Ears ringing permanantly, but I still love playing music, argh!

My band are brilliant, and I love playing music, but this is becoming a really heartbreaking decision.

Every time we play, I spend days with earache and constant ringing. (I still get the ringing even when we don't play after many weeks just not as bad).

Would be nice to hear from some other people out there and hear how they are dealing with life.

Take care folks.

 

Have you tried the musicians earplus? I have some for when I attend gigs and when I DJ, I find them to be excellent. They stay pretty true to the sound, I don't play an instrument though, so you may find it more difficult to change to them. I got mine from:

http://www.acscustom.com/uk/

 

I always use earplugs when rehearsing with my band, and try to use them when gigging. I fucking hate the loss of top-end, but you can get used to it. The feeling when you take them out after rehearsals and you can still hear properly is divine, and worth the downside.

 

Hi - Yes I do use earplugs. I couldn't comprehend playing without now. the musicians one's just aren't powerful enough, and anything more heavy duty cuts out so much sound I can barely hear any clarity in what I'm playing.

Even with the plugs I get really sensitive ears for a few days after and definite increase in my tinnitus..... Sorry state of affairs!!

Thanks for the advice though.

 

Does anyone have any views on whether or not ear damage will increase, even if I wear earplugs? I still plan on continuing to play with earplugs and just put up with the increased sensitivity for a few days after.

 

Don't kill your joy to cater to your tinnitus continue with your music safely with ear plugs

 

Yeah I know what you mean. I've only had it for less than a year, so I'm still getting my head around dealing with it and still nervous that it will get lots worse.

I would never gig without earplugs now and keep telling my bandmates to wear them.

Last night was bloody awful! Lying there for hours, but I've realised that I need to deal with this, its not going away, and I need to keep enjoying life!! Its just bloody annoying when you can't get to sleep for ringing!!! : ) Oh well, there are worse things to have I suppose.

 

There are not many worse things then having tinnitus but knowing this and knowing how I feel about it now surely allows me to believe whole heatedly that your peace with be with you even with tinnitus and in the same way your peace was with you before you had it! There is no dealing with tinnitus just know you will have it and you can live with it! Oh yes you can Not because others can but truly because you Chris can

 

How do you get to that point Laperson? I'm nowhere near that. Mind you, mine keeps getting worse and Im now at the point where I seem to need to be able to hear it all the time to keep my eye on it. It know that is very bad.

 

I just read Pete Townsends book. He has had tinnitus for around 40 years. he describes in the book about it getting worse. But yet he has always played his music. he doesnt say in the book how or what he does to not make it worse which was dissapointing

 

Hi BCLover,

The book says it DID get worse for him though you said?So maybe he didnt do anything and that's why?

I see you've had it for a long time. Have you not habituated at all?

 

Hi Louise. Yes he says over the years his ears got worse but he doesnt elaborate if or what he has done about it. But he still gets in front of a drummer and a stack of amps which you would think would make it out of control.
Yea I first noticed it in the 80,s and only occasionally thought about it. But I always had problems with wax build up and plugging up when swimming. A few years ago I started thinking about it more but not too much. Just over a year ago I went to have my ears cleaned out again and the replacement doc was very rough in there. Hurting my ear drum.Seemed not too long after that my T began to get worse. Over the last few months I have had many up and down days. But this past week has not been good. On my mind all the time. So I guess to answer your question, I was habituated to it but now that it is worse it is something hard to ignore

 

I know how it feels to have it on your mind all the time.

It sounds like your doctor could've caused the problem. Maybe it could settle back down for you though.

I'm not surprised Pete Townsend's got worse. Even with earplugs the noise must surely get through.

 

Hi Louise. As for Pete I dont understand how he could have still done what he did with tinnitus. All he says is his ears are worse but he doesnt dwell on it at all.
My T was also caused by music. Johnny Winter was the main culprit. For years and years, I knew my ears rang but I never thought to much about it. I didnt even know about tinnitus.I wish I had of because over the years I subjected myself to much loud music and other sounds. I just didnt think it would or could get worse. And when I did come to my senses it still didnt get worse. Was only when I started to protect myself more things went downhill. And who knows if that doctor made things worse by poking my eardrum.
You I am sure are a lot younger than me and havnt had it long so things may improve for you knowing what I didnt know

 

How did you protect yourself more?

I have had it 6.5 months and its got worse in that time. I wish it would improve

 

Number 1 I have stayed away from loud music. I plug my ears when doing anything, even vacuming and using the coffee grinder. But it seems since I started doing those things it got worse. For the last year it would get louder then after 3 days I would find it would be better. Then after a few days it would gradually get louder again. Now for the past 5 or 6 days it is staying louder. I want so much for it to come down again

 

I know how you are feeling. I also use plugs for vacuuming. Driving too as my car is loud. I've just been caught out again... went out for lunch and was wearing plugs as was sat too close to a speaker (not on very loud) and an old friend came in so I took out the plugs to talk, to say hello, but we chatted for 10 minutes. I wasnt thinking. Last night it really ramped up in both ears and is the worst its been. Strangely, yesterday morning it was noticeably quiet, sort of more 'distant' and that's the first time I'd noticed it change for the better

 

I too have been caught with no plugs then a loud noise hits me. Recently I was at a hockey game and there was a guy behind me who rather than cheer would whistle, a loud piercing whistle. I have found myself in noisy places with no plugs and have rolled up leaves and stuck them in my ears. Also toilet paper and kleenex works good

 

Thanks, that actually made me laugh

After you've been caught out like that does your t go loud and then come back down?

 

I know. I always worry someone will see me with a rolled up leaf stuck in my ears.Yea it seems it always goes back down again. I would say though it stays at a higher pitch for more days than a lower one. Like this morning for instance. When I woke I listened for it and it was for sure at a lower pitch. But it seemed the more I listened to it I could hear it getting louder. So as I type now it is for sure louder than yesterday. I hate it. Seems so unfair why we are being tormented like this.

 

Can I joined the musican club? My tinnitus started on July 17th, 2012. I'm 56 years old and I support music by allowing my son to play the drum set. My son plays the drums for about four years. I thought his closed door would damper the sounds but I made a bad decision and didn't wear any protective ear plugs. The sound was too loud it came through the closed door. I'm still hitting myself for doing such a foolish thing. I thought it would never happen to me. I thought you just go deaf but no one warned me I would develop tinnitus. My husband disagrees with me about my son's drumming caused my tinnitus because it would effect both ears and he was in livingroom with me. I lost the high frequency hearing in my left ear. The tinnitus isn't bad when I'm alone concentrating or trying to get to sleep but I have problems being in the classroom with kids. The sound is very distracting. I went to the VA and I'm being fitted with a special masking hearing aid so I can work.

I served in the Navy from 1980-1986. I was around noisy equipment. I am bipolar so I listen to very loud music during my mixed episodes during my younger years. So I guess I used my allotment of hearing cells. When he comes home from Roosevelt University Conservatory of Music I'm going to wear ear plugs because they say the loud sounds will aggrevate the tinnitus. I'm still hitting myself for doing a foolish thing.

 

Hi all, in case your interested here's how it has panned out so far.

I got some great earplugs (custom moulded for £25). I've learnt to deal with t now better, it still bothers me and is always here but I have learnt to tune it out a bit better now and not let it get down.

I still play with the band and After loud gigs I notice it going up a bit, but not massively and it goes down.

So my experience is that looking after your ears while playing means I can still do the thing I love. Its not ideal as i cant hear my playing as well, but hey ho.mI always tell people in the band to wear earplugs now!

Stay positive folks, it might get better : )

 

It probably tipped you over the edge of hearing loss Lisa. Your hubby maybe didnt have enough hearing loss already for it to tip him. You can have more hearing loss in one ear than the other and hence T only in one ear.

What I'm 'worried' about though is your son. If you can get it from his drums then he really is at risk.

 

Louise,
My son wears hearing protection at all times while on the drums. I warned him to protect his ears. When I left the service they told me my left ear was weaker than the right but I didn't think anything about it. I'm trying my best not to get myself down. There's so much to live for and I have to be a role model for my grown kids. I get up in the morning with a positive attitude. The interesting thing was I didn't experience any ringing in my ears during my onlaught. I had no warning.

 

Hi, my story is almost the same as you describe. My ringing also increases after every show even though I wear earplugs. I have a question - my earplugs block off the highs and mids, which is probably ok to protect the ear, but the bass frequencies from bass guitar and bass drum still come through loudly, which is very unpleasant and I think this is causing my increased ringing after the show. Do you have similar experience? Or does your earplugs filtr bass too? Thanks!

 

I'm somewhat of a musician myself, same age, and have just started playing piano again the last few months after quite a few years neglecting the hobby. Stubborn determination; I'm not going to allow tinnitus to take music out of my life. While I find it virtually impossible to sit down and play on the days when the T is at excruciating levels, most times I don't take into consideration whether it'll make it worse or not. And I normally play very loud; not a lot of finesse. While I try to avoid sharp noises that instantly bring my T to the forefront, ya gotta live, baby! And music is definitely part of life's enrichment.

 

It's the exact same situation with me. I was an avid concert goer before my tinnitus set-in. I wore plugs to ever show but the damage still managed to sink in. Today my ears can't take the kick or the bass; it cuts through me like a knife. I basically just stopped going to concerts.

Oh well, I've seen all the greats anyway.

 

Hi There,

I just found this forum after going through a pretty similar experience so far. I've only just developed tinnitus in the past month after recently joining a band and stupidly not using any ear protection for the first 4 or 5 rehearsals. I used to be in a band at uni 10 years ago and never wore any protection so these recent rehearsals seemed to have kicked it off.

Once I realised I had it I started using ear protection. Initially tried a set of Elacin ER20S which were good to play with but I realised weren't enough protection. I then moved on to the foam Hearos which are rated at 33DB attenuation. I don't enjoy using them but it's better to protect my ears.

I bought a decibel meter to practice and could see that we're playing at about 110DB, so with the ear plugs I should be in the safe range (<85DB), however, despite using them my ears just seem to be ringing more. They were fine straight after practice but I struggled to sleep and the tinnitus just seems to be more noticeable in my head.

I guess I'm worried like other people on this post in that I want to keep playing in the band, and am using protection but don't want the tinnitus to get any worse. Feeling quite down about it but I tend to read that the consensus is people get through it.

Cheers
Ben

 

Hi Ben, I know they say that 85db is the threshold at which you start getting noise damage but I think that T can be affected under this level.

Why don't you get them to stop playing so loud? Why does anyone need to hear music at 110db?

 

Hey Louise, thanks for the quick reply.

The main problem is that we're in a fairly enclosed practice space and the volume is effectively set by the drummer who plays at a certain volume. Because we're a rock covers band, asking the drummer to play quieter doesn't really work as a certain amount of energy is required to play the songs appropriately. Comparatively speaking i think we're relatively quiet compared to other bands or going to a rock convert.

I'm interested that you mention T can be affected below 85DB, obviously this thread suggests that might actually be the case but have you got any information I could take a look at as I'd be really interested to see it. All the published material I've seen has suggested 85DB and that is meant to allow up to 8 hours exposure. Obviously my T has been agitated since practice last night, but I don't know how much of it is me over analysing and obviously being a bit sensitive about it after a practice.

Cheers