PSA: Ear protection

[nigelwright7557]

I went to a Status Quo concert in 1977.
Despite being behind a pillar it was extremely loud.
I could barely hear for 3 days afterwards.

These days venues have to stick to certain audio levels by law in the UK.

[kevinahcc20]

I bought a pair of Pro Ears Gold hearing protectors for shooting, but now I use them whenever I need protection. They are muffs rated 33dB SNR so very good isolation. The cool feature is that each muff has an outside mic, active electronics and inside headphone speakers...they allow normal sound levels through while limiting loud sounds to a safe level. Perfect for M Gregg's situation where he needed to hear the equipment without risking his hearing. There is a volume control on each muff that lets you adjust the sound level including amplifying ambient sound (used by hunters for hearing game movement) while still limiting exposure. Added bonus is they have a cordset to hook up to an iPod or other player. Not cheap (I paid $270 for a pair) but much cheaper than hearing aids!

[EricPtek]

Went to the Tinnitus clinic on Friday.

Short appointment. The change has been so dramatic in the month after it first happened to today that I did not really qualify, nor do I feel I needed the assistance.

What I am doing is working and continues to work. I'm noise free enough that we know its not permanent and something physically causes it muscle wise versus damage.

I took the time to question the doctor and her biggest suggestion was in normal day to day life there are not too many sounds that can damage the ear. If you do not have a sound sensitivity then she was adamant about not wearing ear plugs or protection. If your sensitive totally different and of course anything that OSHA covers. Otherwise you will create sound sensitivity and make tinnitus worse.

I tend to believe this. I was very sound sensitive afterwards and I did wear ear plugs at hockey games. I found after I went to a few movies and other things where it was loud and I kind of dealt with it that the sound sensitivity went away and it no longer bothered me.

Now this is to be taken with a grain of salt because I has zero hearing loss, in fact after the third hearing test it was excellent so she felt I'd make my problem worse but reducing my noise exposure which as another poster said makes you even more sensitive.

[pidesd]

i too have tinnitus. not fun at all. i often told me i should shoot myself, without REALLY wanting to do it though...now it s been two years since i have it and i learned to live with it. unlike many others, i had it because i listened a low volumes but too much.

it was a time when all i was doing is tweaking my gear to sound best.

my advice to anyone: dont go crazy with audio hobby, you can get lost in it and there is a lot more things to life than that.

hope it helps

-py

[smokinjoe73]

I find that the misconception about tinnitus with younger people is that you just can't hear as well later in life & they don't care. They never seem to know about the ringing and discomfort. I know a guy who goes to rock concerts w/o protection (like I used to) but just doesn't realize how bad that is.

[dirkwright]

Tinnitus is worse the last day or so. I'm not sure what's wrong. Feeling depressed about it. I need to go an audiologist. sigh...

[Juergen Knoop]

Originally Posted by dirkwright

Tinnitus is worse the last day or so. I'm not sure what's wrong. Feeling depressed about it. I need to go an audiologist. sigh...

Tinnitus can be increased by stress. The more you worry, the worse it gets...
You need to break that vicious circle!

[Calamaro]

Originally Posted by Juergen Knoop

Tinnitus can be increased by stress. The more you worry, the worse it gets...
You need to break that vicious circle!

I definitely agree.
For me tinnitus came out of the blue some years ago, no loud sounds, no hard rock concerts, no discoclubs, no headphones, nothing at all... I always had a quiet life, but this thing came anyway. Oh what a lucky guy
I was part of a trial in a public clinic with an osteopath. Then with a physiotherapist privately for three years, once a week. Nothing happened. During the first period, the evening before falling asleep (the quietest time of the day) I thought I went crazy. But when I began to accept the problem, to devote to my interests with more passion, I stopped hearing the tinnitus without realizing. Sometimes I notice it, especially in the evening after a day of heavy work or when under stress. Two things still bother me: loud noises (I now hear them even stronger) and situations with many people (I feel a rumble).
But the best solution is the one that gave me the first doctor who examined me: you must be stronger than it.

[dirkwright]

I have a hearing test today. bracing myself for the bad news....

[kevinahcc20]

dirkwright,

Whatever news you get will just be understanding where you are at...the problem exists & you are living with it, getting the facts is good news so you know how to proceed. For me putting up with tinnitus & progressive hearing loss for quite a few years finally convinced me to confront the problem. Truth is my wife got tired of raising her voice. Got an audiogram showing significant loss (30-35 db at low frequencies & 45 at high) & did lots of research. Found that there is an online company that offers high tech hearing aids at reasonable prices and provides the equipment and software to allow you to tune them yourself (DIY!). Got them about 2 months ago & couldn't be more satisfied. I ran with their initial program for a month to let the brain adjust then have gone through two program updates. I use an audio oscillator & high quality headphones to evaluate my hearing with the aids in place & determine needed adjustments. I am now approaching normal hearing, enjoying music much more, wife is happy,and the best part...my tinnitus is much less of an issue (at night without the hearing aids). I think with hearing loss the brain dials up the gain in an attempt to improve things and, as we well know a system with high gain is prone to oscillation (tinnitus). Good luck!