Worrying About Friends and Family Getting Tinnitus from Loud Noises

Hi everyone,

Just joined this board but have had tinnitus since 2003. Managed to Habituate for over a decade but one stupid error not wearing hearing protection put me in that time machine and tinnitus is the Devil inside my head again. However, I am committed to recovery for the second time and thanks to the people who offered support and insight when I introduced myself.

Anyway just a quick one. Over the years I literally cringe when I see people going to concerts/events with no hearing protection. I also watched the Rolling Stones documentary on Netflix and notice one of the guitarists rocking without any protection in his ears. Is he already deaf and just plays on instinct?

Anyway, I worry so much about my family and friends getting tinnitus. My girlfriend goes to concerts all the time and refuses to wear ear plugs. My dad went to see Bruce Springsteen perform for 3 hours in an arena and I told him to wear ear plugs. He was just like "Nahhh."

But the thing that infuriated me the most was my 5 year old nephew went to his first School Dance (I didn't realize they did this at 5 but there ya go) and when picking him up I could hear the music from the building clearly as soon as I entered the street. I was so mad. 5 year olds with no idea getting blasted with that shit.

Anyway, point is I worry about my family/friends as I don't want this to happen to them and people are so reluctant to take precaution. I feel like every speaker, concert, Football arena should have a warning label like a cigarette pack. "Entering this venue may cause tinnitus and ruin your life for days, weeks, months or years. Hearing protection is advised."

Anyway rant over and good luck to you all.

Simon

 

Great rant, and totally agree. I am amazed also at how many landscaping crews that do this all day have zero protection, with industrial equipment so loud that I am bothered by it several houses away. There is no way they are not doing damage, and will eventually be deaf.

My own theory is that not everyone gets tinnitus, some just go deaf slowly, and hardly notice until it is too late.

 

The truth is, most people live like that and are fine... I guess we lost the genetic lottery or something

Talked to a friend who has played 200 loud metal shows without using earplugs, some so loud he described his ears "sparkling" from the sound levels. He got tinnitus for 2-3 days after most shows, yet no permanent tinnitus yet.

And here I am, never been to a show without earplugs or been in any loud situations at all really. Just headphones at moderate volume for too long, probably

 

You are warning them. That is about all you can do.

 

It may be a genetic lottery for some of us. For others, if your ears are bombarded by ridiculous levels of noise for long enough, then anyone's hearing would suffer. Just look at all the rock legends who have tinnitus. Lots of my friends in their 40s and 50s say they have it too. What's scarier is the number of kids and teens appearing on this forum in despair. They've come to a good place for help for sure, but what are we doing to ourselves and the next generation?

 

As soon as i got tinnitus I told my younger brother to get some ear plugs for him and his wife when going to concerts. He has never worn ear plugs in 30 years of going to concerts, even though a friend of his often tried to persuade him. Now he realises how bad I have tinnitus, he's gone out and bought some. Hope for his sake he doesn't get chronic tinnitus, although he has had temporary tinnitus after concerts many times.

 

There is honestly not much you can do aside from warning them.
Most people simply won't believe that a horrid, incurable condition like this can even exist in this day and age, especially when there are pills available for just about anything you can shake your stick at.

Think of it this way:
Most people either never heard of it, or don't think it is a big deal.
Some even think, that Tinnitus will just magically stop when you are tired and trying to get sleep, as the relentless 24/7 torture is mostly a foreign concept to them.
So your family should have at least some kind of an advantage over the rest, by having you explaining what a waking nightmare this could be.

 

Six months after I got tinnitus I warned my father to stop using his noisy hedge trimmers without hearing protection but he didn't, few months later he got tinnitus.

Still, plenty of people do risky things without getting tinnitus. I know people who went to lots of gigs who don't have it.

 

I have long stopped warning people outside my close family. I made an exception last week. One of my best friends was going to a festival. I recently had a spike so I warned him about tinnitus. His literal response:

"Don't worry, I have strong ears, I know what they can handle."

That's from someone who knows what I'm going through. He knows I stopped clubbing with him because of tinnitus. He later told me he got all the way to the front of the crow, dancing just next to one of the speakers. If I did that I'd have life-disabling hyperacusis and tinnitus that couldn't be masked by anything. Of course he's fine.

And I'm going to say something very controversial: I don't care anymore. I hope more people will get tinnitus so they will finally do something about 1) a cure and 2) the overall loudness of our society. That being said, I do not wish for anyone to experience hyperacusis.

But honestly, when a biker sees that I'm putting my fingers in my ears and he makes extra noise, I hope he'll get tinnitus too.

Of all the people I know, only 1 friend and my dad started wearing plugs frequently when finding out about my tinnitus.