Has anybody else got ringing ears? Im kinda scared im going to lose my hearing at like the age of 20. Will the ringing ever go away? And am i close to losing my hearing? Does anybody where ear plugs at gigs?

any advise is welcome

Use ear protection!!! I always bring some paper or a napkin when I go to concerts. If its too loud I just take a couple of pieces and stick them in my ears. Works excellent.

ALWAYS at band rehearsals, PROTECT YOUR EARS!!

About live playing, every time I have played live there have never been loud enough on stage to need it. But if you feel that it is loud, then use it.

Whenever you think its too loud and your ear hurts, stick something in them.


How long have your ears been ringing?

This post has been edited by Robin: Sep 15 2007, 07:29 AM

well one day I was listening to my ipod pretty loud for a while and when i was done i took off my ear phones and I had some ringing. this was about 6 months ago. Now it just seems like its not getting any better and it might actually be getting a bit worse.

It gets bad when i just finished jamming or listening to music. Thats when they really ring. but after a while it gets better.

Oh man thats too bad. I never ever have my Ipod loud. I know my friends does, and they always say that their ears are ringing after concerts and similar, but I'm always careful and I have never had any problem with my ears.

I dont know if there is anything to do that makes it better. I doubt you will loose your hearing, but I suggest that you should be careful from now on


Maybe someone else here is experienced with this and can answer better than me.

This post has been edited by Robin: Sep 15 2007, 07:39 AM

As a musician, you have to be carefull with your ears .. !! thats something very important for a musician .. protect them

You need to immediately make an appointment with an ear doctor to have your ears checked and to have an audiologist test your hearing. Don't f with this. Its called tinnitus. You might wind up having it never go away. I have had it for probably 30 years from a couple of gunshots very close to me. It has in the last couple of years gotten a little louder. I do just live with it. So... it is never quite for me. Think about that. Your surroundings can never again be quite. You go hiking up a mountain and want to listen to the sounds of silence. Not gonna happen. By the way. Sticking napkins in your ear is not a good idea. Does almost nothing to protect your hearing. Go to the doctor, then the audiologist and have them make you a pair of custom ear plugs. Probably cost you $100 to get them made. I think they do make these especially for musicians. This is serious stuff. Do it now!!





This post has been edited by Craig M: Sep 15 2007, 07:59 AM

Napkins doesnt help when you already got tinnitus, but they got pretty much the same effect as these:

Having actual ear plugs are of course better than just napkins though...

And yes, tinnitus is not very good
Gotta be careful.

Yeah the foams are just as good. The custom ones are great though. They pump your ear canal with foam to get a mold. You can't see them all that much once they are in. I just have regular ones but I think that there might be special ones for musicians. Not sure though. I thought that they had ones that let certain frequencies through. Rob's post kind of scared me. Especially when he said it had not gone away. Even if it does he should get the plugs as he might be more susceptible.

This post has been edited by Craig M: Sep 15 2007, 08:08 AM

ALWAYS!

That's extremely important. Go for these plastic kind "christmas trees", they filter out bad frequencies.
I used to rehearse without plugs long ago and had terrible ringing, even lost a bit of hearing (just some probably unneccessary freuqncies), not much but anyway.

The heavy ringing after a rehearsal is passing. But you could develop a constant ringing, tinnitus, id you don't protect your ears.

Important stuff this, ok!

Picture the Christmas tree plugs, the best you can get since it filters. youäll hear the music well and they remove what's bad for your hearing.


This post has been edited by MickeM: Sep 15 2007, 08:11 AM

Yeah my band mate has a pair of those. I think I should get it aswell.

When they do a audio test on you it shows which frequencies are gone. Mostly it shows up when people are speaking to you in a crowded environment. The parts of words that hit whatever frequency you don't hear can make you unsure of what a person actually said. You hear only part of the word. It can also get to the point where you become super sensitive to sound. This has happened to me. I just cannot be in a loud space without them in my ears. The sound of a circular saw or something similar kills me also. So get dem plugs Rob.

This post has been edited by Craig M: Sep 15 2007, 08:17 AM

Yes you do that, I have a simpler kind from "Apoteket" (made for musicians) and they are really good. If you use the yellow plugs (I did before too) you'll notice a big difference, the Christmas tree will let you hear more of the actual music. The yellow ones shut out the lots. Good for protecting ears but you'll hear music better with the others. ...I'm repeating myself.
I'm repeating myself.
I'm repeating myself.


They did on me and there was just a small "tick" in the curve. Don't remember which frequence that was.

If it's the same freq that hurt the hearing to start with it's the samy frequence a cymbal runs at.
Drummers!!!!

Yes I know. Those regular yellow ones just blocks the sounds and make you hear bass sounds louder.

Im already whearing ear plugs, or headphones (like Paul Gilbert) when I'm rehearsing but ill definitly check out those tree ear plugs. Should I even were ear plugs when Im practicing by myself? I dont think that can damage hearing that bad can it. And what about the i pod? should i just never use it?

Also its great to here from MikeM that it goes away after a while

Thanks for your input guys, its got me thinking

Also Craig I went to go see a doctor a while ago but he didn't help to much. All he said was turn it down. Do i have to see a audiologist?

This post has been edited by Rob_g: Sep 15 2007, 08:27 AM

Actually that sounds like a good idea. I have been noticing latelly that when I have alot of treble and distortion it sometimes stings a little in my ears, even though I dont have it loud.

It depends of how loud is your amp when you're practicing...
About iPod...I use it all the time but not on top loudness,
anyhow,you should decide of how to protect your ears...
just not push to much sound in it and use ear plugs when it's needed.

I never put my i pod full blast either. But I noticed when I started going to school and using my i pod the ringing is starting to get noticible all the time. Maybe I should just lay off the i pod for a while and see what happens.

And I never really practice loud. Why do you need to be so loud when ur practicing with a metrenome? or trying to figure out new tunes to play, or trying to compose?

I used to always blast my ipod, but it didn't turn out to be a good idea, I did have that little ring for a little while, so I laid off it, it got better, I also noticed that when you listen to music in a already loud environment it really messes your hearing up, so I just listen to music in more quite area at a low volume.

I have tinnitus in my left ear. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but nothing a doctor can do for you. Rarely this can be caused by a tumor, but that is rare, and not really dangerous, very slow growing. You might see a doctor, especially if you have any other symptoms.

Mine comes and goes, Ginkgo works pretty well for me. From GNC, not the grocery store kind. So my issue is probably vascular, not ear damage. My hearing is normal for my age.

At first it bothered me, but then not much, just ignore it now when I have it. Comes and goes. I think stress can bring it on. Some people it really bothers, others don't worry too much about it. Does not seem to matter so much how bad it is, just some people handle it better than others.

Look at it this way, I have a brother in law with Parkinson's. I am sure he would trade that for tinnitus. Puts things in perspective.

It may bother you less later, you may get used to it. As I said, I pretty much ignore it now when I have it. You can try the Ginkgo from GNC. 3 times a day, equally spaced intervals. Helps some people, such as myself. I think it might help more, but they try the grocery store type (cheap) and it does not work. I learned one thing from this, buy your vitamins at GNC, they are not all the same, the grocery store stuff may just be crap.

iv had ears ringing for over a year now what should i do?