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Tinnitus

I’ve had chronic tinnitus since my early 20s (I’m 34 now), more so in my right ear. It’s loud enough that it can spoil music at home for me at times. I’ve recently in the last year developed an intermittent, rhythmic ‘twanging’ in there too. Apparently this can be caused by muscle spasms in the ear.

Idk if this is linked, but I find it difficult to comprehend (hear) what people say to me at pubs / places with background noise. It takes loads of energy concentrating on listening to them so I go home in the end because it becomes a chore.

What’s weird is I can hear higher pitched boises than a lot of people without hearing issues, go figure?

We had to walk out of the Nils Frahm concert at the Melbourne Arts Centre the other week because of the sound engineer - it was cacophonous racket that was painful at points. Such a pity.
 
I went to see The Heads at the 100 club at the weekend and as I was going into the venue stopped to find my earplugs that I always take to gigs (the musicians christmas tree ones) and my friend was taking the piss saying "you don't need them you're getting to be an old git if you use them". 10 minutes in he's stuffing his ears full of wet toilet paper trying to take the edge off the volume. Lesson here stuff what other people think protect your hearing as once it's gone it ain't coming back.
The other thing I use them for is every time I go to the cinema nowadays I find it far too loud as even if the film is mostly dialogue the previews and the advert telling you how good the sound system is will get you. I wish I had access to a noise meter as I'm sure the level's are potentially harmful.
 
I’m afraid the UK in general is clueless about or indifferent to hearing damage resulting from excessive volume. Travel the tube daily and you’re already at damaging levels of exposure. London city is incredibly noisy, the bloody ambo’s are guaranteed to hurt as the scream by and shops, pubs, restaurants in general have no clue about acoustics and safe noise levels.

I attended a lissie show in Kingston earlier this year - myself and a mate and his family walked out because the dickhead at the mixing desk kept turning it up, so much so that even with musicpro high attenuation plugs my eardrums were distorting. Bloody clueless. I’ll never support the event organiser or lissie again.
 
Also, to the OP, I would recommend getting custom plugs made up.
I've used them for every gig/club night I've been to in the last 15 years or so, and wouldn't be without them.
I've now got three sets of the attenuating inserts - 12dB for noisy bars, 15dB for most gigs, 25db for gigs I know will be daft loud.
 
Nils Frahm and Bjork ruined by knobheads at the mixing desk? Two artists still on my must see bucket list, what a shame that must of been! The worst gig I've been to for sound was Cat Powers, it was awful to the point of people shouting to turn up the vocals and turn the rest down, it was so muddied that you could barely hear her sing for the whole set. After this most recent hellish visit, I'll never be giving another penny to colston hall or affiliated "band film studios" ever again.

Sadly my right ear is still giving me jip - it's a higher in pitch and a little quieter than it was which might be a good sign? Still finding that listening to any speakers about 70dB is uncomfortable, and really hoping that will improve above all else.

Put on my HD800s for the first time this evening and tried a couple of hearing tests online... One with tones and the other with number patterns against random noise. All OK thankfully - strangely my left (non ringy) ear is a little less responsive that the right which I did not expect.

On the plus side I am finding low level pink noise is a god while everyone is out - totally cancels out the tinitus which is a relief.
 
Watching this gif is interesting because my tinnitus modulates up and down with the skipping pylon.
 
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evand said:
I’m afraid the UK in general is clueless about or indifferent to hearing damage resulting from excessive volume. Travel the tube daily and you’re already at damaging levels of exposure. London city is incredibly noisy, the bloody ambo’s are guaranteed to hurt as the scream by and shops, pubs, restaurants in general have no clue about acoustics and safe noise levels.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Large restaurants or pubs with fashionably sparse decor, hard floors and loads of glass are a recipe for hearing damage. I always take ear attenuation with me to social events having been caught out a couple of times with such noisy places. I used to take plugs to gigs and was horrified to see the levels generated in a London gastro pub compared to small concerts.
 
SteveS1 said:
Agreed. Large restaurants or pubs with fashionably sparse decor, hard floors and loads of glass are a recipe for hearing damage. I always take ear attenuation with me to social events having been caught out a couple of times with such noisy places. I used to take plugs to gigs and was horrified to see the levels generated in a London gastro pub compared to small concerts.
Click to expand...

Coincidentally, a friend just sent me this article, as I'd been complaining about that very thing.
 
daws0n said:
I went to a gig in Bristol recently to see a band called 65daysofstatic. They were a decent math rock outfit a few years back but seem to have gone down a highly experimental computer generated/algorithmic route... The venue was a large warehouse in an industrial estate, with the main entrance coming into the front side of the stage. Getting in there fairly late meant no choice but to stay in quite close proximity to the PA rig... The whole thing was unmelodic, extremely loud and I spent most of it behind the left speaker near the merch table to stay way from the worst of the SPLs being chucked out. Clearly, the sound engineer was a sadistic bar steward... Visually a memorable night but aurally it was probably the worst thing I have listened to. Nearly 2 weeks on, despite wearing ear plugs I still have a persistent ringing in my right ear. It's become very sensitive all of sudden to loud noise and discomfort.

It's bloody annoying and causing a general lack of sleep and concentration. I've worn ear plugs at venues for 10 years now to look after my hearing and this is the first time an event has left me with any kind of ringing. Sadly this has co-coincided with the purchase of new speakers which I can't really enjoy at the moment. Am really hoping it's temporary and not a long term thing, however doctor google seems to suggest that 14 days is the maximum duration for "temporary" tinitus.

Have any of you guys experienced it for longer and does it tend to ease over time?
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Was working in Alexandria for 6 month across from my apartment was a mosk prayers were extreaml
daws0n said:
I went to a gig in Bristol recently to see a band called 65daysofstatic. They were a decent math rock outfit a few years back but seem to have gone down a highly experimental computer generated/algorithmic route... The venue was a large warehouse in an industrial estate, with the main entrance coming into the front side of the stage. Getting in there fairly late meant no choice but to stay in quite close proximity to the PA rig... The whole thing was unmelodic, extremely loud and I spent most of it behind the left speaker near the merch table to stay way from the worst of the SPLs being chucked out. Clearly, the sound engineer was a sadistic bar steward... Visually a memorable night but aurally it was probably the worst thing I have listened to. Nearly 2 weeks on, despite wearing ear plugs I still have a persistent ringing in my right ear. It's become very sensitive all of sudden to loud noise and discomfort.

It's bloody annoying and causing a general lack of sleep and concentration. I've worn ear plugs at venues for 10 years now to look after my hearing and this is the first time an event has left me with any kind of ringing. Sadly this has co-coincided with the purchase of new speakers which I can't really enjoy at the moment. Am really hoping it's temporary and not a long term thing, however doctor google seems to suggest that 14 days is the maximum duration for "temporary" tinitus.

Have any of you guys experienced it for longer and does it tend to ease over time?
Click to expand...
Was working in Alexandria for 6 month accross from my flat was a mosque call prays 5 times a day was extremely loud. I counted 48 tannoy speakers. I came home with tinnitus 2 years ago it has never left me have been to the doctors there is no cure. You can get a device that helps but not cure. Have learned to live with it this jet engine in my head never goes off. You need to try and concentrate on other things. I still enjoying my music thank God.
 
just thought I'd wake this thread to see if the pill takers above found that the pills worked/helped at all? My on and off tinitus that has been a friend for 10 years or so became, last jan ON and ON and is screaming at me right now in a very unfriendly manner. Not been to the doc yet since I thought i remembered that Tinitus = tuff luck mate, but then remembered this thread. Life raft welcomed.
 
I haven't tried any medication yet but would also be interested to know if anyone one has experienced positive results?

After a few weeks of being driven slightly mad I have adjusted to the noise better than expected since starting this thread. It's always there when I listen for it and still flares up loudly on occasion, usually if I am feeling run down or had a few beers the night before.

I've forked out for custom ear plugs for both my motorcycle and gigs, they feel strange at first but an obvious improvement over the cheap foam ones once you get used to them. Opted for the maximum filter - these were rated for PA pros and stage hand use by the clinic but I still find gigs and clubs plenty loud enough. Shocking really considering the -22dB attenuation, there is no way I could be without them now.

They are not cheap, but pale in comparison in what I've spent on hifi gear over the years - definitely recommended to any one who values their hearing, worth every penny IMHO.
 
I've had a mild case for years. Comes and goes. Mostly not there. Usually not strong, so that if there is any kind of other noise around I don't notice it. From what I've read there are many cases where you can have it for a while and then if you are lucky it stops. Can be effected by lots of factors: diet, stress, lack of sleep, etc.

I have a pro pair that block 15db. Sometimes I wish I'd gotten some that block even more - so many DJs etc play at ear damaging levels.

But it sounds like you need ear plugs that block even more sound. A concert shouldn't be able to do that to you if you are wearing them.
 
Following my post flu jab tinnitus boost (see posts #3 and #10) things have gradually calmed down to a mostly tolerable level, but the tinnitus is at a higher level than it was prior to having the flu jab.

Been experiencing problems controlling my rheumatoid arthritis with medication of late. A month or so back my rheumatologist thought it worth me retrying a med that's helped with my RA in the past but I had to stop taking it as it was thought to be contributing to gut issues I've been having. Anyway thought it worth another go, but just 2 days after starting it my tinnitus went bloody bananas again so I had to stop taking it. The med is called hydroxychloroquine and ringing in the ears is one of it's side effects, which I was aware of, but as it has never affected my long term very mild tinnitus during the 2+ years I was previously taking it then I thought it would be ok. No big surprise though!..I don't have much luck with the majority of these toxic meds used to control RA. Thankfully my tinnitus gradually decreased over the following week or so and is now more or less back to the level it was just before I started the hydroxychloroquine, which is tolerable most of the time.
 
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