Fine While Playing Music, Tinnitus Increases the Day After...

Wednesday I played my first gig in 8 months. All health professionals I spoke to said that I should be OK, only that I may notice an increase the following day, which would go away.

I did about 4hrs of driving in total (3hrs with earplugs), did multiple soundchecks (w/ custom earplugs) and finally played two 1hr sets (w/ foam earplugs).
All this time, I felt perfectly fine. The next morning, I still felt fine, but did notice a slight increase after 1hr of being awake. That day my T went from left ear only to both, and increased in volume a bit. It's now Friday 12:30 (PM) and my ears are still ringing louder than usual.
The gig wasn't excessively loud at all, I wasn't worried about my ears, and I'm not panicking now either.

Is there any explanation for this?
You'd expect that an increase would be immediate, not after 36hrs or so. That's also what I remember from an event 13 years ago, having temporary tinnitus immediately after being exposed to loud music, which then went away soon enough.

Complicating factors may be: slight braces adjustment on Wednesday morning; I've been under a ton of school-related stress over the last weeks; sleep schedule was disrupted (although I've caught up on sleeping now), and the gig itself meant lots of preparing/planning, and I was responsible for taking another two musicians with me in the car.

 

Why are you analyzing it when obviously your T is affected by these activities?

 

I know what you're going through bro. I recently started gigging again and afterwards I am like am I ok? Is it louder? I also felt great after the gig/the next day and I think that is some long residual inhibition. But the around 24-48 houes later I got a spike.
I think I just can't play for long anymore unless I'm playing a quiet nylon stringed with my fingers.
My advice is just accept it and stay out of monitoring mode. I've been doing that a lot this week as I had a few good days and was like 'sh#t son of a bitch ' when it went back to normal. I guess we are just out of control. I'd say you are fine but only time can determine that. (Hug)

 

I was in your shoes years ago and it got to the point that I had to give up loud music. I was having crazy spikes after playing music. The other guys weren't bothered and always tried to coax me into loud situations but I went acoustic. Then after more than 10 years of moderate T I caved in and went and played some loud music. I had horrible sounding mid range horn-like T and new hyperacusis after this craziness. I should have known better. After two years, it settled down some but I'm still over sensitive to most loud sounds, some acoustic instruments, and most environmental loud surprise sounds. I call it "Mega-T." It was horrible. The tricky part is that you never know how bad T can be until you test the waters. My advice to ANYONE with T is stay away from high volume.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/mega-tinnitus.3782/#post-35268

 

Because I should've been fine. I've done a full day of home recording/production and was fine. I sometimes play piano, electric guitar, or steel-string acoustic while singing, for multiple hours, and I'm fine. All without earplugs.
I've been too one jam session before, which caused no spikes at all. (w/ plugs)

Wednesday was the first actual gig I did.

Thanks, man. I swear I'm not even in monitoring mode that much, and pretty much go on with my life, but I can't help but notice and be curious. As I've written above: I'm actually OK when the volume is within the theoretical limits, but for some reason not last Wednesday. If this spike doesn't go away, it's the last gig I ever did, and I'm more or less OK with that.

I'm glad it went back to normal for you, though!

Thanks. It's a sort of balancing act. I certainly don't want to get 'mega-t', but I don't want to be overly cautious and miss out on... well... the things that make life worth living. As I've written above, I'm still fine with a lot of musical activities, and this gig really wasn't all that loud. I don't think I've taken any unreasonable risks.

Your story does resonate with me deeply, though. I will be careful!
I'm glad your T decreased after two years, and I hope that it will decrease some more someday.

 

Has the spike subsided?

 

I think so, yeah
I was already experiencing an increase from weeks of school-related stress and I think it's gone back to that level now. Thanks for your interest!

It's hard to compare, though, because I still remember life without T. At least I'm now far removed from when T first appeared and when I spent days lying on the floor crying.

 

Great to hear the spike has gone.

I'm really keen to go back to gigs again, as in viewing not playing but worried about it. I guess the foam plugs provide more protection? As the custom ones I've seen only protect about 20db. What sort of music do you play? I guess being up on the stage is amongst the loudest parts of the venue!

 

Yes, the foam plugs completely block the ear canal and provide a 28 to 30-something dB reduction. The dampening is not linear though (although the -25dB ones are far from perfectly linear too) and most people find that they sound muffled. I don't mind that though.

I play a wide variety of stuff, but last gig was free (mostly electric) improv with eight musicians. The stage can be loud, especially near the drums/cymbals, but the PA may be even louder to separate the sound on stage and the sound in the venue. The sound in the venue will drop off significantly near the back of the room, though.

 

You ever get long lasting residual inhibition? I just got done with a gig- (hour ago ) jazz with upright bass violin and acoustic guitar(through a Small amp) and my ears feel ten times better then on the way to the gig- I truly believe its all the music that muddles up my auditory cortex and gives me some short relief. At least until tomorrow! Cheers mate.

 

I sometimes feel much better after a session , strange.
Not loud sessions but a bunch of hours of intense listening and producing.
Sometimes I think that the only way for me to live with this is just to make music 24/7.
I have also experienced spikes after loud music but yes...0ne or two days after , its not immediate.

On a side note , I would not do anything on the advice of health professionals

 

Nice! I've never experienced that though... The only effect is that playing music (usually) makes me feel better, and when I feel better I notice the tinnitus less.

Yeah, surrounding myself with music for an extended period of time is great. I don't think it directly alleviates the tinnitus, but it does something concentration-wise.

I think I know what you mean
But yeah... what else to go by...?