Ringing EARS!

[Be Loveless]

I have occasional ringing, but it does go away. LOW volumes, just loud enough to hear everything save your hearing and improve your mixes. When it's LOW things that are way too loud will stick out like a sore thumb. EAR PLUGS ARE MANDATORY for the music maker AND the concert goer NO FUCKING JOKE! Hey moderator, how about a SAFETY/TINITUS forum?

 

[DaveDrummer]

If you are exposed to a loud guitar for 20 min a day, or a lawnmower for an hour once a week I dont think you will hurt your ears..not enough time.

But, on the other hand playing in a rock band, (especially being near cymbals), for hours of your time will result in some hearing loss if you are not careful. just wear earplugs. not that hard, is it?

 

[Aeolian]

I have permanent tinitus, from my days playing 6 nights a week in close proximity to the drummers crash cymbal. Fortunately it is as a fairly low level. As described, it has to be really quiet for me to notice it.
When exposed to excessive sound pressure levels the nerves become damaged and start emitting impulses regardless if there is any actual sound stimulation. The shorter cillia are more easily affected and usually only a few start acting up. This causes the ringing everyone is familiar with. Depending on which nerves are tweaked, different frequencies (or multiple frequencies) are heard.

If the damage is not to great, the nerve will recover and the ringing stops. This does not mean everything is okay. The damage accumulates and at some point the nerve never fully recovers and you have permanent ringing. Like any cumlative damage, the more damage there is, the more sensitive it is to further abuse. If you have permanent tinutius at 18 you will have to be very carefull with the levels you expose your ears to. There are soundmen (and folks like Jeff Beck) from the 70's and 80's who used to climb around the PA stacks listening to each driver and now get the benefit of a car horn permanently screaming in one or both ears. Makes it hard to ever get a decent night's sleep much less have anything to do with music. At some point the only solution is to cut the nerves to the ear, shutting off everything. Beethoven remarked that deafness was preferrable to "the infernal racket in my head". You aren't going to be able to enjoy music the way that you have, but hopefully you will still be able to enjoy music. Do anything you can to reduce the onslaught on your ears. Wear earplugs all the time. You'd be amazed how noisy driving down the freeway is. Even in a quiet car.

 

[al_dave]

Use hearing protection...

I spent a lifetime around loud music, live music and everything in between. I have some permanent hearing loss and a ringing in the ears that won't ever stop. I was in a jazz quartet and we used to practice in a VERY small room and the sax man used to wet a paper towel, tear it into pieces and then stuff it in his ear.

I wish I had had the foresight to do that years ago when we were playing rock and roll in the drummer's bedroom (back in high school). Two guitars, a bass and a set of drums in a bedroom that had just enough room for a bed and the aforementioned rock quartet made for some loud, ear splitting music.

My tinnitus is not that bad, but it makes it hard to sleep without the aid of a good buzz or a box fan blowing in the background. Do yourself a favour and use SOME kind of hearing protection or your ears will become as useless as tits on a boar. No fucking joke...

Dave

 

[chrisharris]

I have permanent tinitus, from my days playing 6 nights a week in close proximity to the drummers crash cymbal.

Yeah, me too. 80% in my right ear is GONE...I was always on the left side of the stage facing the crowd.

My ears rang every night, and my dumbass thought it was normal if it was gone the next day. Mixing is a LOT more difficult without a good set of ears. Sheesh, I wonder why my mixes are crispy and midrangey, with the vocals about 10db too loud, lol.

Man, did anybody ever see Judus Priest back in the day? Rob Halford used to bring a freaking Harley out on stage and mic the exhaust, lol...I'm POSITIVE that did some damage to me...my ears rang for about a week.

BTW - In ear monitors rule if you're playing. They shield you from some of the outside percussive noises, and they keep your band from wanting to kill you for having your monitor louder than the mains, lol.

 

[Robert D]

Man, did anybody ever see Judus Priest back in the day?

Yep, opening for UFO. Judas Priest was so loud my ears rang loudly the next day, my head was throbbing, and I drove through a red light in the rain, causing a minor accident. Ever since I've been super protective of my hearing, and thank the gods, I have no tinnitus despite spending most of the 80's on stage. My brother in Alaska loves his guns, won't wear those sissy hearing protectors, and says "what?" constantly.

As a father of a couple of the sweetest girls on earth, let me tell you that there are things you don't wanna miss, like your little girl whispering "I love you daddy" quietly for only your ears, or even the sweet sound of your baby's breathing.

Take care of your ears, they're out of stock on replacement parts.

RD

 

[LiquidBronze]

...

damn i thought i was the only one who had ringing in the ear. mine is not loud, but a very low, high pitched ring (if that makes sense). i know it happended after i got my first 500 W PA speaker (like 4 years ago), i did something so dumb, and kick myself everyday for doing it. lets just say a mic next to a PA speaker was accidently turned on. it made my left ear physically hurt for like 3 days, and then the low ringing started, and hasnt been the same ever since. i should get this shit checked out for sure, thanks all

peace
LB

 

[Robert D]

Anytime I walk in front of the mains, it's automatic, without even thinking about it I put my finger in the ear facing the cabs, even if I'm the only one in the place and everything's powered off. This is a high danger area where major damage can occure in seconds. Think of it like walking across a shooting range, trusting that some idiot won't shoot you.

RD

 

[yorgo]

I've read every reply on this post. I 've had the ringing now for about four days and I'm scared to death it won't go away. I was mixing for 4 nights straight w/headphones. About 2 hours a night. since then I haven't been back to my room. I'm 32 and thinking the worst. Even if this goes away, I don't think I will ever put on a pair of headphones on ever again. I am scared shitless...

 

[chrisharris]

I am scared shitless...

Best of luck, but don't get too freaked out over it. I'm not saying hearing loss is no big deal, but it's definitely something you can live with. You'll be okay. Trust me, I'm almost deaf, HA!!!

 

[Be Loveless]

hey man, it will probably start to subside in a couple of days and when it does ...remember that it happened and start working at lower volumes (especially with headphones) and make sure that you take ample rest periods. You don't hear right after a marathon session anyway, there is no point to them unless you have an absolute deadline to meet. If the ringing persists count your money and take a trip to the doctor and get a refferal. STAY CALM, but take it seriously. Hopefully this is just a warning to you that you must change your habbits and not severe damage.

 

[Vin-Su]

OH gawdddddddddd, i mean not meaning to be bad but when i read the begining post i cracked up!!! he said "ringing in my ears" as if it something we should all hear!!!!!!! ROFL

 

[chrisharris]

OH gawdddddddddd...

Yeah, well...welcome to English - the language of comedy.




























































Don't worry; I'm sure your english is a helluva lot better than my vietnamese.

 

[fluxburn]

I am 22 and got into all this sound protection stuff early. I notice if I goto a small bar with music at 90db that I can't hear as well the next day. So I don't play music really that day and allow my ears to heal basicly. The ears are like a muscle, once you stress the muscle it must heal. Similar to lifting heavy wieghts and having to wait 3-4 days before you lift again. I notice in many places sounds are to loud. For instance movie theathers have these great new sound systems that are able to get 110db and cost way less than before. Actually if you think about it, everything is louder now. Every car oem sound system has 50-60watts a channel+. I have a 2000watt system in my car, while I never bump it because it causes pain.... unless the windows are down on the freeway lol. It is cool to play somewhat loud for a few minutes, but much past that and you will get some ringing.

It is pretty easy to avoid bad tinnitus. A little ringing in the ears, alright it is not that bad. But you have an obivous signal that your ears are in pain, the really LOUD ringing in them after being exposed to a loud sound in the same day. Every time you ears ring really loud you lost a hearing cell. But some crap is stupid I think about tinnitus. I have a 2db dip in my right ear from 10-15k and so does my mother. I am sorry but I believe some of it is genetics.

 

[Vin-Su]

Yeah, well...welcome to English - the language of comedy.

Don't worry; I'm sure your english is a helluva lot better than my vietnamese.

Its called Dialect, purposeful action of distinguishing ones grammar.

 

[chrisharris]

Its called Dialect, purposeful action of distinguishing ones grammar.

My comment was just meant to convey that there's nothing hilarious about the first post. "Ringing Ears" is a pretty common expression, and it rarely evokes fits of laughter...but I'm all for laughter. Glad you found it funny.

 

[yorgo]

OH gawdddddddddd, i mean not meaning to be bad but when i read the begining post i cracked up!!! he said "ringing in my ears" as if it something we should all hear!!!!!!! ROFL

There is absolutly nothing funny about this. Last night I woke in the middle of the night...my son was crying...I couldn't believe how loud the ringing was. It comes and goes during the day. At times it almost disappears but before I get to happy its back. I've never been so misserable. Never mind the fact that I won't even record right now...I just want some silence.

 

[Vin-Su]

Like I originally said, the fact that this man has a serious hearing condition is not amusing, just the way in which he conveyed it.

 

[DAFFYDRUNK]

Kind of a dead thread but I'll bring it back to life.

I'm a 33 year old guy. In the past few months I've had alot of ringing in my ears. Particularly a ~12 KHz ring my left ear. While I'm not the most careful about loud music, I've been kind stumped why I suddenly had lots of ringing in my left ear. At the same time I'm always testing people to see if they hear really subtle things in the environment I can hear.. Hearing still seems at least as good as those around me who are not musicians nor car stereo freaks.. Been acting up recently even though I haven't hardly even played louder music for a long time, and I think I figured out something I thought I'd share since there has to be other like me.

TMD or Temporomandibular disorder. Basically problems with your jaw. Mine seems to be brought on by bruxism, or clenching of the teeth. I was figuring somehow I blew my ear out but I've been pretty careful about being stupid with loud sounds for quite a while, particularly while recording. Mostly listen to talk radio while driving. Loudest sounds I might hear would be driving around with the top off my weekend car, or hanging out at my brother's where he occasionally likes to crank a song on his stereo...

Anyway, The ringing can be fairly loud. I can forget about it if my mind's on something else, but if I think about it it's there. So bad that in April I was scared to fly since I thought it might really cause problems in my ears. Took a vacation and noticed the ringing almost stopped by the end of the 11 days I was gone. Came back and the ringing seemed to get worse again within a couple weeks. Could it be a stress thing?
After thinking about it for a long time, I started thinking about the day it I noticed it. Previous day, I was mixing a tune and spent hours at my computer. I wasn't listening it the music very loud exept maybe a few minutes every couple hours to check my progress. Even then, not at a level that should damage your ears. Just loud enough to enjoy it.
Thought recently occured that I'm clenching my teeth while doing tedious stuff. Programming drums, playing instruments, and editing , as you fellow recording enthusiasts may know, can be VERY tedious. I also have a computer business which doesn't help my strees either.
Currently trying to figure out ways to reduce my teeth clenching, and gonna see if I have any luck getting rid of the ringing. Just a thought I had. Perhaps that tedious recording you're doing might be the reason your ears ring and not the sounds you're creating. Still important not to be stupid about turning it up too loud though...

 

[dvincent]

TURN DOWN THOSE MONITORS AND QUIT THAT ROCK BAND OR ELSE WEAR EARPLUGS!! Pete Townsend would vouch for that.