[uncle duncan]

Once you've damaged those hair cells in our ears, it's imperative to protect what's left. Wearing earplugs in any noisy environment is essential. Even driving in a car can damage your hearing, since it's a constant noise level accompanied by a low rumble underneath. Flying is also noisy, as are trips to the mall, sporting events, etc. Another thing you can do is use captions when watching DVD's. That way you can turn the sound down.

Many pro mixers work at a super low volume most of the time. When I've got clients who want to hear the playback on the big speakers, I pull on headphones and turn them off. I also make sure to wear isolation headphones while the drummer is warming up, and protect myself from other loud noises like guitar amps, tamborines, stuff like that.

Many people keep a low level noise source going to disguise tinnitus, like an ocean CD, or atmospheric music. In a tinnitus study, mood-altering drugs helped tremendously. They didn't make the tinnitus go away, but the afflicted no longer cared about the constant ringing in their ears because of their "elevated" mood.

It's possible to continue working with tinnitus, or damaged hearing. The head engineer of one of the busiest studios in town only has hearing in one ear, and he's doing just fine. On my mixing rig, I have a toggle switch to flip the stereo image, so I can make sure one side isn't out of balance. I also have a small set of speakers next to each other (basically a mono setup) on my left, which is my good ear.

There are worse things than tinnitus, like for instance, terminal bone cancer, so consider yourself lucky that you at least have your health.