do you have tinnitus ?

bus brakes, rather. apologies for the quintuple post

I get chills when I see the work 'hyperacusis' and I think of poor Jason DiEmillo of Asuza Plane.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joycecohen/noise-kills-when-everyday-sound-becomes-torture#.otjAlwPAX

wow. thank you for posting that

whenever I get sad about all the shows I never went to growing up I try to remember how lucky I am to have at least OK hearing now because of it.

no - by some miracle despite having been at several of the loudest concerts in the history of music and spending my entire adult working life in extremely loud environments i don't have it.

my hearing however is bad.

xp i missed the minutemen twice at the seventh street entry when i was in the first flush of my fandom and it's prob the biggest concert regret of my life. BUT i was told D's telecaster was ridiculously ridiculously loud so maybe my tinnitus would be even worse if id made those shows...

Only attended two concerts that left my ears ringing before I invested in audiophile earplugs. Fortunately, those two were Curve and MBV, so no regrets.

It was Fuck Buttons in 2010 that got me to get high quality ear plugs.

What bugs more than the tinnitus is the noticeable attenuation/loss of hearing around the 6-8khz band in one ear.

PARDON?

(never gets old)

After years and years of punishment (Swans, On-U, MBV, Merzbow, Astro, Sunn, a million other things) and only the odd very light and short burst of tinnitus, after seeing Jiri Wehle (a Czech pensioner singing quiet fairy stories) and Afework Nigussie (an Azmari guy on solo masenqo) a couple of weeks ago I have been left with a blocked feeling in my left ear which makes everything sound like it's underwater. I'd read somebody else's similar story before, that it was something innocuous that caused their first big hearing problem, so it's earplugs from here on it for me.

I suffer from moderate tinnitus and hyperacusis, my symptoms can vary from totally unnoticeable to "so bad I can't get out of bed" on any given day. It's a struggle but I'm dealing with it.

I just want to point out that the Buzzfeed article above is quite negative and may not be the best introduction to the subject for someone with recently developed hearing problems -- I would quite seriousl post a warning by the link.

One of the major issues with tinnitus is the difficulty of getting proper practical advice -- between your GP being "lol deal with it" and sensationalist Daily Mail/Buzzfeed articles about suicide, it can make you feel rather hopeless when there's actually good information out there. (e.g. this book.

Don't know what's happened but since the weekend I'm experiencing noticeable hearing loss and certain frequencies like dialing tones and dishes clanking together sound unbearable. Hoping this rights itself pretty damn soon.

After years and years of punishment (Swans, On-U, MBV, Merzbow, Astro, Sunn, a million other things) and only the odd very light and short burst of tinnitus, after seeing Jiri Wehle (a Czech pensioner singing quiet fairy stories) and Afework Nigussie (an Azmari guy on solo masenqo) a couple of weeks ago I have been left with a blocked feeling in my left ear which makes everything sound like it's underwater. I'd read somebody else's similar story before, that it was something innocuous that caused their first big hearing problem, so it's earplugs from here on it for me.

― the bowels are not what they seem (aldo), Tuesday, June 23, 2015 9:55 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It could just be wax that's come dislodge and is blocking a pathway. Your GP can fix this in seconds.

Good point dl, I am due at the docs soon anyway.

Sounds more like sinusitis or similar than tinnitus. One of those Netipot or over the counter nose-squirty-sniffy things might help. (They wouldn't hurt.) I'd avoid ear drops until your doctor's had a look though.

Re: earplugs, it's just not worth the potential consequence not to use earplugs. Maybe not in yr early 20s but 30s, 40s, 50s, definitely. I recommend the Alpine Music Pro plugs - they're very good, not irritating.

I think the loudest show I ever went to (or loudest seeming) was Firehose. My bandmate who is a sound guy said the loudest he ever supported was Sugar; I've seen Mould in several settings that were loud but not painful.

Sugar seems to be a really very common reference point, more so than HD or even the other early 90s bands save Dino and MBV - there's some story about Mould going to bed with the TV snow whacked up full blast

Xpost edfromohio was trying to live up to the treble crown of d boon

Loved Firehose, Sugar, Dino at the time but all I can now is fuck 'em all for being so stupid loud.

I can see why, say, Swans want to be so loud as some trance-inducing full body experience, but fucking Sugar? Turn it down, dudes.

this thread sort of rekindled my interest in my tinnitus. been wearing earplugs on the subway recently

i am going to get acupuncture for it at some point in the mid-term future; can report back if anyone is interested in an anecdote as to whether it worked

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I don't have tinnitus and i'm grateful everyday. I remember nights djing where i'd turn headphones up to full because I couldn't hear them over the speakers. I did once review a sun 0))) gig from outside the building they played, which was prudent.

Against all odds, no I don't.

i am going to get acupuncture for it at some point in the mid-term future; can report back if anyone is interested in an anecdote as to whether it worked

I'm interested. Mine isn't so bad that it bothers me - I have taken care to wear earplugs at shows for the past twenty years, though, after some pretty deafening shows. But definitely interested in knowing if there's anything to acupuncture helping that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i'm one of the two who voted "yes - a lot, it's not f*cking fair, one gig by MBV/Swans/Tackhead, and that was it ..." i saw MBV twice in three days for the Loveless tour. also stuff like Flaming Lips, Built to Spill, Spiritualized ect...

I think I have this now--been noticing it for the past two weeks every night when I watch TV. What I've read matches what I'm experiencing exactly. I'm at least relieved to find out how common and how to-be-expected it is.

all it took was being up close at one lightning bolt show

I've never even heard of Tackhead

I've never even heard of Tackhead

aka the mafia (as in mark stewarts backing band after the pop group), on-u sound system etc.
in the late pre-major label era, 80s with adrian sherwood on the live mix, they made a noise like i had never experienced before.
bass booms, shrieking top end industrial noise distortion, with drums that rattled the innards.
fantastic stuff.

Does this come and go? Sometimes it's there, sometimes not. Is it more that it's ever-present, I'm just not, for whatever reason (idle thoughts about something else, etc.), always aware of it?

There is no way to objectively measure tinnitus really. And it presents in a wide variety of ways.

With me it's always there, more pronounced at times (like when I have a head cold). I can tune it out for days at a time, but I'm always aware of it. Weird thing is, when I first acknowledged to myself that it was a permanent condition, it stopped being a problem. My anxiety was really more about finding the right treatment options, rather than the T itself.

About once every week or two, I experience a ringing for ~5 seconds that slowly tapers in amplitude until it's gone. I assume that's tinnitus.

Also worse with head colds for me. At its best I don't notice it unless I'm in a really silent room.

xpost - I get that 5-10 second ringing too, on top of the tinnitus. Usually once a day or so. The temporary ringing is a bit different, certainly more pronounced than the ongoing tinnitus I deal with.

That 5-10 second thing used to worry me - like one day it will start ringing and then never stop. It's probably normal though.

I get that too, same worry. blocking the ear with my finger helps a lot, seems to equalize it

I knew it was probably overcautious to bring earplugs to a Mark Eitzel gig and they were new ones, I haven't been to a gig since 2013. They were called Thunderplugs and the guy who sold me them was really enthusiastic about them.

I put them in minutes before the support band came on, it sounded way too muffled, but then I couldn't get one of them out my ear. The more I tried, the further it got lodged in my ear, I couldn't get the fucker out, it was painful the whole night and I was really pissed off that could have happened so easily. This probably sounds like I stupidly shoved them in but I really didn't.

My mother picked it out with tweezers and it was difficult, painful, and a little scary. To think I was considering trying small scissors to grip the little tube in the centre if we didn't have tweezers.

Thunderplugs went in the bin. I'm going to look for plugs closer to the older plate style but I'm honestly not sure how much I need them, I never go to anything brutally loud except one Swans gig that wasn't as loud as feared. It's impossible to measure how much you'll need earplugs for this or that gig.

Has this happened to anyone else or do I just have huge gaping earholes?

Hasn't happened to me but it was always a fear I had. I only really use the cylindrical or bullet-shaped foam ones you roll until they're thin and then insert.

Have you tried Elacin ER20s? As a tinnitus sufferer, my days of going to see Dinosaur Jr are over, however at the gigs I do attend I always wear plugs. If the gig is quieter than expected with the ER20s you can always pull them out slightly. I think the only gigs I've not needed plugs at is Magnetic​ Fields because Stephen Merritt has hyperacusis he keeps the volume down.

They look easier to pull out because they have longer tubes but I'd prefer something more like the older plate ones, if they still make them.

I have trouble with ear plugs too. A lot of shows I go to I seem to spend more time fiddling with them than enjoying the band. I walk out of venues wth muffled hearing, not so much because of noise levels, but because I pushed the plugs in so far they compacted all the wax (of which I am a prolific producer.)

Anyone try this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajb37ie-Juo

Sounds temporary at best, but sometimes even temporary relief is helpful...

I've done something like that before but my tinnitus isn't that bad, so I didn't notice much difference.

I'll probably try this at some point, but I'm not expecting much and anyway, I've reached an understanding with my tinnitus. You have to kind of fall in love with those things you can't change, otherwise they will drive you crazy. I don't say this when I have a cold and it gets worse, but normally it's a pure, consistent sound that isn't so hard to deal with. Maybe others have it worse.

That sounds maddening.

reply to thread title: I didn't until you reminded me

on a similar note I'm wondering if I just have sensitive hearing because I've had times where I've been in a bar and music would be playing extremely loudly(...)

Some of us must have a hypersensitivity thing... just something like dropping ice cubes into a bowl can make me wince. I have a heavy aluminum ice cream scoop (it was a gift, lol) that makes a particularly hash ringing sound if it hits the countertop that f's up my ear for like 20 mins...

I know some ppl wear special earplugs out & about, to reduce high frequencies or something (at least I've seen them advised on Instagram), but I'd feel kind of silly going that route. I have thought about taking earplugs next time I go to a movie though. (I used to be "triggered" fairly easily by environmental noise, to the point it was interfering with my life... it's actually gotten better since the incident last winter that I wrote about upthread. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.)

you can get pretty nice earplugs, molded to your own ears, with very specific characteristics eg cutting the volume by 50% but without distorting the EQ of what you're hearing... i imagine some people on this thread know a thing or two about those.

I just heard it pronounced "tín-nit-tus" recently when I'd been hearing tin-EYE-tis forever.

Those with ear discomfort, do you get accompanying jaw issues as well?

I only notice how bad my tinnitus ringing is when I'm in a completely silent room, it's quite horrifying to think this is actually going on all the time!

ha same

left ear 24/7, right ear is infrequent

I find myself turning towards people with my right ear to hear them more clearly, I'm clearly due for a tin ear trumpet

My sister-in-law has been struggling with it in both ears for several years, and is trying this treatment: https://www.lenire.com/what-is-lenire/

She's 4 weeks in and noticing improvement. Supposedly around 6 weeks is when most folks really notice a big difference.

^ same, left ear rings 24/7, maybe a little in the right one, hard to tell. Kind of amazing how quickly I got used to it at the onset. I can now go weeks without even thinking about it, even though I know it is there. And yes, my jaw pops when I chew, which I have been told can be related to the ringing but is not in itself problematic.

(Referring to xxp, of course.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2x2X4-NEto