've had too much and die. It is quite possible that you can develop tinnitus in your forties while not having had exposure to loud sounds for several years. Now that I'm 37 I'm dreading the time when the damage I inflicted on myself in my teens and early twenties catches up to me. -- Rob I have the mind of a criminal genius.....I keep it in the freezer next to mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted December 26, 2001 Share Posted December 26, 2001 There is an interesting approach to tinnitus based on the idea that the best therapy is to learn to ignore it, just like you learn to ignore the sound of the refrigerator running 99.9% of the time. Check out: http://www.tinnitus.org/home/THC1.htm FWIW, I just turned 50 and have been waiting for the excesses of my youth to catch up with me, but so far they haven't. I started using ear plugs in my early 20s when I worked in a sawmill, and it seems to have payed off. I currently use Etymotics ER20s whenever I play drums or in a band with a drummer (I also play bass). I get occasional ringing in the ears, but it goes away within a few hours. Aspirin family products are the biggest cause of this for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyajipunk Posted December 28, 2001 Author Share Posted December 28, 2001 First, thanks for all the information everyone. I finally went to the doctor's today to have my ears checked out. The result was that yes, my hearing did show damage from possible over exposure to loud noise, but that this was not necessarily linked to the ringing I am hearing now, or the slight dizzyness I have been experiencing recently. So, I got some medicine for dizzyness, and more to 'relax' the nerves or whatever in my ear. The doctor could not suggest what brought on the ringing, maybe a recent plane flight, maybe stress, maybe fatigue. I will try this medicine for a couple of weeks, but I have hopes that I don't have tinnitus. Even if I did, the site Ben posted is an excellent boost to the confidence, in that even if you do have tinnitus there is still hope! Thanks Ben! I'm glad I posted on this board, I think the result has been a very informative and helpful thread to many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubeDude Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 I'm going in a days... what did he give you, and has it worked at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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