New to Tinitus. Any help someone??

[Big Andy]

Ah, Sweet Irony. I was a complete IDIOT this weekend. This seemed to be the best place to post my idiocy. Here's what I did. And again I am SERIOUSLY A GIANT F'N IDIOT and didn't wear any ear protection when a 357 Magnum went off 5 feet from my head.

Since Sunday I have had an 8200Hz tone in my right ear. I found the level to be somewhere near -80dBFS, tho for around 2 hours after the blast it was louder than my voice yelling. Nothing horrid now, but still very annoying.

I went to my ENT and he said he could see nothing wrong with my ear and that I probably sustained damage because of the gun blast...Good work Doc . He did say however, that my hearing "Should" return to normal since this was a one time thing but it could take upwards of 4 months to get back to 100%. He told me that there may have been several microscopic holes in my ear drum as well as an irritation of my aural nerve, so NO caffeine.

Afterwords, I went home and did a hearing test on myself and found my left ear could happily hear up to 18k without having to strain. My right ear could hear clear up to 12k before there was a DRAMATIC drop off. I can still hear 17k, if I turn the volume up 20dB. Sweet lord I hope the doctor is right. I currently have an earplug in righty to help hasten the recovery.... not to mention taking mass amounts of B-12 and Magnesium.

ALWAY WEAR YOUR EAR PROTECTION KIDS! ALWAYS!. KEEP EAR PLUGS IN YOUR CAR, HOUSE, STUDIOS anywhere you can think of. I will be living in anxiety every day til my hearing returns. Wish me luck.

[AlexK]

Here's something I've figured over the last few months:

It's not the straight-forward volume level/SPL/dB of the music you're listening to, it's more the frequency content.

There is NOTHING wrong with listening at 100dBrms+ as long as the sound is spread evenly across the frequency spectrum. As soon as you start focussing sound within certain frequencies, particularly those which equal-loudness-contours show to be the most sensitive to our ears, you're risking hearing damage at almost any volume.

I can make my ears ache using nothing other than my phone's built in speaker plus a recording with the right tonal balance. Is my phone getting over 85dB? Absolutely not. Is it uncomfortable to listen to, and likely to leave me with a ring in my ears? I really believe so.

On the other hand, I've been to gigs where the PA is top-notch, it's set-up properly, and the source (DJ or band) sounds great, and come out without a single whistle or ring in my ears.

Sound quality is the primary concern, followed by overall sound level.

Just my 2c.

[apple-q]

Originally Posted by AlexK

Here's something I've figured over the last few months:

It's not the straight-forward volume level/SPL/dB of the music you're listening to, it's more the frequency content.

There is NOTHING wrong with listening at 100dBrms+ as long as the sound is spread evenly across the frequency spectrum. As soon as you start focussing sound within certain frequencies, particularly those which equal-loudness-contours show to be the most sensitive to our ears, you're risking hearing damage at almost any volume.

I can make my ears ache using nothing other than my phone's built in speaker plus a recording with the right tonal balance. Is my phone getting over 85dB? Absolutely not. Is it uncomfortable to listen to, and likely to leave me with a ring in my ears? I really believe so.

On the other hand, I've been to gigs where the PA is top-notch, it's set-up properly, and the source (DJ or band) sounds great, and come out without a single whistle or ring in my ears.

Sound quality is the primary concern, followed by overall sound level.

Just my 2c.

Sorry but this is a quite dangerous advise. Are you saying that as long as it sounds good there it´s OK to listen to 100dB SPL for a long time wthout suffering permanent hearing damage?

"The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that exposure to 85 dB(A) of noise, known as an exposure action value, for more than eight hours per day can result in permanent hearing loss"

[AlexK]

Originally Posted by apple-q

Sorry but this is a quite dangerous advise. Are you saying that as long as it sounds good there it´s OK to listen to 100dB SPL for a long time wthout suffering permanent hearing damage?

Yes, more or less. So long as you consider good sound to simply be an even spread of sound across the spectrum, good dynamic range and a lack of harmonic distortion.

Originally Posted by apple-q

"The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that exposure to 85 dB(A) of noise, known as an exposure action value, for more than eight hours per day can result in permanent hearing loss"

All well and good, but try listening to even a minute of 85dB(A) of sound at 4 kHz, maybe a pure test-tone.

Then combine 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz and 8 kHz obeying the laws of equal-loudness contours (ie, A-weighting) with a mean overall SPL of 85 dB, and observe the differences.

There's a LOT more to it than simply the overall SPL. This is well known in the live-sound industry...

[mikedevelta]

I've been tip toeing around tinnitus for 18 months, I get it real bad, very loud at about 8k. I tried everything and researched like hell to no avail. One day it occurred to me that "I" was fueling" my own fire. Some say, "Don't drink coffee, avoid silence, don't stress, take glinko bilbo, don't this and don't that infinitum. This all has the inadvertent effect of placing your energy, focus subconscious on your tinnitus once again. Of course the more attention tinnitus gets the louder it appears to be.

Don't get me wrong I still have "T" but now I "enjoy" a coffee, I don't stress when I'm stressed if that makes sense, and I don't spend countless hours on the net looking for a cure..

YOU ARE THE CURE! LEARN TO LET GO.


"T" is a sound in perpetual motion and we feed it by the attention we give it. My advice to all T sufferers is first to accept that you have it, now move on and live and don't bow down to it's demands.

I'm not going to trivalize T, I know the anguish it caused me, at times death felt like a much more appealing option but now I'm learning.

As a result I am experiencing reduced tinnitus, at times for days. When it's loud I make a choice to not fret and tell myself I am a work in progress, my silence is coming, be patient. Now where was I with that mix?

Best of luck T people, strength to you all.

Feel free to contact me, I'd be happy to help.

Mike de Velta

[Stevefire]

I'm the original poster of this thread!!

Hell yeah if you're right.

One day I decided to **** off tinnitus and live my life again. I started seeing my friends, got out of my house and went out clubbing again (obviously wearing high proetction earplugs), I started gpoing to retaurants with my friends and guess what????

Hyperacusis seems fading and tinnitus doesn't bother me for 24/7 now.... it only really bothers me in under 50 db noise level i.e before sleeping and in the morning.

It's not worth ****ing up my days thinking about how my hearing got ****ed up and that i'll pay consequences all my life and bla bla bla all this shit... **** there are people really suffering in this world like people on wheelchairs, cancers, amputees, and all sort of sicknesses. this is nothing compared to what these people and their families are going trough. don't get me wrong though, tinnitus is horrible : but if you decide to ruin your like with depression and sadnness it will be hell on earth.

I do get some periods of sadness, but when these strike, i usually grab my guitar and play it for as long as my mind goes on other things.

So i decided : STOP IT, LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE AFTER ALL!!!

Now i'm waiting for my noise-cancelling headphones maybe to use in dj sets again

Any way - Did any one tested noise cancelling headphones like sennheiser ones for djing??? are they good??

cheers

[apple-q]

Originally Posted by AlexK

Yes, more or less. So long as you consider good sound to simply be an even spread of sound across the spectrum, good dynamic range and a lack of harmonic distortion.



All well and good, but try listening to even a minute of 85dB(A) of sound at 4 kHz, maybe a pure test-tone.

Then combine 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz and 8 kHz obeying the laws of equal-loudness contours (ie, A-weighting) with a mean overall SPL of 85 dB, and observe the differences.

There's a LOT more to it than simply the overall SPL. This is well known in the live-sound industry...

Permament exposure to sound at 100dB (no matter how well spread out) can lead to hearing loss (depending on how long the exposure, how often). Probably the best spread out sound is white noise. Yet, I find it quite bold to advice people that it´s no problem to listen to 100dB of white noise all the time.
It´s just nonsense and only based on a subjective feeling. Why do so many musicians suffer from hearing loss (even classical musicians)? Are you saying this is because the music they listen to sounds bad?
Recommendations like the one I quoted are based on scientific long-term studies across are large group of people.
It´s like saying that smoking can be healthy as long as you buy the cigarettes that taste good.


More info here:

Hearing impairment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[charles maynes]

If you are exposed to something like single gunshot- in singular sense, it hurts, but your ear will likely recover- the best thing I can recommend is to try to avoid other really loud sound events as much as possible- as well, steady state sounds like computer fans and hums in the house will prevent your ear from resetting itself as well.

and drink lots of water and avoid meds if possible, especially aspirin and things like that unless you really need the relief. Lots of sleep is a great idea too.

I personally like listening to chamber music as well at reduced volume.

[valthesoundman]

good man!!

Originally Posted by Stevefire

I'm the original poster of this thread!!

Hell yeah if you're right.

One day I decided to **** off tinnitus and live my life again. I started seeing my friends, got out of my house and went out clubbing again (obviously wearing high proetction earplugs), I started gpoing to retaurants with my friends and guess what????

Hyperacusis seems fading and tinnitus doesn't bother me for 24/7 now.... it only really bothers me in under 50 db noise level i.e before sleeping and in the morning.

It's not worth ****ing up my days thinking about how my hearing got ****ed up and that i'll pay consequences all my life and bla bla bla all this shit... **** there are people really suffering in this world like people on wheelchairs, cancers, amputees, and all sort of sicknesses. this is nothing compared to what these people and their families are going trough. don't get me wrong though, tinnitus is horrible : but if you decide to ruin your like with depression and sadnness it will be hell on earth.

I do get some periods of sadness, but when these strike, i usually grab my guitar and play it for as long as my mind goes on other things.

So i decided : STOP IT, LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE AFTER ALL!!!

Now i'm waiting for my noise-cancelling headphones maybe to use in dj sets again

Any way - Did any one tested noise cancelling headphones like sennheiser ones for djing??? are they good??

cheers

[Big Andy]

Originally Posted by charles maynes

If you are exposed to something like single gunshot- in singular sense, it hurts, but your ear will likely recover.

You are correct sir. It is 10 days after I got the blast in my ear and I have gotten LIGHT YEARS better. There is still a ringing in my ear, but it is extremely quiet. I expect it should be completely gone by sometime next week. This is huge because the dB swing from a week ago is close to 70dB.

Also, my frequency range has grown back to just under normal. I'm happily hearing up to 17.5k in the right ear and it is only 4-5dB quieter than my lefty. This is a big swing as well considering it was impossible to hear anything above 13k last week.

I've been drinking lots of water, taking a lot of B-12 and Magnesium and a multi vitamin and only mixing at ref when I have to. Hopefully I'll get some sleep next week.

[soundboy]

My father had Tinnitus. He said he would listen to it to go to sleep. How's that for making lemon aide. He wasn't in the sound industry, but he played a boom op in "Ed Wood"!

[K5000]

I'll turn 29 this year (just starting my sound career, though) and years of techno parties in my youth have done their job. I noticed it on my first year of sound design studies and was of course nerve-wracked - it didn't help that I was suffering from problems falling asleep and the two different things ended up reinforcing each other.

On my right ear it's a steady tone, maybe around 3 kHz (?), and on the left one it's more like a mush of different frequencies that almost make a bell-like sound, with infinite sustain, though. :D

Luckily it doesn't bother me at all during the day, only when it's night and quiet - I wonder how easily I might get sleep in the countryside...
Anyway, after the initial shock I just stopped going to bars and parties until I got a pair of Elacins - not being smart I don't always use them but then again I haven't been exposing myself to long periods of concerts etc.

Gonna have to do a hearing test at some time, though..

[Big Andy]

Charles your optimism has healed me! I'm 100% better. That was a scary 2 weeks, but my world is back to normal and I will NEVER EVER EVER go near a range without plugs AND muffs.