Yup,
There's all kinds of experiences that can kill your hearing - try 10 years of crewing for a top fuel drag racing team - it really doesn't matter that I always wore ear protection - it's still loud enough to do serious damage. Plus, tinitus really bad in the early morning, but it goes away by 9 or so.
So to all you young guys out there (I'm 57 and know better now) - PROTECT your ears... they don't repair themselves and some day you might really want to LISTEN to something.
Bill
There's all kinds of experiences that can kill your hearing - try 10 years of crewing for a top fuel drag racing team - it really doesn't matter that I always wore ear protection - it's still loud enough to do serious damage. Plus, tinitus really bad in the early morning, but it goes away by 9 or so.
So to all you young guys out there (I'm 57 and know better now) - PROTECT your ears... they don't repair themselves and some day you might really want to LISTEN to something.
Bill
Mine is less glamorous: years of construction abuse, too young and stupid to protect my hearing (if I could go back in time and slap myself...). I have heavy tinnitus in my right ear and hearing loss in both.
The audiologist says the tinnitus is the brain trying to compensate for the hearing loss, especially of certain frequencies. All I know is that the more I'm aware of it, the louder it seems to be.
I had to laugh at this remembering how I used to hold myself up against rafters (head) with my right hand while toe nailing them in with my left.
I can picture the scene.
Moving a wall panel in position using a 10lb sledge with my ear pressed against the sheathing...Boooonnggg!
Having a father who worked as a car mechanic and also an all-round handyman doesn't help (my hearing!). Having been around to help him and becoming some sort of a handyman myself, I become acutely aware of the ringing in my ears some 10-15 yrs ago. It's so bad that I need to turn on the radio to sleep, to mask the ringing. Luckily, I still "think" I have reasonable good hearing to indulge in DIYaudio.....
I have tinnitus from too many years playing drums in rock and roll bands (maybe riding motorcycles didn't help either). One band had two guitarist who did not like each others playing, so they turned their amps away from each other. Unfortunately they pointed them at me!
I can hear to just over 12khz, which isn't so bad as soon I won't need to buy tweeters.
Richard
I can hear to just over 12khz, which isn't so bad as soon I won't need to buy tweeters.
Richard
I once read about scienists helping youngster with "stressed hearing"
I dont remember the details
But the treatment was rather loud music, in controlled sessions
The other day I got a bit scared as my usual modest tinitus got more agressive
I thought, thats it, new situation
I have been listening to music a bit attenuated fore a while, low level
Just the last few days I have turned the volume up a bit
Not much really, just a bit
And now my tinitus is under control again
I havent even noticed, until now
Coincidense ?
I dont remember the details
But the treatment was rather loud music, in controlled sessions
The other day I got a bit scared as my usual modest tinitus got more agressive
I thought, thats it, new situation
I have been listening to music a bit attenuated fore a while, low level
Just the last few days I have turned the volume up a bit
Not much really, just a bit
And now my tinitus is under control again
I havent even noticed, until now
Coincidense ?
My name is brad and I also suffer from tinitus. (riffing off another poster here).
I didn't read the whole thread. Get a hearing test. Tinitus can be an indication of specific frequency loss. A good audiologist can give an idea of just what the causes are likely to have been and further advice. I'm in my late forties and the doc said mine is only slightly worse than average. I've be EXTREMELY careful, using earplugs always, etc. But I've had way higher than average exposure to loud noises while serving in the Airforce, logging about eight years on and off in noisy industrial settings, wood and metal working as a hobby, and loving music. Thank goodness at least for the measure of protection I used during most of that exposure or I'd be in VERY bad shape right now.
It's really a damn shame that any reluctance to protecting one's self is ever associated with cowardice. What #ucking bull$hit is that all about? And I've seen plenty of that. The other day I was walking into a building past some sidewalk construction and there was a seventeen or eighteen year old yr. member of the crew re-pointing the mortar between all the bricks on a fifty foot by four foot brick wall. He was only about five feet into the length of it using a 4.5 inch angle grinder. No hearing protection and, far worse, no mask. He was already caked with silica dust. He's probably unaware enough of his risks that he'd be the first to tell you "hell no I don't smoke cigarettes". I had to really control my impulse to BEG him to at least wear a mask, but it just never does any good. He'd think I was a nut. What a damn shame.
I didn't read the whole thread. Get a hearing test. Tinitus can be an indication of specific frequency loss. A good audiologist can give an idea of just what the causes are likely to have been and further advice. I'm in my late forties and the doc said mine is only slightly worse than average. I've be EXTREMELY careful, using earplugs always, etc. But I've had way higher than average exposure to loud noises while serving in the Airforce, logging about eight years on and off in noisy industrial settings, wood and metal working as a hobby, and loving music. Thank goodness at least for the measure of protection I used during most of that exposure or I'd be in VERY bad shape right now.
It's really a damn shame that any reluctance to protecting one's self is ever associated with cowardice. What #ucking bull$hit is that all about? And I've seen plenty of that. The other day I was walking into a building past some sidewalk construction and there was a seventeen or eighteen year old yr. member of the crew re-pointing the mortar between all the bricks on a fifty foot by four foot brick wall. He was only about five feet into the length of it using a 4.5 inch angle grinder. No hearing protection and, far worse, no mask. He was already caked with silica dust. He's probably unaware enough of his risks that he'd be the first to tell you "hell no I don't smoke cigarettes". I had to really control my impulse to BEG him to at least wear a mask, but it just never does any good. He'd think I was a nut. What a damn shame.
Yes interesting. I'd wondered in another thread here about the possible use of professional hearing test data in designing the optimum response curve for your "personalized" DIY speakers. I still think it's an interesting idea. Where your test reveals a weakness/dip in your hearing, the speaker would be designed to compensate somewhat. Closer to how you would be hearing the content if your hearing was 'perfect'. We all have such a variety of freq response plots, especially those of us over forty, that it kind of calls into question the level of precision that is applied to crossover design "for the masses".
So here is an article that suggests I have it backwards... at least for any remedial/theraputic intent. Since the frequencies (as much as I understand it) in which we're likely to suffer tinitus generally correspond to areas of hearing loss, then we'd have to design a response curve opposite of that ideal I've imagined.
Dr. Smith had it right. We're doomed.
So here is an article that suggests I have it backwards... at least for any remedial/theraputic intent. Since the frequencies (as much as I understand it) in which we're likely to suffer tinitus generally correspond to areas of hearing loss, then we'd have to design a response curve opposite of that ideal I've imagined.
Dr. Smith had it right. We're doomed.
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I've had it non stop for about 25 years now. Very loud band in my youth. I can hear it as two, maybe more frequencies in the 4k range. One of them matched g# , I joked I could tune my guitar that way. Ignoring it works for me , although it's always there.
A long time ago I heard about some treatment that involved listening to tones that matched your tinnitus but I have never tried it.
I still find that I can hear a lot of things better then most people. It would be super nice if it went away but doubt that's going to happen.
A long time ago I heard about some treatment that involved listening to tones that matched your tinnitus but I have never tried it.
I still find that I can hear a lot of things better then most people. It would be super nice if it went away but doubt that's going to happen.
It's my firm belief that you can be 99% of the way to stone deaf and still hear the differences between cables.
Blood Pressure will also change the frequency and of course intensity.
Good music and a glass always works for me ..
Interesting thread...
I have wondered whether it is possible to "improve" hearing by long term... and I mean years... of daily listening to frequency sweeps at just above the hearing threshold.
For example 2 to 3 khz for say 30 seconds, then 2.5 to 3.5 khz and so on using both pure tones and tones with harmonics.
Has any research been done on this I wonder... "the use it or lose it thing"
Note that I am thinking of sound at just above audibility... not the 100 watts in the ear "yea I think I hear that so I'm OK" test lol
I notice if you think you have dips in your response that often they may be caused by standing waves and cancellation and that lifting the h/phones away from the ear restores the "sound"
I have wondered whether it is possible to "improve" hearing by long term... and I mean years... of daily listening to frequency sweeps at just above the hearing threshold.
For example 2 to 3 khz for say 30 seconds, then 2.5 to 3.5 khz and so on using both pure tones and tones with harmonics.
Has any research been done on this I wonder... "the use it or lose it thing"
Note that I am thinking of sound at just above audibility... not the 100 watts in the ear "yea I think I hear that so I'm OK" test lol
I notice if you think you have dips in your response that often they may be caused by standing waves and cancellation and that lifting the h/phones away from the ear restores the "sound"
In the googling I have done on this I turned up that zinc in the range of ~50mg per day helps from 30 to 50% of people with this in a couple of weeks. But don't over do
the zinc in large doses it can supress the imune system and cause a copper defency.
As pointed out here earlier aspirin and caffine can make this worse.
I gave up caffine a while back and started taking some zinc and my tinnitus is just
about gone haven't noticed it in the past couple of weeks. The zinc also cleared up
a skin condition I had that looked like Psoriasis I take the zinc a few days it clears up
skip it a few days and it comes back.
It goes without saying I am not a doctor and am not recomending you take any zinc
just passing on my experience so you might talk to your doctor ect..
the zinc in large doses it can supress the imune system and cause a copper defency.
As pointed out here earlier aspirin and caffine can make this worse.
I gave up caffine a while back and started taking some zinc and my tinnitus is just
about gone haven't noticed it in the past couple of weeks. The zinc also cleared up
a skin condition I had that looked like Psoriasis I take the zinc a few days it clears up
skip it a few days and it comes back.
It goes without saying I am not a doctor and am not recomending you take any zinc
just passing on my experience so you might talk to your doctor ect..
These days I'm a site manager. I just instruct the young kinds to wear hearing protection, sorry, they don't get a say.
The older blokes are much more likely to ignore me, and they usually already have some hearing loss. I still ask them to put protection on, but there comes a point where you have to accept they are adults and if they don't want to hear, well, what are you going to do?