Does anyone else suffer from Tinnitus?

[Mike Gug]

Does anyone else have any ringing in the ears? I'm 24/7 these days. I hate it.

 

Didn't ellwood just make a CD to demonstrate what the noise is like?

 

Does anyone regularly use hearing protection?

 

More importantly, has anyone ever had success in treating it?

 

Some good info. http://www.ata.org/

[Funk Jazz]

i have a little ringing in my left ear. coincidentally, the same side that was next to a loud drummer in a funk/rock band for 5 years.

 

i don't use hearing protection because i pretty much only play jazz these days. but i will throw in some plugs at loud concerts (like Gov't Mule will be on friday )

[Guitar55]

I have some ringing. Years ago I tried custom-made earplugs, but couldn;t hear anything with them. I think I'm going to try again. One good thing for me is that my band does a lot of outdoor shows which I believe should drastically cut down the potential for hearing damage. But I did spend years playing too loud in small bars.

[Billster]

I have a constant ringing in the upper register.

 

My last hearing test showed that I can still hear those frequencies, but there is a masking effect at low levels.

 

I feel a little effect from this in my ability to pick out a voice from across the room or in a noisy environment like a cocktail party.

 

I feel it was caused mostly by being too loud in cramped rehearsal spaces, and too close to the cymbals. Stoopid on my part.

 

I use attenuators now when the situation calls for it.

 

I've encountered other tinnitus sufferers who experience waves of white noise, and other horrible things. Thank God I'm not in that boat.

[picker]

I have a little bit of high freq ringing, but I only hear it when my ears get stopped up or something like that. These days, I have a hard time picking quiet sounds out of crowd noise, but that's about it. All in all, I came out pretty fortunate, considering all the abuse I put my ears to over the years.

[Mike Gug]

The products shown on the link you gave are equivalent to what I wore last night to a moderatley-not really TOO loud rock concert. It reduced sound by 12 db. That just doesn't seem significant. Is it?

 

I feel my plugs (Hearos) wouldn't be able to do the job at a majority of the shows I've seen in my life. It seemed like the difference, (with plugs vs. without) was small. The sound quality was better than the $.05 foam ones, by a LONG shot.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Originally posted by Mike Gug:

"It reduced sound by 12 db. That just doesn't seem significant. Is it?"

Well, a 12db boost is a nice kick for electric guitar; and the difference between a 50 watt head and a 100 watt head of otherwise identical design is generally around 6db. Just for a bit of a yardstick for ya...

 

I've always had a ringing in the background, since early childhood, so for years- decades, really- I didn't know that everyone wasn't always experiencing the same thing; I thought it was normal...

[Mike Gug]

Originally posted by Dances With Werewolves:

Originally posted by Mike Gug:

[qb]

I've always had a ringing in the background, since early childhood, so for years- decades, really- I didn't know that everyone wasn't always experiencing the same thing; I thought it was normal...

I've had some on and off as a kid. Right now (and for the last few months, it sounds like day two after standing next a main speaker at a medium-sized club.

 

Symptoms can be brought on by ear wax. I'm gonna see a GP (general practitioner, not the magazine)

[LPCustom]

I have multi-tone variable tinnitus in both ears. I've had it for probably 30 years. I don't recall when it started. I think it was gradual. But I remember having it when I went off to college in 1976.

 

I made a CD for my son to listen to that has the sounds that I hear with my tinnitus. Tinnitus is highly variable in the tones that people hear and the volume they hear it at. So a demo of one person's tinnitus may not sound anything like someone else's.

[DC Ross]

You're asking if anyone on a guitar forum suffers from tinnitus? Isn't it pretty much a given that we all do?

[Bbach1]

Originally posted by DC Ross:

You're asking if anyone on a guitar forum suffers from tinnitus? Isn't it pretty much a given that we all do?

You said it brother. My tinnitus is fierce sometimes, but I guess you just gotta live with it.

[Dr. Ellwood]

Yes I sure do! since about mid 70's I am pretty sure.

[Billster]

Originally posted by Mike Gug:

It reduced sound by 12 db. That just doesn't seem significant. Is it?

Decibels are logarithmic , not linear. So 20 dB is is not twice as loud as 10 dB, it is ten times as loud!

 

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/graphics/LI.GIF

 

 

If your rock concert is 100 dB (already loud) and you step up to 112, you are now more than ten times as loud.

 

Here\'s a chart of typical dB levels , things like normal conversation, subways roaring by, jet engines in your face...

 

So yeah, 12 dB IS significant.

 

Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers

[Ricardo.]

My first practice with my band was in a garage and right after the music stopped a ringing would go off for a bit; it was my first experience with the stuff. Since then I bought some cheap Planet Wave earplugs to stuff into my ear during playing especially after reading tinnitus horror stories. Hopefully won't end up with ears of a guitar player

[Dr. Ellwood]

Star ..You are a very smart young guitar player and you will be so glad you are protecting yourself!

[MILLO]

Absolutely EVERYONE has a little ringing and hum in their ears. This one is not tinnitus, but the sounds of our bodies' bloodstream, functions, etc. I'm not kidding.

 

Regarding actual tinnitus, whenever I rehearsed w/ my metal band in my high school years (we played Metallica, Pantera, Anthrax, etc) I would have it for like a day, but mild. Nothing compared to how it was the last time I had it--after a G3 concert in Chicago, at the Riviera. That was OUTRAGEOUS. I mean, what's the purpose of playing THAT loud in such a small venue, honestly? So that deaf soundmen and musicians can hear it? People were actually complaining on how distorted and shrill it sounded. THREE DAYS W/ TINNITUS AND DRASTICALLY REDUCED HEARING CAPABILITY, not kidding ya.

 

I've been playing for about 13 yrs. now, but mostly classical and acoustic music, so I've been spared. However, now I started playing w/ a worldbeat-ish funky pop band and I'll have to start wearing earplugs, definitely. I had my first gig w/ them last Friday and that felt a bit milder than the rehearsals. Im afraid the bass and the drums (we have a drummer playing the kit and a percussionist playing anyhting from pandeiros to timbales) can really f--k things up in this regard.

[rockitsauce]

I was a machine gunner in the Army and although they gave you earplugs, you simply could not hear fire commands over the other guns and chaos. It seemed absolutely retarded not to wear earplugs and I tried to lipread commands with earplugs in and it didnt work as I had to take my eyes off the weapon sights to do that and when I did that I had changed my sight picture when I came back to the gun buttstock. Nowadays I have to get a waiver for just about anything I wanna do in the Army because of it. Ah well. Some days it is louder than others but I can kind of tune it out if I think about other stuff.

[Basshappi]

Yes, I have a slight case of it. It seems to be in the high register. I also have some hearing loss in my right ear due to radiation treatments.

[Eric VB]

I've rarely had the ringing last through to the next morning after an evening practice/concert. But I agree that the biggest problem is standing too close to the drummer's cymbals. I haven't tried earplugs yet. I do find myself asking people to repeat themselves quite often these days. Odd, since I'm usually still the one that asks "did you hear that?" when no one else did. So, maybe I've just lost sensitivity for certain frequencies?

[Ricardo.]

If standing too close to the cymbals is the problem, how does the drummer end up? O.o

[Billster]

Originally posted by Starcaster:

If standing too close to the cymbals is the problem, how does the drummer end up? O.o

Sort of explains a few things about drummers, does't it?

[Mike Gug]

Originally posted by Starcaster:

If standing too close to the cymbals is the problem, how does the drummer end up? O.o

Don't know... Maybe the damaging/majority of the sound goes downward(?). So, if you're standing in front of a drum kit in front of a tilted crash cymbal... CRASH! That's where I was standing when I got my last temporary ringing increase.

[Eric VB]

Originally posted by Mike Gug:

Originally posted by Starcaster:

If standing too close to the cymbals is the problem, how does the drummer end up? O.o

Don't know... Maybe the damaging/majority of the sound goes downward(?). So, if you're standing in front of a drum kit in front of a tilted crash cymbal... CRASH! That's where I was standing when I got my last temporary ringing increase.

Yeah, definitely a difference between the drummer, sitting at arm's length from the crash and sitting below it, and other band members that due to lack of space must stand with the same crash within inches and at the same height as their ears. And, amazingly, the crash is rarely played softly.

 

How does the drummer end up? Well, put him between some Marshall stacks and hopefully he won't be able to hear himself play.

[Warthog]

I've not had ringing, but working on a flightline and in an airplane the past 12 years I'm getting some higher frequency hearing loss. Even with hearing protection and noise attenuation the non-audible frequencies of engines, etc. are damaging my ears.

[Guitar Slingin Woman]

I've had ringing in my ears for several years now (24/7). It started the day after the quietest gig I ever did in my life...go figure. I guess just too many performances with cymbals crashing next to me, a Fender Twin blaring from behind and a vocal monitor trying to blast through it all in front.

 

I finally broke down and bought in ear monitors. It was the best decision I ever made and I wish I had done it 5 years ago. Ear plugs always cut out too many of the frequencies I need to hear as a guitarist/vocalist. The in ears are pure joy after a short adjustment period.

 

http://www.lauriemorvan.com/avatars/lauriemorvan_150x284.jpg

[Mike Gug]

Originally posted by Guitar Slingin' Woman:

I've had ringing in my ears for several years now (24/7). It started the day after the quietest gig I ever did in my life...go figure. I guess just too many performances with cymbals crashing next to me, a Fender Twin blaring from behind and a vocal monitor trying to blast through it all in front.

 

I finally broke down and bought in ear monitors. It was the best decision I ever made and I wish I had done it 5 years ago. Ear plugs always cut out too many of the frequencies I need to hear as a guitarist/vocalist. The in ears are pure joy after a short adjustment period.

 

http://www.lauriemorvan.com/avatars/lauriemorvan_150x284.jpg

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for the input, so to speak (in-ears, get it?). I try...

 

OK, so what about these? They cut out sound and give only what a "monitor out" puts out? I guess a signal would go:

 

mixing board > monitor out > mini-amp > ear plugs > ears ?

[LPCustom]

Welcome to the forum!

 

Yeah, tinnitus is a real drag. I've had it so long, now that I can't really recall when I first noticed it. I was still in my teens, though.

 

Nice web site. Only one nit-picky thing. Is there a way to turn off that music intro on the main page? (sorry but I prefer to only play music when I ask for it since I usually have iTunes going in the background).

 

Checked out yer band's sound on iTunes. You guys rock! Nice and tight blues sound.

 

Oh, and watch out for Ellwood. (I'M JUST KIDDING ELLWOOD!! )

[Guitar Slingin Woman]

Sorry I'm slow to respond...so many band responsibilities I can't always do this kind of fun stuff as much as I would like.

 

To Mike: As for signal flow for my in ears...I actually have a small mixer I bought along with my whole system. I have Westone ear pieces, Shure PSM 700 trans/recvr, and also their little P4M mixer to feed into it. I run my vocal and guitar mics into the P4M mixer which has a unity gain through, so those mic signals just pass right through to the main board. I also put in a foldback mix from the main board which has all background vocals (and anything else I want "up front" in my in ear mix). Believe me, the drums and the bass bleed through plenty loud on their own!

 

To LPCustom...thanks for checkin' us out. Appreciate the kind words. As for the music that auto plays, there's no way to turn it off. We mostly have people really liking it but I kind of go back and forth about whether it should be there for the exact reason you mentioned. It's a tough call. I've had producer/record guys tell me it's a really powerful thing...sigh...one never knows the best thing to do for all situations!

 

Here's hoping we all hear (reasonably) well into our futures!