I Want to Play Gigs Again

I agree that people with tinnitus continue to play, however, maybe those people are not that annoyed by their tinnitus. If one has been bothered by it and worried about it getting louder Im not sure music will compensate it. In short, if one continues to play loud music one must accept that most likely the noise in their head will also get louder. (Kind of like a diabetic eating a cake).

 

I agree with those who suggest that you try a gig and see how it goes, but definitely get some good musicians' ear plugs and see how they work for you. I also wanted to share another idea that I've been trying, not yet in a live situation but in house rehearsals: open-back wireless headphones. I play bass guitar, and these let me hear my own sound clearly while still being able to hear what everybody else is saying and playing. Because they go over the ears, they also do a certain amount of protecting. I got teased in the beginning, but now everyone is used to me wearing them. I don't know if this would work in a very loud environment, but we do jazz and blues with trumpet/flugelhorn and sax, and it's working well for me so far.

Here's a link to the ones I'm using, on Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001FTVEK/?tag=tinntalk-20

 

What we play is very low key. Here's a sampling: http://youtube.com/vwbug1971 Ninety percent of our jobs are instrumental, for the most part, since there are jobs when singing is wanted, like at a wedding reception. No longer do we use a PA, but instead have made use of a small amp equipped to handle a condenser microphone. The sound is perfect for the low key performances we do.

 

I'm 56. I started playing music when I was 12. Played a lot and went to a lot of concerts. Had BAD T at 14 years old. I continued to play loud til I was 18. Bad mistake. To escape tinnitus, I made the move to miked acoustic instruments when I was 18, discovered all kinds of new acoustic music and friends. Got the itch to play electric blues when I was 35. BIG mistake. That jacked the T up a couple notches and it hasn't gone down. I stopped that and went back to acoustic miked stuff, using monitors but not loud. I gauged the damage to my ears simply by the amount of ringing after gigs. Finally I decided I better tone it down and go real easy if I don't want my T to get worse. I play a lot unmiked and have just as much fun. Most musicians I know have T and a lot of people I know who don't play music have T. Mine wouldn't be so bad if I would have turned it down a little when I was young.

Bass guitars really fried my ears. Bass goes in by bone conduction and earplugs aren't gonna block bass. Don't test it, you'll pay a horrible price. People here are going to tell you different but if you're on stage often with loud bass it'll get you. Anyway, I've had a lifetime of fun playing music and making instruments. Maybe you can too. Check this out...
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

My story is very similar to others here I'm 58 and played in bands on and off for 40 years . A year ago after joining a band pretty loud practice in a small room without wearing plugs which I normally didn't the worse happened and my life changed forever after a practice . I remember after the ear pain .feeling detached .confused .a ringing...and tried to throw it off the next couple days but it just got worse. I couldn't sleep crying like a baby the sensitivity to any noise was unbearably hard to deal with couldn't concentrate on anything. The last thing I wanted was to play with the band I didn't believe what was happemimg after a week in went to my intern and he checked my ears.but wasn't much help he said don't play any more loud music and get a fountain for the tinnitus I had am audiology test was fine no hearing loss and one uses less ENT..so I dropped the band and about a month six weeks I began feeling a little more normal again. The thing is my band wanted me to join them about 6 months ago I wore plugs and was excited but the anxiety was to much. I was feeling it all over again after a practice for the next week became depressed . I haven't since jammed With anyone or go to any clubs . I still have hope one day I will play in a rock band with drums and electric guitars and feel no more pain no more anxiety no more fear I'll have my old life back

 

I DJ but I think I got my T from a combination of antibiotics with a vicodin. I also get a popping/ clicking noise mostly in my left ear that seems to be from my eustachian tube. I get the clicking pooping noise about 10 times a week. I was afraid to play live for awhile, but then I bought musicians ear plugs. I wear the 15 DB filters and I haven't permanently made my tinnitus worse.

I'm a mobile DJ so I'm not exposed to an excessive amount of bass you will get at a club. However, at some events, halls people do not give the DJ enough room to spread out their speakers. So sometimes the two speakers are at each end of a 4 ft table. In that case I will wear the 25 db filters. The headphones level I had to use a decibel reader to determine how loud they are. It gets tricky to determine the level of the headphones are due to the exterior noise coming from the external speakers. My headphones isolate the outside noise pretty well.

I did get careless due to losing most of my fears of louder noise and habituation. I practice with desktop speakers and I wear my headphones without ear protection due to the volume being under 85 db. For a week straight I was working on my mixes for several hours a day. The music isn't constant so I did give my ears a break. The one factor I didn't put into account was the use of effects. The flanger effect seems to be 5 decibels louder than the normal mix.

My Tinnitus baseline is now louder but I'm trying to readjust. I haven't really determined if the music did it because my ears are popping and clicking somewhat more. As long as you keep your ear plugs in go for it!

 

T drove me out of the rock and roll world and into acoustic music where I've discovered all kinds of music and instruments to play. It's good for my ears and I've had MANY more opportunities to play all kinds of venues. Theaters, festivals, corporate parties, weddings, street corners, parties, restaurants, and my favorite - barns. I've learned to play (mostly) T-safe instruments - acoustic guitar, resonator slide guitar, harmonica, banjo, minstrel banjo, bouzouki, cittern, fiddle, bohran, bones, piano, acoustic stand up bass, mandolin, and hurdy gurdy. I sell many CD's at every performance. It's been a lot of fun and I give T all the credit.
I gave up on loud rock in the late 70's. Besides giving me T, it was getting really boring. And playing pop rock , you can only ever be 2nd rate because those crowds judge you on how close you sound to the group's original recording. Why not find music that lets you be yourself? In my experience, that's what people really want to hear anyway.

 

For now i am afraid to play my electronic drums although sound comes through headsets. Maybe i should start to play with bongos that collect dirt.

 

Just the other day I said to my percussionist daughter, "I sure miss playing drums." She suggested I get the electronic drum set but I told her I don't trust myself with the headphone volume.

 

Careful now!

 

cant you just buy a speaker so you dont have to wear the headset? Thats what i am planning on doing...i dont see how it should be a problem.