Going to a Concert with Tinnitus — Best Advice?

Hello all.

I am going to a concert and unfortunately I simply cannot NOT go because I am practically forced to. It lasts for around 2 hours and the sound intensity is 103 dB maximum (venue confirmed this).

My tinnitus includes: electricity noise, lower humming/ringing at night or at complete silence, fullness / pressured feeling on the right ear, clicking noises / fluid (possibly?), pressured feeling after hearing a noise at one side (believe this could be TTTS?) -- it's not pretty.
I would describe the noise as very tolerable to moderate at day but very annoying at night. I believe I am going through a spike at this moment, possibly because I have finals and overall I've been very stressed since a month ago.

I have bought Peltor X4 33 dB earmuffs and I have 37 db foam earplugs.

Any tips to get the least damage possible? E.g. frequent breaks, how frequent would it have to be?

 

2 hours 103db... You'd be very lucky not to get any damage. It will be very dependent ob the size of the venue and location of seats. If it's big and you're on the balcony, you'd probably be able to avoid worsening. On the other hand if you're close, your protection is irrelevant and it can get really disastrous.

Seeing that you got T just late in the past year, you're probably not realising the extent of the problem you're dealing with. If it's just annoying now, it's hard to process how much worse it can get. Both tinnitus and fullness can get so much worse... It can be life ending easily, or at least the ending of usual lifestyle.

So reading that you're "forced to go" seems odd to me, in mind it sounds like you're forced to jump of a cliff. So i wish you a lucky safe landing. But compared to a fall, if it's not, the suffering will be very prolonged.

 

Are you kidnapped by terrorist forcing you to go?
Or forced to go as in "having social pressures"?

You don't have to go.

 

Also the ear fullness is not fluid behind the ear, it's damage from loud noise.

 

Don't go. Can't you give your family member the ticket to go with your sibling.

 

Having got my tinnitus from a concert, there is no artist alive that would tempt me into going to another...

 

How are you being forced to? Is it a part of your job or something, or are friends/family forcing you to go?

 

I am curious as to why you HAVE to go...

 

Call the police if someone forces you to go against your will.

 

If you going you are accepting responsibility for your own T...make sure you take time to ask yourself if the risk is worth it...

 

If you want to get the highest probability of the least damage possible, what you should do is not go.

Note,

In any case, in case you decide to go:

 

Literally tons of stories online of people still drumming in bands after developing moderate tinnitus. I can’t imagine how bad it gets permanently. Ozzy Osbourne hears tinnitus louder than his wife’s voice mostly...

The drummer from Slipknot’s has tinnitus so bad he has to run out halfway through sets.

 

You can´t go. Sorry. I went to a concert with plugs 19 months ago and I made it permantly worse. Right now I am having a spike after 3 moderate days, only because I slept a 10 minutes nap.

 

I saw your post on reddit, and it seems like you want to go and are also being forced to. We are giving you the best advice possible to not have any damage, which is NOT GOING. It's not optimism you should want to hear, but it is the reality - but if you want to go then, you should make your breaks incredibly frequent. Never take your ears plug out, until you're safe from any damaging sounds after the concert. After the concert, lie low for awhile since you already HAVE tinnitus, which possibly means no restaurants, or such, because I was always warned to rest my ears for a week after a concert, but since with tinnitus, I would make that duration longer. Don't put phones near your ear, no headphones, no alarms, no slamming doors. Be vigilant. TRY not to scream with the ear plugs in your ears.

Take some mag, nac, nicotinamide riboside all before the concert for at least three days before and after for awhile.
Say a prayer.

 

Best plan is to simply avoid the exposure, and stay home from the concert. And sometimes the simplest solution is the best one! I have accepted I am never going to a rock concert ever again.

 

Same. I would never step into a venue that has information about the highest decibel exposure being 103 dbs knowingly. Isn't that kind of shit illegal first of all. WHY AREN'T THEY CONTROLLING IT?

103 decibels from how far first of all, too.... lol..

 

You must not go; my T&H was caused by concerts.

If you you were a diabetic, who had unstable sugar levels... you could not eat 2 whole chocolate cakes without going into a diabetic coma... same difference. 2 hours @ 103 db is like doing the same thing.

Please do not go!

 

I really hope your family and your sibling understand the severity of what they're doing to you.

I hope you understand it too.

 

If youre gonna go anyway make sure you use triple protection and take breaks...dont stay for the whole thing

 

OP, why not tell everyone why you are 'practically forced to go?' Peer pressure? Family wants you to for some reason? Perhaps, someone here can help with advice if you provide more info on that.

The consensus here is unanimous urging you not to go. There must be some way to get out of it.