Losing your hearing and music

[LiveMusic]

Wondering if anyone has moderate to severe hearing loss and how it has affected your music. Or maybe you know someone who has dealt with a severe problem.

 

I am 48. It's getting worse every year. I don't know if it's decades of playing loud music in my car or ten million rounds of shooting a shotgun but I am really losing my hearing. I don't shoot any more and I try not to crank my music up so loud. But what's done is done, I think. I don't think it's reversible at all. I might add that hearing loss also runs in my family.

 

I've lost high frequency hearing. When in a crowded environment like a restaurant or bar or cocktail party, it's especially bad. Any extraneous noises and I have mucho trouble hearing the conversation. In fact, it's getting bad enough now that even in quiet environments, I'm having trouble hearing normal conversation. I can hear sound but I can't understand what they're saying. Geez, this really worries me.

 

Has anyone gotten hearing aids? It won't be long until I'm forced to. Do they really work? How has affected playing music or enjoying music? I would be very sad to lose my hearing. Any hope here?

[oxford]

I have a son that is hearing impaired. My love of music has somewhat been a source of guilt for me because it's something he can not fully enjoy. That's a whole other story but in our experience there hasn't been a lot of innovation in the area of hearing impairment. There are some good hearing aids available and there is the coclear implant. But these are very expensive. The coclear implant will work on certain kinds of hearing loss, kinda like the eye laser surgery that's now available. If your seriously thinking about a hearing aid, go to an audiologist. They can gauge your level of hearing loss and make reccommendations. Don't fall for the cheap over the counter "miracle ear" type stuff.

Keep doing what you're doing. Guard your hearing!

[Skip_dup1]

The list of musicians who have suffered hearing loss is endless. Inside the ear are microfine hairs which resonate when stimulated by outside sounds. They then send a signal to the proper area of the brain. Excessive sound levels cause these hairs to fall flat-it`s a cumulative effect. In humans, the effect cannot be reversed. Ironically, birds-all birds-can make a full recovery from the same injury. Proper medical attention is essential here. If it`s not music-related, an external device is probably the way to go. It`s hard to imagine that kind of loss from a car stereo, but it may be a contributing factor.

[gtrmac]

The first thing to do is to have your hearing tested and examined by a doctor. I just had it done and luckily my hearing was normal for a person my age (52). I guess I was lucky that I stopped using Marshall Amps and gigging regularly about ten years ago. I only play gigs about once a month now and I use a small amp. I still notice some ringing when I get home though since the drums are enough to get my ears ringing. I am planning to use earplugs in the future which begs a question. What is the brand of earplugs that people find comfortable and which retain the frequency spectrum?

[timrocker]

Hi all;

I've used shooter's plugs or cheap foam plugs for my hearing for exactly twenty years now. Countless concerts, gigs, I always have a pair of plugs ready when I go to a situation like that. Now, it does take some getting used to. Everything sounds different with this type of plug (the foam ones used in industry etc.) so it might be a good idea to go ahead and do soundcheck without them and then get the plugs in before kickoff. I don't have experience with the spendier ones advertised specifically for musicians, they might be worth the extra money spent. I'd sure be interested in hearing (pun marker) from someone who's using them. Anyone?