[TUBEBO]

I have a mild case of tinnitis in both ears. I played in rock bands up to the time I was about 30 years old, (I'm now 52). I really dont notice it during the day as any ambient noise covers it up. However when in a dead quite place, or at night lying in bed ,it's easy to let myself get "focused" on it. Mine is the high frequency "EEEEE" type. I would compare it to the high pitch that often comes from CVT type computer monitors or TV sets. My hearing otherwise is good, considering I stood in front of cabinets full of JBL 12's and 200 tubed watts of screamin guitar

I am very careful to not let myself listen at anywhere near live music levels through my headphones or home stereo system. I also always use foam ear protectors when using loud equipment such as 2 cycle engine lawn equipment, compressors, etc.

My music is way too important to allow anymore damage to my ears!

 

[saltylj]

you knowoccasionally my ears ring, but I never htought it oculd be apermanent problem, I get ehadaches a lot and so am very easily annoyed by high tones....but its amazing u guys just deal with tinnnutis like its no big deal and Id like to thank you for this thread; now I know better and am going to make sure to take care of my hearing (Im in my teens), I knew u could go deaf from serious damage but Id never heard of constant ringing. uggh

 

[legcramp]

At my school rally.... when they yell.. or using some headphones .... can ears distorting and scrable sounds count as this tinnitus thing?

 

[Miller-8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aZn_plyR At my school rally.... when they yell.. or using some headphones .... can ears distorting and scrable sounds count as this tinnitus thing?

Scrable sounds?

 

[legcramp]

well.. I cant really explain it.. but you know when you download a meess up song from kazaa or w/e that are protected and the songs are really fake ones that gives u a high-pitched sound... yah.. it's like that but not as bad...

 

[soulblaze]

I had a lot of ear problems when I was a kid. I mainly get it now through due to the altitude. I've lived in colorado for 3 months, and I'm still not used to it. I figure I'll be able to move somewhere with a lower elevation next year sometime.

 

[smeggy]

I've had a mild whistling in my ears ever since I was a kid. Many years later it's louder and more noticeable, I nearly always hear it when things are quiet, a lot of the time I don't notice it at all. It's not so much ringing as high pitched white noise. Thankfully at work I have my PC on one side to balance out the whistling in my ear on the other side, If only I could tune the PC to match the pitch

Mines 2x louder in my left lug than the right. Oh, I also perforated my left eardrum 25 years ago when I had a bad cold and a sneeze backfired through the connecting pipes, probably explains the difference.

 

[silence57]

Good thread idea.

 

[wolfen68]

I've always had it occasionally..connected with a cold, going to a concert, or sometimes for no known reason at all. I hear the high pitched electronic "eeeeee" that others describe.

As of the last month or two, I've had it worse. It's mostly in my left ear and noticeable at night. I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with my headphones as I have gotten the ringing suddenly even after being off of headphones for over a week. It definitely is annoying, and I wonder (since it is a symptom) what it could be (infections, high blood pressure, etc.).

Maybe I've had it awhile, but it does seem my recognition of sound has improved since I've been in this hobby. As others suggest, maybe now I hear it because my brain is now more tuned to the detail stuff.....or at least thinks it is

.

The other day it was really driving me nuts at work. After awhile I realized that the light fixture above my desk had a bad ballast and was emitting that same terrible noise...but loud! Fixing the ballast removed the sound...whew!

Interestingly, of the four people I asked, two others could hear it, and two could not.

 

[Seijang]

I can only hear my tinnitus when everything around me is absolutely silent, and even then I can "trick" my mind into hearing normally again, and if I want to, slowly activate the tinnitus. It's kind of weird, and I've had this particular phenom ever since I was a young child.

 

[binkgle]

i sometimes get tinnitus at night while trying to go to sleep in a silent room. that's the only time i get it (or notice it, at least)

 

[Anjay]

I think mine is a result of some seriously bad ear infections I've had in the past. A couple of times my ears have been so badly infected they started bleeding, and I've ruptured my eardrums a few times. Ow.

Strangely enough, my hearing is still better than that of most people I know. I always hear really high frequencies from computers and all sorts of electronics (ANNOYING!!) that very few people can. (The others think I'm crazy.

)

My lovely tinnitus is more of a fuzz/blood rushing sound. It gets worse when I'm sick or whatnot, and the past couple of days it's been annoying the hell out of me. Right now it's especially bad because I was just in a noisy arcade for about 3 hours. The noise was driving me crazy! I don't understand how anyone could possibly work there. I need my silence. As for dealing with it, my computer fan drowns it out, and during the day I rarely even think about it. Music is a good fix, too.

Concerts make my ears ring for a while, but that's normal I suppose. Aaannd... I listen to music veeerry quietly. Crank it to high and my brain hurts too much.

 

[Jabka]

Yup, I have tinitis permanently. It's not loud or even much of a distraction but that's not the whole story. A constant quiet ringing is nothing compared to the other effects. Here's how it happened:

I went to a concert about 6 years ago and ACTUALLY CHOSE to be near the stage speakers. I wanted to be immersed in the sounds and just let the music take over. Well, after 2-3 hours of that, the show was over and we all headed home. Upon leaving the place, we were all talking and attempting to discuss the show. Guess what? We all had to YELL at each other to communicate at all, and everyone's voices sounded very muffled. Have you ever heard the teacher from the Peanuts cartoon? Everyone sounded EXACTLY LIKE THAT! Finally home, I decided to watch a bit of TV before turning in. All the voices on TV SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THE TEACHER IN PEANUTS. I couldn't understand a damn thing. Trying to go to sleep, the ringing in my ears was unbearable. The effect lasted another day or two and lessened over the next few days.

Once the ringing subsided, I noticed a much more disturbing effect. The sound levels I could tolerate became much narrower. The normal quite levels no longer allowed me to distinguish spoken word or get musical details. The louder levels I was always accustomed to using for fun music was no longer bearable - painful in fact. I found that the range between useful and tolerable sound levels was greatly reduced. This effect did diminish somewhat over the course of a few months but my hearing has never recovered. I'm much more sensitive to loud sounds now, and I can no longer distingiush details in quite sounds. In other words, my useful SPL range is narrower than it once was.

Word to the wise: Never go to a concert without at least taking a pair of ear plugs. You can get plugs that will reduce the decibels by 10, 15, 20db or more. The better ones will lessen the SPL across the frequency spectrum pretty evenly, allowing you to listen to the music just as you would at home - at safe levels. If you end up far away from the sound system, fine, you may not need them. A good rule of thumb might be to guage the sound level against the normal speaking voices of your friends. Can you hear and understand you friend talking to you from 3 feet away at their normal speaking voice? If not, you would be wise to pop in some ear plugs.

I can only hope that the above story saves someone's hearing. The bottom line is that permanant damage can occur over a very short period of time. In my case about 3 hours. The louder the sound, the less time it takes to cause permanant damage. While that was a relatively loud concert, I didn't think it was THAT LOUD. I only found out afterward. Don't let that happen to you.

 

[JJ15k]

I do have some kind of low ringing in my ears when the room is quiet but I seem to remember that such very low noise is actually normal in people. I have had it since as long as I can remember(and I m only 19) so I hope it s nothing.
I ve had tinnitus maybe a few times(<10) after being in a bar/club, and it was always gone after the night.
I have always listened to music at "moderate" volumes. I say this since everyone I ever saw seemed to listen louder than me.However all this talk on headfi reminded me be even more careful and I finally got around to buying an SPL meter, which I intended to do for some time because I noticed I could too easily tolerate loud levels with my K1000(cheaper stuff gets quickly irritating).
This discussion is certainly welcome and necessary as I too feel that a lot of people listen WAY too loud.
I can t seem to remember where I read the article on the "noise of silence" thing, I think it was in a science magazine or something, anyway if somebody knows a similar one, could you post it?
Sorry for the long windedness
Take care

 

[Drag0n]

I havent tried this product,but head-fi has a link to it at the top of some pages,so i looked at the link. Maybe this will help get rid of the ringing?

http://www.sonarx.com/?gclid=CNryyKDf14ICFTkHGgod3jHDIQ