Worried About Hearing from Concert :(

I am very, very worried about my hearing. I would say I have pretty good/sensitive hearing, and I don't want to ruin it because I know hearing loss is irreversible.

For me, I try to listen to music at a low volume and if I do listen to music at a loud volume, I try not to listen to it for too long. I don't even use my 10 speaker bass system in my car for this same reason (as much as I want to use it a lot lol). I have been to two big concerts and one small concert: 1. about 10 years ago, 2. last summer, and 3. last Sunday (two days ago). I never really worried about my hearing when I went to the concert last year, but it seems that as I get older I am starting to worry about these things more...

So I meant to buy some earplugs on Sunday before going to the concert, but we were kind of in a rush getting there so I forgot to pick some up (stupid, stupid me!!). A few things about the concert:
1. It was outdoors so it was not like I was in a closed room (the sounds were able to get outside).
2. It lasted about 2 hours and a half or so so it was a decent length concert.
3. I was sitting almost at the back. I was at the end of the row so I was nowhere near right in front of the band or the speakers.
4. They were an alternative/pop band (One Republic) so the sounds didn't have TONS of bass, drums, screaming, electric guitars, etc like some rock concerts. It was mostly singing, piano, and cello sounds with some upbeat noises.
5. There were a lot of breaks in between and I also stepped outside of the stadium maybe 3-5 times as well to take breaks.
6. I ended up stuffing some toilet tissue in my ears about half way in the concert because I started to get really, REALLY worried..

After the concert, I don't think (??) I heard any ringing (or if I did, I think it was only for like .5 second but it might have been my imagination also or just me too busy talking to my husband). On the almost 2 hour ride back to the hotel, I didn't hear any ringing or any problems hearing. While sleeping that night or the next morning, I also did not notice any ringing or problems with hearing.

However, I did start to get extremely worried after the first day. Last night, I couldn't sleep because either I DID feel a slight pain in my ears, or I kept worrying and thinking I felt a slight pain in my ears. I am not sure. Then all of today, I felt like that slight pain is there and sometimes when I swallow, I feel like my ear hurts?
Another thing is that I was very, very cold at the concert towards the end so I am not sure if I caught something or what.
Second thing to point out is that I have a bad habit of scratching the walls of my ears (sometimes to the point where the walls bleed a bit and gets puss and hard scabs). When this happens, I do experience some pain/discomfort in my ears.
Thirdly, I THINK my ears are a little plugged? I feel like I have to pop my ears more (the kind of popping where when you're at a high elevation or on an airplane). Could this be a sign of ear damage or a cold/flu/virus?

So my main question is: Will going to 2-3 major concerts all in an open space for 2 hours-2 hours and 30 minutes damage your ears? Do my "symptoms" sound like my ears got any damage from Sunday's concert? Or am I perhaps being a bit too paranoid? All I could think about all day yesterday and today at work was if I hear any ringing, feel pain in my ears, or hear sounds differently all day and it is driving me crazy.. I'm up to the point where if I sit in a totally quiet room, I don't even know if it is ringing in my ears or part of the white noise in the background anymore..

*Another thing that I want to note is that I used to be in the Army National Guard for a few years and I attended a military school. At my military school we were required to shoot guns and they would shoot cannons as part of our morning wake up call every morning (from far, far away though.. still loud). And in the Guard I was in the artillery unit so I used to hear cannons here and there and there was also the occasional weapons training (both big and small weapons). I wore ear plugs almost most of the time and I did hear some ringing right after firing some big weapons but I did not hear any ringing similar to that after this concert.

So in short my symptoms:
-Slight pain/discomfort in ears (as noted above, might be from my scratching inside ear walls as I sometimes get ear pain from that) or from a slight cold.
-Feels like I can't hear ALL the sounds like I used to
-Possible very short/quiet ringing in ears-this is not definitely noticeable (as I have noted above, I might be thinking I hear it with the white noise background).

Ugh I feel more like an idiot because we literally stopped by Walmart on Sunday to pick up an extra SD card for memory and I could have just easily picked some earbuds up and not have been this paranoid. Please help if you think these are signs of ear damage or had experience!!

 

Hello @Monique1892 . Sound noise, especially for a prolonged period of time, can cause damage.

If you are experiencing pain, please see a Doctor. Pain is never good and should be addressed.

I would also recommend looking for posts by @Michael Leigh . He has written an number of informative articles that contain a wealth of information on tinnitus, the use of headphones, treatment possibilities, and coping mechanisms. reading his articles will be time well spent.

 

Hi @Kolisar,

Thank you for continuing to recommend my posts to members, and I hope they will be of some help.
On another note, your posts are helpful and written very well. Please keep up the good work.
All the best
Michael