My ears are ringing...and yours?

[Rick Schmidlin]

I play three hours or more a day and my ears ring,do yours also?

[MikeEdgerton]

What?

[Rick Schmidlin]

What?

After playing my mandolin at a medium level for an hour my left ear hears a ring sound.

[mandroid]

I've Had Tonitis for a decade + :crying:

[jimbob]

I have been around screaming diesel engines in the oilfield for the past 30+ years ....my ears ring all the time....and my wife accuses me of being deaf...which can come in handy....what did you say ?

[Benevolent Dick]

oh....tinnitus
no, they don't ring
unless the Marshall is turned up past 6

MS

[Coffeecup]

How loud do you play?:disbelief:

Seriously, if you still get the ringing when everything is quiet, say when you're laying in bed, it could be a symptom of high blood pressure. Had that myself.

[MikeEdgerton]

What? <---- that was a joke.

[Phillip Tigue]

Yeah, mine ring, but it's more from the high blood pressure and naval gunnery.

[Hans]

Mine ring permanently. Woodworking machines and youthful idiocy...

[Keith Erickson]

*Shooting guns with out hearing protection
*Setting the volume to 11 on my amps
*The Who concert 1989 at Giants Stadium

Yeah....my ears are ringing :whistling:

[Barry Platnick]

Last june out of the blue I developed tinitus that was so bad that I couldnt work for almost a month. I couldnt even finger pick my guitar softly cause it hurt. Its been a few months now but I ts slowly getting better. I can work but have some pretty tough days.

I'm back at the mandolin but the mesa boogie stays off.

[stratman62]

you mean everyone doesn't hear it? mine come and goes but mostly stays for about 3 yrs now.

[mandocrucian]

Lot of postings lately on FLUTE-L regarding hearing loss/ear protection.

Better read this article:
How to Protect Your Hearing When Playing Your Musical Instrument (http://www.larrykrantz.com/flutesor.htm)

Decibel (Loudness) Comparison Chart (http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html)

Niles H

[Spencer]

I've had tinnitis constantly for over 40 years, childhood ear infections did the trick. Most folks just have to learn to live with/ignore it. Hadn't thought about it for a while until I read the thread, and dog gone it, its still there.:(

Spencer

[Gerard Dick]

Race cars without mufflers and other stupid things done in the invincible idiocy of youth. Yes it is never quiet. I can also plead partial deafness and exercise selective hearing.:)

[groveland]

Lot of postings lately on FLUTE-L regarding hearing loss/ear protection.

Better read this article:
How to Protect Your Hearing When Playing Your Musical Instrument (http://www.larrykrantz.com/flutesor.htm)

Decibel (Loudness) Comparison Chart (http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html)

Niles H
Thanks much for those.

Grand Funk Railroad at "The Syndrome" in Chicago, 1971. Walked out of there marvelling how tiny everybody's voices had become. Great show, but the volume was sheer stupidity. Yeah, tinnitus... but not until a couple decades later after playing small clubs at higher volumes. In 1994 I got fitted with "musicians' earplugs" with changeable filters. The ones I use take 25dB off in a way that's supposed to be natural - The group I was with for the next 10 years operated consistently at 104dB where I stood. Take 25dB off that, you're okay. I recommend the plugs for that kind of volume. Never for mandolin. Insurance paid for some of it, if I recall.

Edit: Like someone above already asked... How loud do you play that thing?

[Paul 64]

Do yours also?

Yep. All the time

[Doug Edwards]

Mine ring all the time. Mostly over exposure to loud stuff and no hearing protection, guns, amps, concerts, ect.

[Mike Snyder]

Constantly. Culprits include a particular 3 phase 220v 10" Delta tablesaw, various power mitreboxes,
hundreds of rounds of trap and skeet, and- worst of worst- those .22 caliber nail guns that shoot a hardened nail into concrete or steel. We used those to attach firring strips to basement walls. Man, shoot one of those at the bottom of the wall, in the corner, it about makes your nose bleed!
It's hard for me to comprehend how DUMB it was to do this stuff EVEN ONCE without protection. I'll be paying for that stupidity 'til they lay me down.

[Lee Callicutt]

[QUOTE=Keith Erickson;622101*The Who concert 1989 at Giants Stadium
[/QUOTE]

At least it was worth it. ;)

[Fretbear]

Anybody who is younger or has so far been spared should take heed of these poster's experiences. It seems just about every friend that I have, musicican and non-musician as well, suffer from some kind of ringing in their ears. I am always waiting for it to start up with me, even though except for couple of Who concerts, the usual suspects are lacking in my case. Exposure to loud noises of any kind should be avoided, especially explosive ones, and your hearing should be protected and respected at all times and part of that is to consider that just possibly we weren't meant to be surgically attached to iPods.

[greg_tsam]

after playing my mandolin at a medium level for an hour my left ear hears a ring sound.

what?

[greg_tsam]

what? <---- that was a joke.

what?

[Michael Cameron]

My ears ring ALL the time. No high BP.
Good to know I'm not alone.

[Bertram Henze]

My ears do that every time after a particular loud monthly four-hour session. To achieve that with one mandolin in 1 hour, you have to sit inside it. What's your height? :grin:

Bertram

[barney 59]

Sometimes I tell if it's my ears ringing or treefrogs.

[danb]

I have tinitus to variable degrees. My mother is an audiologist, and has taken to "encouraging" hearing tests a bit more often than most folks would get, and I also get an awful lot of advice in the bargain.

What I've found as causes:
- headphones = big #1. iPod on speakers now, and I try to keep myself from watching movies on the laptop/train. I don't think I have them too loud, but still I get much more of an impact from earbuds/headphones than speakers in the home.
- loud jam sessions, especially where there is also lots of background noise
- not enough sleep, especially if I've had a beer or two as well
- concerts with the sound very high
- stress

So..a loud session where you have a beer and stay up late is a tri-fecta of sorts.

Things to alleviate it that work for me:
- musician's plugs. Custom-fit earplugs that just knock a few decibels off things without really messing up the attenuation ("eq") to me. When I have them in in a crowded jam, I actually hear the music quite a bit more clearly. I wear them and most every concert and movie I go to also.
- eating lots of green vegetables. There is a dietary component I was told the details of which escape me, but green beans are the ticket, I am told.
- rest & recovery. Simply taking it easy

It's annoying. It can make it hard to get to sleep. It's also worrying, the buzzing/ringing sound is not a good thing, it's a sign of some damage to your hearing. Take care of it and do what you can, and talk to your doc about it. It can be quite isolating to have hearing problems, and you want to avoid that as much as possible.

[John McGann]

Pete Townsend's cautionary tale- although The Who played at explosively loud volumes, he thinks most of his substantial hearing loss came from listening to loud music with headphones while drinking. Evidently, the cilia in your ears become immobilized from the alcohol. So be careful out there!

We all gradually lose our high end hearing as we age, which is not only fundamental high frequencies, but upper harmonic content of lower frequencies. Men lose these highs at a more pronounced level. It's a good idea for the under 45 crowd to keep in mind- the less damage you do early on, the more years of relatively hi-fi listening you'll have- and what, with us all living longer due to the miracles of science and technology, we want to enjoy ourselves :mandosmiley:

[desaljs]

Hearing loss is no laughing matter. Some good points here so far. I am not aware of the musicians ear plugs, but will check them out.

I deal with this problem at work. Prolonged exposure to 85 dB or more, will cause a high frequency hearing loss over time. Add to that presbycusis, or age related hearing loss, and things get serious. Do you want to continue to hear those lovely trebles from your mandolin?

Evaluate all your noise exposure. See what you can do to limit or modify with hearing protectors. All you need to do is attenuate (reduce) by 10-20 dB, and it will go a long way to protect what you have left.

Do some reading on this topic and become informed.......please!

[Mark Walker]

I agree with many previous posters' insights. I've never been one to engage in listening to music or TV's or whatever with the volume excessively high... Even though back in the day I had a beater 1969 Chevy Blazer which had incredibe 'wind noise' when cruising down the road, and I couldn't hear my Eagles, Kansas, Boston etc. 8-tracks and cassettes without the volume up pretty far. But nothing like these days when a car coming down the road a mile away is detected well in advance by the "BOOM BOOM BOOM, THUMP THUMP THUMP" of the volume and bass cranked way up.

I worry about my own kids' ears, even though both are young adults now and don't listen much to me or my wife. Both have a tendency to have their iPOD's, MP3 players, Walkman - whatever - so loud that I can hear it across the room - and their headphones or ear-buds are in THEIR ears!

One of the greatest gifts God gave us is our hearing; do not jeopardize it with excessively loud music, or going without protection in loud environments - whether it be work, a concert, sport-shooting - whatever!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :mandosmiley:

[Jon Hall]

Tinnutis is caused by irreversible nerve damage. If you have tinnutis it's importamt to have your hearing tested. The doctor will be able to tell how much loss has occured and rule out any more serious problems.

I hear " the bugs in the trees" every waking moment. To prevent any further loss, I wear ear plugs when mowing or using the leaf blower. I also avoid the loud woodworking machinery, p.a.'s and stage monitors that did the damage in the first place.

This is one of those things a young person never thinks will happen until it does. I know one retired musician whose condition is so severe that he can't even listen to recorded music becasue of the pain.

[J.Albert]

John wrote:
[[ We all gradually lose our high end hearing as we age, which is not only fundamental high frequencies, but upper harmonic content of lower frequencies. Men lose these highs at a more pronounced level. It's a good idea for the under 45 crowd to keep in mind ]]

Just by coincidence, someone posted this URL in rec.audio.pro today:
http://journal.plasticmind.com/ears/mosquito-tone-or-how-to-tell-youre-a-youngun/

Might be worth "giving a listen to"....

- John

[rohan]

I got an middle ear infection about 2 weeks ago and now have constant ringing at high volumes in both ears and can't hear much above E. I get the see the ear mechanic this friday. Any one had a similar experience?

[Keith Erickson]

Pete Townsend's cautionary tale- although The Who played at explosively loud volumes, he thinks most of his substantial hearing loss came from listening to loud music with headphones while drinking.

John,

Would it be possible that some of Pete Townsend's hearing loss is attributed to the Smother's Bros. show with the "Keith Moon and the dynamite in the bass drum" incident?

[Spruce]

John,

Would it be possible that some of Pete Townsend's hearing loss is attributed to the Smother's Bros. show with the "Keith Moon and the dynamite in the bass drum" incident?

Yep...

[Bigtuna]

I have tinitus as well, and I'm only 31. For me it was skeet shooting, my fathers workshop, my walkman when I was younger (as well as the punk and metal that I was listening to), and just too many concerts where I had to be up front. I went to an audiologist a year or so ago, and got my hearing tested. The Dr. told me my hearing was fine, but it was obvious that I had tinitus from what I described to him. What the tests did show was that I could hear most of the test tones at low levels (dbs) but some were better than others.

For me the ringing is always there, 24-7, not unbearable but there. When I feel a cold coming, it gets worst; when I have to many beers, it gets worst. Every concert I go to now I have earplugs in hands down, even for some of the smaller PA bluegrass type shows. I can remember this one time I went to hear this band and the sound terrible, and the feedback was deafening. I still think back to that show in anger, because that seemed like the turning point for the ringing in my left ear (my left ear rings more than my right). Another thing that troubles me is my left ear is the ear which I most frequently use my cell phone on, could there be a link? I don't know, now I try to use my speakerphone as much as I can when using my cell. I feel it has helped cut back the ringing to a certain degree.

I'm glad I ran across this thread, there have been some very insightful posts, especially the one about diet. Hopefully with the advent of science (and stem cell research - sorry not trying to start a battle here) tinitus will be a thing of the past. So, as the Dr. told me, "protect your hearing, because by the time you realize you have a problem its to late."

I would love to see what everyone else uses. I've got a pair of Vater Safe N' Sound Earplugs and I love the fact I can hear the music still and protect my hearing at the same time. They also provide two different levels of protection as well.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vater-SAFE-N-SOUND-EARPLUGS?sku=420966