I just woke up to my second morning after the Acid Mothers Temple show, and my ears still have a droning ring.

(no sarcasm intended)

Tinnitus is caused by cummulative abuse to the cochlia in the inner ear, which is -- as of this point -- irreparable. You might get used to it. I have it in my right ear after years and years of systematic headphone-use (turned all the way up, seven days a week).

The AMT show may have just been the final push over the edge. It may still go away, though. Hope it does. If not, they say Ginko Biloba sometimes reduces the ring. It hasn't for me, but it might for you.

It's not a disease. It's just like I'm listening to Merzbow. All the time!

I got my case of tinnitus after seeing Kitchens of Distinction for the last time in 1995. Wonderful show and I just had to hear "Drive That Fast" without the earplugs. Mistake! But it's a small case and I only really notice it at night when all else is quiet.

Oh, well, could be worse; I saw an interview with Ted Nugent where he explained that his left ear is just there "for decoration." It's been completely blown out from years of amp abuse and firearms.

if eating 100% of the food could DESTROY MY TASTEBUDS i'd probably stick at 60 myself!!

1) a better comparison would be "going to McDonald's and refusing to supersize"; there is nothing "four star" about noize shows.

2) if you are at a noize show, you too are a douche, so lighten up, Francis.

i had the same thing, but maybe even worse as when i left the SF show a couple weeks ago, my right ear was just flat-out deaf. ringing would've assured me that at least something was working. in any event, i went to the doctor, had a seriously uncomfortable hearing test, and got fitted for these for future shows.

it's a sad day when you go to the movies and have to pop in the earplugs for fear of making your tinnitus worse...atleast with these you can hear everything and don't turn into that fool who yells at people 'cause you can't hear yourself.

Would recommend investing in some decent plugs to anyone. Especially if you're reading this and don't have any noticeable hearing damage, now is the best time to start. Tinnitus can be very depressing.

I have no idea which frequencies end up being filtered (perhaps all of them to some degree) but really, you get used to the decibel loss and general change in sound in no time at all.

Coming home from shows/clubs not shaking & worried is better.

http://hearos.com/images/products/hearos-00531-big.jpg

Saw them in '89 at the TLA - every time the drummer hit the bass drum it felt like somebody flicked my breastbone.

Other fine ear-ringers:
Final performance of Die Donnergotter, Rhys Chatham @ CBGBs
Motorhead @ The Stone Pony

Frown was so loud I used to wear shooting range earcups - and I was on stage. After one show in '94 Dave Wyndorf from Monster Magnet said it was the loudest thing he'd ever heard.

Unfortunately I never caught the rumored kings of sonic punishment in their heyday; Swans.

anywho, is it true you can find the pitch to your own tinnitus hum? i remember the guitarist from Mission of Burma saying something to that affect.

Is it rude to ask what kind of nerd brings a db meter to a show?

I've more or less gotten used to it, but it's very much still there. They say it's amplified by the following in your diet: alcohol, salt, caffeine, sugar. In other words EVERYTHING I REGULARLY CONSUME, but y'know, what's ya gonna do?

I was heartbroken about it for quite some time. I swore off headphones for about two years, and was really anal about wearing ear-plugs to shows. I gradually tapered off on both counts (but am still very wary of headphones). I do take this dubious homeopathic tablet called...encouragingly...Ring Stop (you can get it via Amazon.Com), and it might work, or it might just be that I'm so sensitized to it that I think it's working. Scarily, I've damaged my higher frequency hearing. I'm often asking my wife to repeat things she's said, and I can't hear the tea kettle whistle before she does (not that I make a lot of tea, so who cares, eh?) Still, stuff like that gives me the fear.

In terms of the loudest show I've been to, as cliched an answer as it might be, I saw Guns'n'Roses at the New Ritz (w.54th). It was a special one-off club gig (for the filming of the video for "You Could Be Mine"). While it was cool to see them in a comparatively small venue, they had their fuckin' stadium-ready soundsystem with them. It was like standing in front of a jet engine. That cannot have helped my hearing.

Herpes? What?

I saw Usaisamonster in a room above a pub in Leeds a few weeks ago and the guitarist was going through two huge valve heads (including one Sound City bastard) and two cabs, it was just stupid, and pretty unnecessary in my opinion. Their music didn't need it. My hearing worries really started at High on Fire in Bradford, though - Matt Pike through 2 heads and FOUR 4x12 cabs, not mic'd up, just brutally loud and powerful. Sweet if you could find a good spot though.

Are anyone else's ears starting to ache just reading this thread?!

Also, man, at AMT shows the merch table is killer. So much to choose from. I got this CDR from Kawabata Makoto that I'm actually a little disappointed in - "Private Sound Drawing 1." I expected it to be really psychedelic guitar work, like other solo things from him I've heard, but instead it's a 45 minute drone. Around 25 minutes into it he starts a little oriental style plucking, which is definitely nice, but ehh... it wasn't what I expected.

This thread has definitely raised my awareness about ear plugs. My hearing is great (it's my SIGHT that's going at a record pace but that's another story) but I cannot fathom being unable to enjoy music at any point in my life. I'm not worried about the loss of frequency - just the, erm, look. I know it's shallow and vain and stupid, but earplugs look really dorky. So do seatbelts. Are the high end ones less noticeable than the fluorescent fucking green and orange ones that cost a buck? (and why the hell do they make them those colors??)

http://jeromard.free.fr/images/alien%20qui%20tient%20la%20terre.jpg

What starts tinnitus ? Sound pressure, medication side-effects, stress and blood pressure troubles, displaced vertebrae etc. I am told by some doctors that eventually 10% of the population naturally gets it as they age. Many have it and hardly notice, sometimes the onset is very progressive, making it OK to deal with.

What worsens or changes tinnitus ? As mentioned, common foodstuffs, alcohol, tobacco... But I also notice seasonal variations (worse in the fall) or depending on body posture, and the worst : fatigue. Miss a few hours of sleep and you know you're in for a loud ring all day.

What stops it ? Fuck all, that's what, and it's annoying enough that I tried a few things. I have no hearing damage, am actually convinced I catch a HIGHER frequency range than I used to, as i hear slight ultrasounds from monitors and TV suddenly much better than others.

It's all in your head, and feels sort of like an invisible handicap, something that seems impossible to get used to; but humans adapt. On a freaky sidenote, there is a rare form of tinnitus that can be objectively heard from outside your head by anyone.

I'd never heard of The Occasion before, but I actually liked them.

They got better as they went. At first I was kind of like, "ehhh, emo," but they turned out to be much more interesting. The song where AMT came out and danced around with them was pretty great.

I think the youngest one (only one without a beard) was really on acid or some drug. After every song he'd start viciously scratching his face, eyelids, neck, collar and wouldn't stop until he had to play the next song. Either drugs or a serious case of lice.

Bassist was wasted and SO much fun to watch. "Trigger In Trigger Out" sounded amazing. Kawabata is the second best non-metal guitarist I've ever seen live (nobody beats the 'Hag). Surprised at how small the amps were but they were mic'd well enough to require earplugs. At the end, they destroyed everything - guitars, drum set - there was glass and beer all over the front row, on stage, guitar pedals submerged in Heineken. Surely they don't do this every night?!? A buncha kids had Kawabata sign pieces of the smashed guitar afterward - I'm jealous of whoever got the pickups. Anyway - great fucking show.

Their CDs are different. You don't get much in the way of the nice long periods of droning that they do live. But the first CD has a live track which is what hooked me on them. (After hearing them live on WFMU first got me looking for more.)

Last night, laying down in more or less complete silence to read, I had a really bad ringing again. I have no idea what spurred it. I haven't been to another show since AMT. Today my hearing is normal again.

Well, in my case, it never goes (ah, if only!), but there are times when it's more prominent than others.....but it's always there.

Does 'normal' (non-damaged) hearing actually result in total and complete silence when you're not around any sound at all? I can't remember a time when I could sit in, say, a silent room and hear absolute and complete silence, even when I was a kid.

What I'm wondering is: do people who have no hearing damage at all hear total silence when they're in a totally silent environment?
Plug your ears with your fingers while in a silent room to gauge this. I'd expect (hope) that everyone would hear at least the tiniest bit of ringing, and that this isn't actual damage.

I'm trying to determine how far from normal my hearing is (while avoiding the doctor).

Maybe I'm just crazy: although I'd take crazy over deaf any day...

That's not taking it really far is it, investingatingly speaking ?

I do remember very clearly when i was a kid and sleeping at a chalet (the mountain can get EXTREMELY silent sometimes, it's just this.. rock) I would hear a version of the pitched sound I now get much louder with tinnitus.

And now it might vary, it might be faint sometimes or seem to disappear for half a second, but it sure is there and it sounds nothing like a "nervous system" either (now thati would pay to hear).