Hearing damage and tinnitus.

[Deleted31005User]

About myself and my struggle with hearing damage:(asl = 27 male Belgium)

Since there are a lot of young people on this forum and we all love music, I would like to share my piece of mind with all of you.
I used to love listening to loud rock and metal music, but two years ago this came to an end since I suffered hearing damage because of it.
This damage has manifested itself in a constant high pitched sound (tinnitus) and oversensitivity to normal sounds (hyperacusis), this is permanent and for the rest of my life.
I now struggle to live an asocial lifestyle since I need to avoid all loud environments, making sure I will not get more hearing damage and an even louder tinnitus is my number one priority now.
Going to concerts, discos, cinemas or just regular bars have all become impossible for me, sirens from police cars etc. make me run away in the opposite direction with my hands over my ears, I am utterly and completely filled with fear for any load noises now.
So I urge all of you to use earplugs around loud noises and treat your ears with care, don't let this world fool you into believing loud music is cool and wearing earplugs is for pussies, once you get hearing damage and a constant high pitched sound everything goes down the drain and some people cannot live with this.
If you don't believe me just google "tinnitus" and read some of the stories.
By just mentioning this here I hope that some people become aware of this problem, awareness is the first step towards prevention.

I bet everyone knows the sound in your ears after a night of fun in a discotheque, well imagine this constantly, forever...
Just the idea to be able to hear absolutely nothing, having completely silence, is like a dream for me.
So take care, be safe and turn down the volume !

[Kelestial]

Hello, i'm sorry to hear that. Actually i'm in a similar position.

I'm 17 years old and i have a tinnitus on my ears and I am oversensitive to high sounds. In my case it wasn't because i heard loud music with ear plugs.

It started just one year ago after I got a infection of the middleear on cruise through the Mediterranean Sea. The exact reason is unkown. I already did nearly everything to come behind the cause of it but nothing helped.

At this point I try to focus on other things and sometimes I can really forget about it.

Also I have the hope that these damned noises will fade someday so i can go without worries to festivals in Belgium and Netherland.

 

Wishing you the best

Toasty

 

btw: Thank you for your awesome modification for the Lakeview Manor :)

[CrisSpiegel]

I have tinnitus since always, so I cannot relate to your problems because I have no problem hearing. It's just "factory defect" for me. And I do listen to loud rock and metal, have used earphones, now using headphones. When making music on the PC, I sometimes use headphones for some especific reason. Despite it all, it seems to me that my ears are fine. It's been a long time since my last audiometric test, but it was ok by then. Maybe I listen to music for a smaller period of time than the usual to cause harm or maybe I listen to it with lower volume than needed to harm myself. I may go through days or weeks without music just to start a period of massively listening to one or two bands through most of the day for weeks.

 

I believe that my ears buzz all the time, but only when it's silent I can hear it, usually a high pitch sine wave. Sometimes it's fun to pay attention to it. Other times it's a pain trying to sleep with the damned noise in my head. Maybe if I'm eventually cured, I'll miss it.

 

Although I'm sorry for the impact you suffered on your lifestyle, I think you should try different things. If you want to hang out with friends, try a cafe instead of a disco. Wanna listen to music but don't want to go "deafer"? Look for recitals and chamber ensembles to attend. If classical is not you're stuff, you'd be amazed of how many different genres are hiding behind the name 'classical'. Oh, you're ok with classical. Good. There're also folk bands travelling the world, you may find one playing in your city. Hopefully the volume of sound will not make harm to your ears. Use this as an opportunity to discover new things. Not really new, but new personal pleasures.

 

If all of that fails, can't you use earplugs in an noisy place? You want have the best experience, but still it's an experience. Better than none.

Take care of yourselves. I wish you both good health, even if to a limite, may it be the best inside that limit.

[Tidus44]

I've had tinnitus since I was 24 and loss of hearing in my left ear - the result of a mortar round hitting the Scorpion I was riding in.

 

It used to be pretty severe and seemed to vary in volume as at times I would "forget" about it, but then at other times it would be so loud I couldn't think and it would even wake me up from sleep. I'd usually get migraines as well when it got bad. It got worse as time passed as well.

 

I was probably lucky as once I was out of the military I found a Doctor who arranged for me to see a therapist who taught me some relaxation and concentration exercises. The ringing never goes away 100%, but by watching my diet, maintaining good physical condition and doing the concentration exercises I can reduce the level of the tinnitus so its barely noticeable and can even sit in a quiet room. If it flairs up - which it does from time to time - I need 30-45 minutes of doing the exercises and it is back under control again - and usually for quite some time before it becomes loud enough to be a distraction again.

 

I'd offer the same advice as the OP on protecting your hearing as tinnitus is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy.

 

I hope you can find some relief like I did.

[MajKrAzAm]

I don't have Tinnitus but I have some pretty bad cauliflower ear which developed in HS and college because I was too stubborn to use headgear in wrestling practice. So now most earphones don't fit inside my ear or are really uncomfortable, and it's painful to lay sideways on a pillow. I once lost my hearing for about 4 days after I went to a NASCAR race because it was just too damn painful to wear ear mufflers for 3 hours+, so I tried to tough out a 140 decibel race. Now I work in Europe and East Asia where no one wrestles so people are freaked out by my f'ed up ears.