Protect your ears!!!

[Ldizzy]

that pete tong movie scared me even more cause i watched it right after i had noticed about mine

[Grimenoceros]

I saw a segment on one of the CBS type morning news shows about a young man (mid 30s at the oldest) whose hearing had progressively gotten worse and worse to the point where he now already needs hearing aids, and he continued to ignore it which allowed it to worsen. It got to the point where he would avoid conversations because he was afraid he wouldn't hear most of what people were saying to him and get embarrassed. The hearing aids cost around $3500 a piece (so $7k round trip) and are not covered by insurance.

I saw that about a week or so ago, and unfortunately it took me until just then to wake me up to the dangers of this stuff, especially we producers. It absolutely terrified me, the prospect of losing my biggest tools and receptors of enjoyment in life, and so now I'm 110% aware of it. I just hope it wasn't too late.

Interesting talking point: I'm just about 20, how old are the rest of you experiencing tinnitus/hearing loss and when did it start occurring? As with my example of the mid-30s man, I think age is a big factor in it. Not in that you lose hearing as you grow - that only happens once you get "old" old - but in the sense that younger people haven't necessarily had the extra years of aural abuse and so that may be a factor. I can't say I've noticed any real problems so far, but I do seem to feel like I have to turn my tv up louder than I used to a year ago to hear it as well, and that alone worries me.

[Johnst]

Interesting talking point: I'm just about 20, how old are the rest of you experiencing tinnitus/hearing loss and when did it start occurring? As with my example of the mid-30s man, I think age is a big factor in it. Not in that you lose hearing as you grow - that only happens once you get "old" old - but in the sense that younger people haven't necessarily had the extra years of aural abuse and so that may be a factor. I can't say I've noticed any real problems so far, but I do seem to feel like I have to turn my tv up louder than I used to a year ago to hear it as well, and that alone worries me.

I'm actually 21, started getting the ringing at 20. Which, IMO, is even worse news than someone experiencing this at 30, since it means I gotta be extra careful even though I'm physically in my prime.

I had my audiologist meeting. My hearing is perfect up to 8,000 Hz, which evidently is the range of human speaking. But I'm pretty positive this ringing is upwards of 15,000. The doctor's didn't seem to have anything to say to me, I'm really not sure what I can even do now if I want to find out more about it.

[SLASH]

Bumping this because of the importance. A mixer friend of mine has his ears insured because he also plays live gigs with his band. everybody needs to turn their mix down and listen harder.... or move to an apartment with thin ass walls and a bitch ass neighbor that complains if it's too loud.ha. ... I was just saying yesterday that I won't even stand near or in direct firing line of a speaker at a show or a club. I've been called a bitch by my bitch for it but fuck it, my ears are too precious. I hope the best outcome for ya man!

[Ayatollah]

Interesting talking point: I'm just about 20, how old are the rest of you experiencing tinnitus/hearing loss and when did it start occurring?

tinnitus about 16-17, feels like it's worse now at 23 (can't really be sure though, as it's all about if you pay attention to it or not). I don't know if I have hearing loss though, I often feel like I do but I did a medical for the armed forces and the doctor didn't say anything about that and I was considered fit to serve, so it can't be that bad really.

[Ldizzy]

i think standards for hearing are below what most of us dsf users and music aficionados in general were born with.. not even kidding

[RandoRando]

Wtf. I've gotten random ringing in my ear before and it passed after about 5 minutes. I'm hearing something new right now. It just happened randomly, I wasn't listening to anything loud at all, it started off as the normal ring , but it's been about 20 minutes now and it sounds like high passed white noise. It's really loud too and not going away. Wtf is this this has never happened

[jrisreal]

Dang man. I'm thinking maybe ear infection? Happened to me before.

[deadly_habit]

i think standards for hearing are below what most of us dsf users and music aficionados in general were born with.. not even kidding

we're also talking about a generation where earbuds are commonplace. they're actually bad for your hearing and put you at more risks for ear infections as well

[gen_]

move to an apartment with thin ass walls and a bitch ass neighbor that complains if it's too loud

PHEW! I'm safe then!

[Johnst]

Wtf. I've gotten random ringing in my ear before and it passed after about 5 minutes. I'm hearing something new right now. It just happened randomly, I wasn't listening to anything loud at all, it started off as the normal ring , but it's been about 20 minutes now and it sounds like high passed white noise. It's really loud too and not going away. Wtf is this this has never happened

It could be any number of things, honestly. For now, keep the music down until it goes away. I'm sure it will.

[Original Face]

A few people have mentioned that they suddenly started getting tinnitus despite not having been recently exposed to loud music. From what I've read, I think this is relatively common. The relationship between ear damage and ringing is more complex than you might think. Other factors are in play, such as diet, as I mentioned earlier. So tinnitus can appear to come from nowhere. Also, if you have a blockage in your ear - e.g. a build up of wax - this will diminish the volume of the sound of the world, and thereby subjectively increase the volume of your tinnitus. If you have mild tinnitus, this may be enough to bring it to your attention. And once it has your attention, you are liable to become fearful, focus on the sound, which will make it become subjectively louder.

BTW, if you want frequency-sensitive earplugs, but can't afford the custom-fitted variety (about £100-200), there are useable substitutes available via the web - for example, the Alpine Music Safe pro, which are about £15. I haven't got those, but I paid about the same price for a similar product (can't remember the name), and they do the job - I often forget I have them in after a while. They're probably not as good as the custom-fitted variety, but they're a lot better than foam plugs, which muffle the sound very badly.

[Killamike49]

Bumping this because of the importance. A mixer friend of mine has his ears insured because he also plays live gigs with his band. everybody needs to turn their mix down and listen harder.... or move to an apartment with thin ass walls and a bitch ass neighbor that complains if it's too loud.ha. ... I was just saying yesterday that I won't even stand near or in direct firing line of a speaker at a show or a club. I've been called a bitch by my bitch for it but fuck it, my ears are too precious. I hope the best outcome for ya man!

Considering what your avatar is i lol'd.

[tpc_uk]

I got the ringing from seemingly nothing. no big nights out etc etc.. woke up at 2am & realised my ears were ringing - couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

Basically I freaked out a bit. Stayed away from making beats/tunes etc for about 6+ months.

Got my confidence back after that - I have the ringing permanently but it did not get worse - which is what I was really concerned about.

I'm very aware of loud noises now - i.e. if a cop car/ambulance goes past with the sirens blasting - it really hurts my ears in a way it never did before.

[ChadDub]

I went to a local show last friday night and holy shit it was loud as SHIT. It was a big wall of noise. The management's mentality is LOUDER IS BETTER I guess...
I was standing right next to my friend and I needed to tell him something so I had to put my mouth RIGHT NEXT TO HIS EAR and yell REALLY loud and you could barely hear me.

When we left, I couldn't hear frequencies over around 15K...

But now it's better.

[jrisreal]

@Chad, I know what you mean. same situation at the show I went to except it wasnt even that loud but when I left my hearing was bandpassed at around 2k couldn't hear lower mids and nothing above 12k was getting through. Hearing came back within a few hours though