Music and Tinnitus — Important Video

Wanted to share a wonderful video by Julian Cowan Hill.
He has worked with hundreds who have overcome t, both acute and chronic. This particular video makes so much sense in my journey with t.

Should I Give Up Music with Tinnitus?

For other hopeful tips, you can find more videos on his channel on youtube.

 

I have been pretty much following his advice to a T - (no pun intended) . good video

 

Good video. Music is the best masker. BUT... super loud music shut me down for 2 years. Turn it down.

 

I'm slowly trying to get back into music, and yesterday I went to my first jam session in a long time. Afterwards, my T was mostly in my right ear, then in both ears, and now it's mostly left where it usually is. Although my T strangely varies anyway, so it may have been a coincidence.

I seem to be OK, but I'm still a bit paranoid. My T possibly reacts to sound, but definitely reacts to me pushing my jaw towards the back of my head. Also, my audiograms show that I did not gain any hearing loss in half a year, while I did get T in the middle of that time frame. In short, it seems to be more jaw-related than noise-related, but you never know...


@I who love music Was that with or without earplugs?
After years of asking people to turn down (or particularly, not to bang the hell out of the drums), I gave up...
I tried a million different ways of asking and reasoning, and have gotten absolutely no results. The words just seem to go up in smoke. I'd feel very disconnected from them, trying to convince them to adopt healthy behavior, while I'm getting sonically attacked by crash cymbals. My double bass doesn't stand a chance against those things...
I thought that at least I would be safe wearing earplugs (-25dB or foam), but that might not have the case.

What I worry about the most, is situations that I cannot control. I really would like to say 'yes' to any gig offered, but you never know if you're going to be in a small room right next to a drummer. Or at a jam session where suddenly a loud guitar player shows up.
Also, there may be concerts that I would want to attend which turn out to be louder than expected. Then I'd have to say goodbye to my friends, 'forfeit' my ticket and leave.


I have an offer to play the most amazing gig on May 20th, and I'm still trying to figure out if it's going to be safe...

 

I found out that the only way to know if you're crossing the line is to cross it. I would rather go blind, or walk through hell, or live in a prison camp that go through my hellish spike from loud music.
Here, here, read all about it...
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/mega-tinnitus.3782/#post-35268

 

As a musician, I took a year off playing after t and hyperacusis onset. Then started getting back into it acoustically, then with mic/amps at reasonable volume. Still working my way up to being around horns, but getting there. From onset though, listening to gentle music has always helped soothe the beast, especially during spikes.
Just a lesson to keep following your heart.

 

Take in mind time / over Db level is what causes damage. And just cause it irritates T doesn't me its damaging. I have accepted a few gigs since my resignation from the club date band I was in. None of them are with a drummer (though some of them have programmed drums)but I will play with a drummer again. Probably with IEM ...according to a leading audiologist I spoke with they 'wall you out' the most.
I think you should come to NY and we play some guitar and bass duo stuff! Nice and soft!

 

Do IEM's wall you out better than foam earplugs? Foam plugs are usually discarded as an option for musicians, as they would block too much sound, but I like them just fine.

I was thinking about having custom 'swimming earplugs' made. They're basically custom musicians plugs but without a filter. I'm hopeful that with these I can start playing almost all gigs again.

I'd love to go to NY! I once spent one week in NYC visiting concerts full time. It was fantastic! Unfortunately, I'm now throwing all my money at education once again, so I can't travel. Hopefully it'll lead to a decent future job/salary. I'm even toying with the idea to get a job in the US, but that's still very distant future.

 

Hey- well I know that high end IEM with custom molds can block out around 39 db of sounds (I'm talking really block out). You add(or actually subtract) on to that the minimum volume you need to hear your self /the band and you've still got an isolated situation...!

 

I initially gave up listening to music when I got T however over the years I have returned to listen to music on a regular basic at work, in the car and in my headphones. Music is one of the joys in life which one cannot banish completely--just be smarter about it.

 

To WalkThroughWall: (posted above)

The human hearing range in Hertz values is approximately 50 - 20,000 Hz. Your Cochlea has about 25,000 - 35,000 inner and outer hair cells. Hair cells in structure are like microscopic blades of grass organized in adjacent sections. Each section of hair cells represents different frequencies of our total hearing range capacity.

When you are jamming music with lots of other instruments you must realize that each individual instrument represents a specific range of sound frequencies. Also, the volume of the physical noise produced (sound waves) is different for each instrument especially if amplified.

Your tinnitus and possibly (if it applies) hearing loss and hyper-acussis (sensitivity to certain pitch frequencies) is all being effected negatively if you are jamming / playing music loudly and with to many different pitches (instruments) competing for receptive space in your damaged/sensitive cochlea, auditory nerve, auditory processing center - cortex, etc.

In my opinion based on the medical literature and anecdotal evidence you have two choices.

1) You continue to subject your hearing anatomy to more self-destruction environments.

2) You apply the laws of physics and acoustic energy; You subscribe to playing a new style of gentler and quieter music without a drummer or any another sound that your body finds disturbing (attacking & painful).

If you do not make these changes you can eventually make yourself deaf and/or you will make your tinnitus much-much more disturbing.

The human hearing anatomy is one of the most sensitive and complex structures in our design.

I suggest you use professional hearing pad limiters (sound reduction) designed for playing musicians, you approach an entirely different style of music and you best thank the universe above that you are not deaf.

If you do not make these changes everything will get significantly worse.

 

To Erik:

We have talked before - it's good to see you gain.

YES, re approaching music is very important for several reasons.

While the cochlea transforms physical sound waves (acoustic energy) into bio-chemical compounds, the auditory nerve sends complex oriented electrical signals to the auditory cortex where sound is actually created, the end result of what we hear.

Even in a silent room this process of physical energy, bio-chemical reaction and electrical reception by the auditory cortex (millions of neurons) continues to play out at extraordinary speeds.

The entire hearing system "needs" to be fed the input of sound(s). However, when we have tinnitus, hearing loss or hyper-acussis we have to "relearn" what frequencies and volumes to offer as inputs to our hearing system.

This is part of the theory of sound therapy; but there are many different types of music each has its own unique effect upon our problematic hearing conditions.

Gentle, soft and moderately quiet types of music selections using a "broad-band spectrum" of frequencies has been shown to offset the symptoms of tinnitus.

This is the theory of Neuromonics, which I do not use ; it is much to expensive for me and I read all of the data with mixed results.

Summary: Listening to music has a positive effect, it is needed by our hearing process, but you need to follow some new rules; the music must be carefully chosen so that it is compatible with the sensitivity and physiological effect of hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyper-acussis.