A Big Hello from The Netherlands — I Used to Be a Professional Musician and Music Teacher

My name is Stefan Terpstra, I'm from The Netherlands. I'm a teacher in secondary education in the Dutch Language. I used to be a professional musician and music teacher. I have two daughters and am married. Besides music, drawing and swimming are my hobbies. I also like to read.

When I started as a musician in the 80s, I played in a band and spent a lot of time on music. After that, I was allowed to study at the conservatory, as a pianist of pop and jazz music. Between the ages of 15 and 30, I did little to protect myself. Fortunately, I started to wear earplugs around the age of thirty. Yet I have been suffering from tinnitus for about 15 years. The left ear is sensitive to noise. Furthermore, I hear a hiss and sometimes a beep around 1 kHz. My right ear is fine.

To deal with tinnitus, I use hearing protection. Furthermore, the ZEM hearing protection helps with hypersensitivity. Sometimes I use masking techniques.

Fortunately, there are still days or weeks that I hardly suffer from it. When I'm stressed, tired, or both, my ears become sensitive and I can get irritated very easily. The fact that I no longer have 8 hours of noise around me has also helped enormously. I have learned to live with it, but I must add that tinnitus has been one of the reasons that I have chosen a different profession. I stopped teaching music and I don't perform anymore. Music has become a hobby again, which I am honestly very happy with.

 

Hello there Stefan, just wanted to welcome you to the forum. It looks like you've taken a number of measures to reduce your suffering including transforming your career into an enjoyable hobby. I'm early on, relatively speaking, my onset was in late March this year. So I'm very much still trying to live with it.

I've visited The Netherlands a couple of times, and I've enjoyed it both times. It's on my short list of places I could imagine moving to.

What instrument do you most enjoy playing?

 

Thank you for the welcome. It may take a while to get used to it. Taking measures worked well for me. Better to do that than ignore it.

I studied piano in my twenties. I have been a piano teacher for a long time, but I have left that behind. I haven't been able to play for the past few years. My motivation is also not that great. I have two children and to be honest, I would rather spend time with them than play a lot again. I am busy with music every day. We listen to a lot of music and my brain never stops. I always think about music.

 

Ah, piano is a pretty loud instrument My son plays piano. When I first got tinnitus, I had to go to the other side of the house or wear earplugs to cope. I've slowly gotten used to it, so I can be in the next room and can bear it. Sound therapy has been helpful for me, and meditation, and seeing a chiropractor, and therapy (starting to be a long list haha).

Music can be such an integral part of our lives. People with tinnitus will even risk going to loud festivals to experience it. I enjoy music, but lately I've been hearing it less due to listening to a lot of nature sounds, like rain, fountain, and river noises.