[Jam_Master_J]

I've had it since I was a kid. It gets aggravated by noise and is also affected by how I hold my jaw and what position I rest my head in while trying to sleep. It's noticeable in quiet rooms but I've learned to deal with it and thus it doesn't aggravate me too much. To counter it, I usually have a fan or TV on at low volume when I sleep, or I leave the window open and let in some light traffic noise.

Sometimes its barely noticeable. Like the other day, I inserted my E4s in an already quiet room and didn't noitce the tinnitus until I really listened for it. No music was playing, and my Rio Karma on 1/30 or iPod on minimum volume is enough to mask it even when i can notice it.

 

[mrrookie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif In my opinion, IEMs are a two-edged sword when it comes to tinnitus, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. My experiences are based on fairly frequent use of Ety ER6s over roughly an 18 month period. Using IEMs will make existing tinnitus very obvious, for the same reason that jamming your fingetips into your ears will do so. But the superior isolation that IEMs offer also reduces the temptation, in my experience, to crank the volume to ear-damaging levels. Since outside noise is less of a problem, you can, in many situations, hear the music clearly without turning up the volume to dangerous levels. Please note: There is nothing magic about IEMs that protects your ears from excessive volume. They merely allow you to hear more clearly at lower volumes because they block some/most outside noise. If you have no common sense, you are still free to crank it up and fry your hearing, just as with any other form of headphone. RESIST THIS TEMPATION IF YOU VALUE YOUR HEARING. My ears ring constantly, and it is clearly audible in very quiet environments. Trust me, you don't want this.

I do resist it most of the time, i crank it up a bit if im listening something new, just to be able to hear the complete thing with the little details, the problem is that i have noticed that this problem has gotten worst in the last days.

I dont know if this has anything to do with the fact that i walk 1.5 hrs along a 4 lane street with heavy traffic (i've been doing this for 2 months now), and sometimes i wear them just for the isolation but its kinda dangerous because i need to cross lots of streets that intersect that big one.

I guess i will get some earplugs, listen less music, and at less volume... because this is getting worst too quickly, i mean, i've noticed a chance in 15 days! (its too fast, i hope its just temporal).

Anyway... thanks for the suggestions!

 

[aaroncort]

I just barely can hear a ringing in the high and upper midrange. It's currently only noticable at night at about the same volume as the blood rushing through my ears. I got it by listening to grado's in public and having to turn the volume up past the ambiant street noise. Bad move. Now I have IEM's and listen at very low volumes.

 

[Zenja]

I have a very slight amount; it doesn't bother me at all. I've had it since before I can remember (I'm 20).

 

[Edwood]

I can only really hear it if it's dead quiet, and only if the voices in my head are being quiet.

-Ed

 

[zotjen]

I occasionally get it in my left ear. Sometimes it occurs after listening to bass heavy music with my headphones. Other times when it happens I do feel some congestion in my sinuses and my ear. On the last occasion, I happened to have an appointment with my primary care physician and he noticed some fluid in my ear. I usually get it two or three times a year and it lasts anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

On another note, for those of you that suffer from tinnitus, does it ever make it more difficult to hear regular sounds, i.e. does it ever drown out normal sounds? Also, does your tinnitus ever distort regular sound?

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zotjen /img/forum/go_quote.gif On another note, for those of you that suffer from tinnitus, does it ever make it more difficult to hear regular sounds, i.e. does it ever drown out normal sounds? Also, does your tinnitus ever distort regular sound?

Generally it doesn't seem to affect my listening, except with very quiet program material. Quiet string quartet music, for example, or solo acoustic guitar/vocal. But under those circumstances, it's quite annoying.

It's not so much that it drowns out other sounds, as it eliminates silence. When music gets really quiet, there's that da*n ringing, instead of silence in the background. Obviously that reduces the dynamic range of soft sounds, since I effectively have a built-in noise floor, courtesy of my damaged auditory nerves.

I think it's fair to describe that as a form of distortion.

 

[averydonovan]

I've had tinnitus all my life, and although sometimes it gets distracting, I'm generally used to it by now.

 

[Hermitt]

I have it pretty loud in my left ear after having inner ear surgery to repair a ruptured oval window from my old water skiing days. Jeez.. it's been at least 20 years ago now (or more) and not getting any better. I don't remember the frequency that it rings at, but it will mask the sound of jingling keys. Sometimes I can ignore it, but most times it's just irritating

 

[Thelonious Monk]

it used to be bad in my left ear, but now i really can't tell if i actually have it or not. definitely never when i'm listening to music or out in public... it's hard to distinguish televisions and other electronics from tinnitus, but i'm almost positive that what i heard a month ago was tinnitus.

 

[Aman]

I am very protective of my hearing, since I need those 'golden ears' for my career. Unless a major slip-up occurs (and there've been some close calls!) I don't think I'll ever come down with it...

 

[Lowfront]

I have a very noticeable buzzing. I can't sleep in the dead silent because my tinnitus keeps me up. Whenever I hear it at night I get depressed. I Fall asleep with my little clock radio on coast to coast am, and have no problems.



Watch the volume guys. Don't be one of those "I'll deal with it if it happens" kind of people.

Turn it down so you can enjoy in the future.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowfront /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't be one of those "I'll deal with it if it happens" kind of people.

I know a professional guitarist who has done the whole thing: touring, session work, even had a band that was briefly signed to Atlantic records. Basically, rock n roll is his religion, and Jimmy Page, as far as he's concerned, is God's emmisary on earth.

Trouble is, he's completely deaf -- as in stone deaf, in one ear.

He wistfully relates that as a young man his motto was "If it's too loud, you're too old." When he told me that, I realized that, even though I didn't put it as bluntly, that's exactly how I had pretty much always felt.

Meeting him was one of the events that forced me to re-evaluate this attitude. In my mid-to-late thirties, I realized I had to moderate my listening levels.

The point is, I'm 46, and I didn't have a Walkman until I was in my 20s. Young people now start using portables when they are 10 or 11 years old (my friend just got his 10-year-old daughter a Nano.)

When these people hit their early-to-mid thirties, most of them are going to have moderate to severe hearing damage. The smart ones will catch the problem in time, but the current generation of teens and twenty-somethings is in for a rude shock down the road, I believe.

 

[Televator]

I have a father who's practically deaf (completely for all tones above human speech and diminished hearing overall) in one ear... this has made me pretty careful about my hearing and I never ever listen to loud levels over speaker or headphones. Therefore I would want to say 'never going to happen to me'... but while I am saying I need to get some unobtrusive plugs for concerts, I still haven't gotten them and I've attended quite a few in my life. I have regularly experienced ringing and diminished hearing for a day after concerts and loud parties... So no apparent permanent damage as far as I can hear now (will have some effects in the future I'm sure)

So perhaps I'm already set for hearing trouble at higher ages... this thread has done some good as I'm off to the pharmacy now to get some wax/foam plugs for the NIN-concert on Monday

 

[krmathis]

No tinnitus as of today.
Fingers crossed that it will stay this way...