I've been playing guitar a little more than usual this past year or so. I chord with my left hand, so the top of the guitar - sound hole etc - is about 12" from my right ear when I play seated, which, is how I play. The right one has been behaving funny lately. First thing I noticed was "the beeper in the microwave seems like it's dying". Maybe it is, it's old. The other thing that had me aghast was the acoustic guitar actually sounded like it's distorted. Really. Enough so I started poking around in it thinking some brace inside had loosened up and was buzzing. Picking up the next guitar, it did the exact same thing. These are nylon string guitars...
Well I got out the ol USB ear-o-scope and nothing deep in there looks to be grossly amiss - like a wax chunk abutting up against the eardrum. My sound level meter says I can hit around 90 (max hold) at that distance (A weighted) when strumming hard, which I sometimes do. I dont play every day and for sure short of an hour each time.
The tinnitus is definitely more prevalent in the right ear too. After playing several songs, it feels a little taxed, or heavy, compared to the left. Is it possible I'm doing my right ear in, at my age of 65, by playing an acoustic guitar occasionally?
I went off and bought myself a Yamaha "Silent" guitar also with nylon strings, but I dont have it yet. Hopefully it's a nice instrument and will cut down my SPL exposure during practicing.
Well I got out the ol USB ear-o-scope and nothing deep in there looks to be grossly amiss - like a wax chunk abutting up against the eardrum. My sound level meter says I can hit around 90 (max hold) at that distance (A weighted) when strumming hard, which I sometimes do. I dont play every day and for sure short of an hour each time.
The tinnitus is definitely more prevalent in the right ear too. After playing several songs, it feels a little taxed, or heavy, compared to the left. Is it possible I'm doing my right ear in, at my age of 65, by playing an acoustic guitar occasionally?
I went off and bought myself a Yamaha "Silent" guitar also with nylon strings, but I dont have it yet. Hopefully it's a nice instrument and will cut down my SPL exposure during practicing.
Probably not, but earplugs might help moderate the sound levels.
There is an interesting paper on this topic here:
Noise and hearing loss in musicians
There is an interesting paper on this topic here:
Noise and hearing loss in musicians
Your ear can be "doing itself in" just by being 65.
When I was 54 I realized I could not reliably mix stereo by ear due to uneven hearing loss. The less-bad news is that after a few years my good ear came down more-equal to my less-good ear......
Since then I have been paranoid about protecting my hearing. Staying away from noise, or high-dB earmuffs, etc. My hearing declines about the same anyway. And about the same per decade as my father, who was never a rocker, and hasn't mowed in decades.
An hour of 90dBa peaks a few times a week is not known to be a real ear-killer. But the effects are slow and I don't think there has been enough study. But unless you are shooting or mowing or carpentering all day every day, I suspect it is just ear-cells dying off. (This also seems to be my tinnitus: they "rang" in order from above 17kHz in my 30s down to 3kHz in my 60s.)
Got the Yamaha last night and it's pretty nice. As claimed, little if any acoustic output; 9V battery powered internal amp sounds good with headphones where I can adjust the volume to any level I like.
Alas, that must be what happening. I did wear the closed back headphones today when operating an electric leaf vacuum. At least I can still hear the effect of my SDA driver arrangement. Where I went for a while with one side doing the dimensional function a bit better than the other, thinking it was "my right ear". Turns out one of the resistor shunts I had across the SDA drivers fell off and one side was SDA'ing a bit more then the other. The left...
At least I noticed enough to eventually investigate.
What, music headphones? Better than nothing. But I think you can afford better protection for an important sense.
These muffs sound very good to me.
For me they replace the old industry standard 3M Peltor, which has changed and IMHO not for the better.
Note that both have LARGE back-cup. If you can't caulk them to your head, excess chamber volume is your best hope.
Do not obsess about dB ratings. There is enough slack in the specs to support 6dB differences without invoking the fraud act. (Not that most of us could ever measure these things properly.)
I dunno your land. Blowing or mowing here, small rocks and grit want to come in my eyes.
These from 3M are very comfortable and fit tight to cheekbone. These are huge and a little frightening and not really made as well as the 3M, long lead time, but they are hip if you like Aviators.
Sound level reduces to the square of the distance. If you're holding something lcose to your ear then it will be a lot louder and can damage your hearing. Knew a professional violist who had quite some hearing loss before 40.
Can I pick up on that, even if it's a bit OT? I was just discussing with a friend how we can still set the balance to get the sound smack in the middle, even when our two ears are (demonstrably) very unequal in sensitivity.
We thought it's a mental thing, that the brain somehow compensates for the unequality so that we can still locate sound sources in everyday life.
It can easily be trained - you see a car in a certain position so you know the sound must come from there.
Jan
Acoustic guitar playing has nothing to do with hearing loss. You may have other problems.
Tinnitus can be even because of too silent room. It will be irritating when you notice it, soon learn to live with it.
Many years back, we tested a 'quiet room' with no external sound interference.
First you start to hear Tinnitus, blood rushing through ears, your breadth slowly becomes heavy and noisy, then your heart beats. It is similar to your eyes getting very sensitive in dark after some time. Everybody could not sit inside for more than 30 minutes. They have to wear a earplug when coming out of that silent room and remove it after some 10 minutes. Otherwise the sound of normal place will be too loud at first.
Regards.
Tinnitus can be even because of too silent room. It will be irritating when you notice it, soon learn to live with it.
Many years back, we tested a 'quiet room' with no external sound interference.
First you start to hear Tinnitus, blood rushing through ears, your breadth slowly becomes heavy and noisy, then your heart beats. It is similar to your eyes getting very sensitive in dark after some time. Everybody could not sit inside for more than 30 minutes. They have to wear a earplug when coming out of that silent room and remove it after some 10 minutes. Otherwise the sound of normal place will be too loud at first.
Regards.
Hi jjasniew,
You need to see an ear Doctor. I find it hard to believe that playing an acoustic guitar could cause hearing loss. Are you a diabetic? That most certainly will damage your hearing. What else do you do routinely that might cause the problem?
I wish you well,
Ralf (an acoustic guitar enthusiast)
It was a severe frequency response difference, ~24dB/oct. So the perception was different on a bass solo or a soprano choir.
If I worked chained to the studio sweet-spot all day I would learn... but by that time I was 95% an IT office dweeb mostly working speakers-off (not even mail-ding) so as not to annoy neighbors.
You need your hearing assessed by a professional! Found out what's going on and get back to us with your options.
I'll advise. 😎
I'll advise. 😎