Music-Induced Tinnitus and Pyrotechnics

Hi,

Another music fan here, who has been "enjoying" music a little too much.

I've gone to rock concerts all my life - I'm 54 now, with a wife and two teenage children, and a pretty good job in IT. The first concert I went to which caused a problem was Genesis in 1982, when I had my right ear facing the biggest wall of speakers I've ever seen in my life. Ever since then I've had slightly reduced sensitivity in my right ear. I understand Phil Collins has had major issues with hearing loss lately too.

I kept going to concerts all through the 80s, some more pretty loud ones, though not too many at the Motorhead level - something told me I should stay away from the likes of them - but I only became concerned when I started playing in bands a lot in the 90s. Playing my keyboards next to a drummer with a rather large kit, I had my bad ear facing in his direction most nights. I played for two or three years like this with no protection, till eventually I realised I had to use a foam plug in my bad ear, as the dulling effect on my hearing was becoming more pronounced and lasting longer into the next couple of days.

So far so good - I felt I could handle things using earplugs and keep enjoying the music I loved. Until I experienced a pyrotechnic blast at a Rush concert that changed everything.

Being my favourite band, I had seen the Canadian rockers a number of times over the years, including twice in one week in 2004. After the second one, my hearing took a full month to return to normal, even though I had used earplugs for most of the two concerts. Still no tinnitus, and no other problems.

Fast-forward to 2007 and another concert by Rush. This time, out of nowhere they started unleashing the most almighty pyrotechnic explosions imaginable. I was taking ER20s to every concert by then, but I did not have them in at the time of the blast. Right away I knew something was badly wrong - I thought I had gone completely deaf in my bad ear. This continued for the next half an hour, then slowly eased. Later in the show - another explosion. I was ready for this one as I knew it was coming, so I had my fingers in my ears.

Sometime after that, I became aware of a low-pitched sound whenver it was quiet, similar to a diesel vehicle idling outside. I kept asking my family if they could hear anything, and I read online conspiracy theories about "The Hum". I eventually rejected the idea of secret government underground flying saucer facilities, and realised it was the dreaded tinnitus. It was there all the time, usually not too bad, but sometimes it would spike, and I knew I would never again experience the tranquility of a holiday away from it all without that constand droning "traffic noise" effect in my ears. Interestingly I had been living next to a busy road since 2001, so I wonder if the tinnitus somehow was mimicking the road noise I'd been disturbed by at nights.

It has to be the pyrotechnics though. I've heard they can peak at 150dB, which is 20dB louder than thunder or the threshold of pain. Why they are allowed I'll never know, but they seem to be getting louder and louder over time, at the same time as major concerts are becoming less loud and more carefully controlled. You hear about health-and-safety inspections where the crew are asked to demonstrate the concert effects to local authorities, but I wonder if they tend to set off smaller explosions for the inspections, and save the stupidly-loud ones for the shows. Perhaps the inspections just focus on making sure the venue won't be set on fire. Also, the bands all wear in-ear monitors these days, and the crew will have hearing protection and headsets for communication. They won't be aware of what it feels like for people with no hearing protection at all, i.e. most of the paying punters.

In the past month, a new development - a high-pitched whine, which I had occasionally been aware of, has become louder and more intense. This seems to be increased on a daily basis by the most everyday sounds like a door slamming or a truck going over a manhole cover. The trigger was most likely another concert (not a rock one this time but I was in the fourth row), plus I've been playing my new headphones which I got last Christmas rather a lot in the office, trying to drown out all the background noise and raucous banter from my fellow office workers.

So now I'm concerned. I thought at first my hearing was deteriorating further in my bad ear as well, but I think it is "just" tinnitus, with the strange kind of inflamed/pressure sensation around my right ear. I do wonder if I have a touch of hyperacusis as well. I'm awaiting an ENT appointment, and trying not to worry about what painful treatment I may have to go through, but I am willing to try (I think). I hate the thought of not being able to enjoy the music I love any more. Even playing the piano can intensify the ringing unless I use earplugs. After finally getting my piano tuned this year, and deciding to play every day and learn all those pieces I always wanted to play, within a couple of months I get this tinnitus spike. The low drone is in both ears, but the high whine is just in my "bad" one. Sometimes I think there is a mid-range whine starting, but I seem to be able to stave that off by staying calm and trying to relax, taking a break from any noisy or stressful activity. Rubbing my temples and behind my ears seems to help a little too.

It seems so unfair sometimes, but most days I feel I can still live with it, and find good reasons to be happy - there's always someone worse off than you, whether it's hearing-related or otherwise. I try to be a fairly positive person (just don't ask my wife!) I wish I'd discovered this forum a year ago and then maybe I would have been more careful about my new headphones and at the concert. I have tickets for another two concerts later this year, one of which will be quite loud and is by a band I've been waiting 28 years to see and will probably never get another chance. However I'm really worried now about making things worse. I still have one good ear, I don't leave the house without earplugs, and I am considering getting custom moulds made.

I particularly wanted to draw attention to the pyrotechnics as a cause of tinnitus. I know in the military there is a lot of money paid out for damage caused by shrapnel explosions, so maybe I should sue Rush for what their concerts have done to me! Except I know that's not the sole cause, but probably the biggest factor, and I'm surprised there is so little information online about the effects and regulations surrounding their use.

I am already benefiting from being part of this forum and look forward to getting to know some of you better.

 

Hi Mister Muso,

Welcome to the forum. I am also a Rush fan but never been to any of their gigs so I wouldn’t know how bad they were. It sounds like you have given your ears a lot of abuse over the years! I think it’s time to think about stopping this kind of abuse for good before it’s too late. Our ears are very sensitive and it takes a long time to heal so you may want to stay away from loud concerts from now on. That concert you are going to, if you stay away from the speakers and wear earplugs I think you will still be ok. But it’s still a risk you need to evaluate if it’s worthwhile to take....

That high pithed whine and pressure in the ears sounds like acoustic trauma to me. Most of us have this I think and it’s perhaps an indication that your ears are hurt.

I am happy to hear that you are trying to live with it and carry on with your life. It’s not an easy thing to do for us T sufferers so that’s a good first step!

 

You might need to get a hearing aid.

You basically destroyed your cochleas, and if you go to another concert you can make it much worse.

A hearing aid may benefit hearing loss and tinnitus, but it's useless when it comes to hyperacusis and noise induced pain.

 

Yes we are a suicidal society. Cigarettes, bad eating habits, cars that can go over 100 MPH, heahphones and speakers that can scream and more you can add. 3M knowingly manufacturing military defective earplugs! Military developing weapons like lasers and high frequencies to destroy the inner ear. Let's keep moving with progress.

 

Hi,
Thanx for sharing your story. Custom made earplugs is a must in your case, I would say. Keep enjoying music, just make sure there won't be any additional damage done to your hearing. I got my tinnitus in 2012 as a result of extremely loud noise in a clothing store (Abercrombie & Fitch in London), where I went to with my daughter because she had asked me to. Normally I would never go to such dreadful places because I hate them anyway, but I just wanted to do my daughter a favor. That visit changed my life forever. Since then I've had a static humming sound in my head 24-7. After all this time (7 years) I got used to the constant hum, which is 3 or 4 on a 0 to 10 volume scale. 3 or 4 is my "new norm", instead of the old norm which was heavenly silence, that I was used to before 2012. So if you can accept that your norm has shifted from 0 to 3 or 4, then you can habituate and move on with your life. Your perception of what is "normal" has to change, that is key. I was thinking about suing Abercrombie for inflicting this misery upon me, but I wouldn't stand a chance legally, because they never forced me to visit their store, I went there voluntarily. Same with that Rush concert. You went there by free will, so you have to take the blame and responsibility for what happened to you. If you love your ears, you shouldn't go to rock concerts anyway. The human hearing was never made to endure such noise bombardments. It's sad that you had to learn the hard way. People should be made much more aware of the dangers of loud noise. Ignorance is the biggest danger. I never knew either, until it was too late.

 

Thanks for the welcome.

I'm not going to buy any more concert tickets for a while unfortunately. I went to one since this present trouble started, which was over 90dB so I had a 32dB Hearos foam plug in my bad ear and an ER20 in my better one. I was fine for most of the show except the very last number when I should have taken a break outside really as they warned it was going to be a "bold, brassy number" .

For those who simply say "don't take chances, give up music", I'm not just a casual music listener, it's in my heart and soul. I think I would rather give up my right arm! Obviously there is always a risk though. I'm going to look into custom moulds which might get me through the occasional concert, but for sure I'd hate for my T to get worse. I can just about manage it at the moment, though I hear the high whine quite loudly all the time now. The concert I'm going to is in September so I'll see how I get on up until then. One of my friends who's coming with me has had bad T for about 20 years but lately he went to see AC/DC and Iron Maiden, so I'm going to chat to him about how he manages it.

 

Your in a position to still enjoy music, that’s good to hear. Just use common sense to protect your ears and you should be fine.

Music was my life too, but tinnitus had put a stop to that unfortunately. I hope I can one day enjoy music again like I used to...

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I do still have one good ear which I'm grateful for, though my tinnitus can be temporarily increased for the rest of the day even by taking great precautions listening to music. Then again, it can be just as easily set off by a door banging, etc. There may come a point where I feel it just isn't worth the risk any more and I start to give up more things. Playing the piano is another worry for me, as I already have to use an earplug in my bad ear just to continue doing that.

We are all at different stages and have different points of view, though we share a common issue to different degrees. I hope I'll manage to be sensitive to those worse off or better off than me in this forum.

 

That's not good news. You seem quite knowledgable so does my case sound like something I'm stuck with, rather than a temporary spike that may improve again if I'm careful?

I know I need to take care either way. Before my spike I did actually have the high pitched whine but only around a 1 out of 10, whereas now it varies between a 3 and a 6, where 10 would be so loud I couldn't leave the house. And this is only in my bad ear.

 

i feel you somehow. Music is/was my life too. Unfortunately i dont visit concerts anymore what makes you feel like a reject amongst friends sometimes. My really last concert was Robert Plant in 2014 in an outside venue where i knew it wont be very loud. But that was it.

However...what are the 2 concerts you are thinking about? i'm just curious...

 

Sorry to hear about your situation.

One concert is King's X, who are a 3-piece power trio that I've loved since they started. I've been asking on the fan forum about how loud they are these days, and it seems they're a lot quieter than they used to be, but if I do go I'm going to have to be careful.

The other band is a big arena show by a British jazz/R&B performer called Jools Holland. I went to an arena show since my T started with earplugs in, and it was OK except for the very last number where they turned the volume up and it was a bit uncomfortable, but no ill effects afterwards. I'll make sure I take breaks if I go to either of these concerts.

 

Hey man,

Welcome to the club. Since tinnitus I have gone to a few concerts with standard ear plugs in and had no problems. Then I came across this place and I was put off going to concerts for two years due to the comments about them here. In that time nothing really changed with my tinnitus and I found being in a good mood and getting good sleep really lowered the volume. Noise doesn’t seem to make it worse for me fortunately.

I went to see Nightwish last November and that was fine also, i did have custom moulds in though so I believe that helped, I also got seats about halfway back in the arena, I felt the volume levels were fine and had a great time.

 

Thanks for the reply. As I say, I had low-level tinnitus for 12 years and kept going to concerts, always taking earplugs and wearing them for at least 90% of the concert. I even survived a Biffy Clyro concert and several by Rush, but my tinnitus went from mild to moderate at that concert in April when I removed my earplugs for a large part of the concert as it didn't seem too loud. Since then I've had two more spikes and my life is ruined and ruled by fear for the future.

Edit: Perhaps if I'd got custom moulds like you I wouldn't be in the state I'm in now. But I fear it's too late now for me.

Hope the same doesn't happen to you. Take care and all the best.

 

So that concert I had a ticket for in September - it's been postponed until next year, due to a family bereavement for one of the band members.

I'm probably the only ticket holder who was relieved at that news.