Tinitus- Hearing Loss

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Searched the site but did not find anything on this subject. Iā€™m sure itā€™s user error.

Before I begin rambling the purpose of this post is two fold:

  1. Seeking advice from any community members suffering from hearing loss

  2. Warning to younger members to protect your ears.

Itā€™s ironic that the thing that gives one such joy can cause sorrow later in life.

A little un-needed background. I grew up in Detroit in the '60s and '70s when MC5, Alice Copper, Ted Nugent, Iggy Stooge, Bob Seger, SRC, Tee Garden and Van Winkle and many more ruled the world. We spent three years listening to the muse in small venues when the words ā€œtoo loudā€ were not yet in the dictionary. This combined with working in a machine shop for years with no ear protection has finally come home to roost. Many of my high school freinds suffer hearing oss as well.

I know there are many musicians suffering from hearing loss, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Sir George Martinā€™s career was cut short because he lost the ability to hear, luckily his son Giles became his ears and they continued to make music.

We all benefited from one personā€™s hearing loss and that was Leo Fender. Although I cannot say for a fact but I have read in interviews from people close to him that the ā€œtwangā€ in the Tele was created not because Leo liked the sound but because he was hard of hearing and this is the sound that resonated with him :).

I began my musical journey two years ago and have been cramming as much learning into my journey as possible. Classical guitar courses, jazz courses, piano and voice lessons. Justinā€™s modules of course, I just finished grade three. I am racing the clock trying to learn as much as possible for fear that my mental faculties will diminish and impede my ability to learn or arthritis will prevent me from physically being able to play.

Iā€™ve come to the stark realization lately that hearing loss may be my demise. Something totally unexpected.

Back to point:

I notice some days are better than others. Iā€™ve read that hydration plays a part. Not sure about that.

I notice that electrified sound really gets the ā€œtea potsā€ whistling for days. Iā€™m using ear protection as much as possible.

The problem with hearing loss is that because you become isolated you stop listening and I firmly believe this this exacerbates the problem.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

The beauty for now is that when I am in my office alone with my guitars I can hear perfectly :). No need to shut down or isolate.

Cheers,
Roch

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I have had a strong ringing since a concert I went to at about age 17. I was happy to listen to loud music at that time and it didnā€™t occur to me that I could comout of the concert with permanent ringing. Annoyingly, the pitch is different in each ear, and there are multiple pitches that are dissonent.

Yes, it can help. I have noticed that my eyes also benefit from keeping hydrated.

I have used earplugs for years and have noticed that using them can make the ringing seem louder. My ringing is enough to drown out drumming my fingers on a table with the soft part of the tip (no nail).

I try to keep the headphones for practice and playing down to a safe volume. I do not often turn up the volume in the room loud enough to hear outside unless you were standing at my front door.

I donā€™t have a solution. My friend has trouble from military time, and has hearing aids that simply add white noise. I think Iā€™d dislike that so havenā€™t gone that route. I worked 25 years in an engineering lab about 80% of my time with fans from equipment whirring. I really donā€™t like hearing noise.

So far, I am just keeping the volume low, ears cleaned of wax, and trying to not be dehydrated from beer ot tea. If you can see wrinkles on the pads of your fingers, drink more water. :slight_smile:

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Good advice, thanks!

I wear hearing aids and although I am not sure they help the hearing they do seem to reduce the ringing in my ears.

I stopped using head phones for practice because afterwards my ears are sceaming (tea pots whistling). As I said, electrified sound seems to make things worse.

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I am thinking about your comments of electric. One thing to try might be to roll off the highs. I use a processor and I roll off the highs quite early (around 4kHz) to reduce the unwanted parts of digital math used to create distortion. I scoot that around a bit.

What I do notice is that when I am working with a guitar that is ā€˜brighterā€™ sounding than others, I have a bit more ringing. Rolling off the frequency helps a little because those ranges that irritate my hearing are not so loud. Maybe useful for you, maybe not.

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Iā€™ve suffered from tinnitus for years. Iā€™m sure itā€™s a combination of genetics and lots of loud music in bars and concerts over the years. My hearing loss progressed over the years to a point it was affecting my work. So I had my hearing checked and the hearing loss was obvious. The recommendation was hearing aids.

My initial reaction was, Ugh. But as I thought about it, I realized everyone has crap hanging out of their ears all the time these days: air pods, ear buds, headphones, bluetooth headsets. The first day wearing them was a real audio sensory overload. All the birds I hadnā€™t heard in years, the highs in music, etc. It took a few days for my brain to dial-in and stop over-compensating for hearing loss.

Iā€™d strongly recommend getting your hearing checked. My tinnitus is still there, but being able to hear fully again is amazing. Iā€™m happy to answer any questions you might have.

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I agree with Dean, have your hearing checked. I damaged my hearing before I was forty, due to a few years working construction. I have had mine for 5 years and love them. They will sound strange at first, as your brain gets used to hearing frequencies that it hasnā€™t for a while. They are not cheap, but the technology has come a long way. I have replacements on order now.

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I have regular hearing checks as I have to pass medicals at set intervals to retain my medical certificate to work. (Air Traffic Control). I have slowly seen my hearing levels drop due to power tools, a long career in aviation and also due to the natural degradation of age. I donā€™t notice it that much yet but my wife tells me otherwise!
I think that the hydration route is best, a good quality single malt scotch makes my playing seem to sound sooooo much better :grinning:

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Iā€™ve had tinnitus for most of my life. I remember being confused and scared by it at the age of 8. I have slightly different tones in each ear. Iā€™m getting some concert earplugs for Christmas.

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I have hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear, but mineā€™s genetic. Otosclerosis. If it follows the usual pattern, the other ear will eventually go bad as well.

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Ahh, tinnitus. Something I have been plagued with most of my life. Early on it was a simple high pitch ringing in both ears. Now, at age 70, I hear the sounds of pond life in the springtime. Crickets trilling, cicadas changing pitch, even the occasional tree frog chirp. I have the rudimentary beginnings of a song that has been percolating for some time ā€˜Iā€™ve got crickets in my headā€™. The sound is constant with no respite. I have learned to live with it.
Does it affect my ability to play guitar? Hard to say. I am playing at levels I only dreamed about a few years ago. Would the journey have been easier without the tinnitus? Perhaps.
The one area I can say with confidence is made more difficult by the sounds in my head is transcribing. I just need to continue to make the effort to transcribe. Opening up the world of music is something that makes me smile. Hearing more of what passes for conversation these days, not so much. :smile:

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All,
Thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions. Sorry for not answering individually but below is a recap of your suggestions:

  1. Stay hydrated, good for not only the ears but the eyes and body function in general

  2. Keep ears clean and have hearing checks done regulary

  3. Get hearing aids

  4. Electrified sounds- Roll off the highs (around 4kHz) to reduce the unwanted parts of digital math used to create distortion. ā€˜Brighterā€™ sounds produce more ringing. Rolling off the frequency helps because those ranges tend to irritate hearing are not so loud.

  5. Learn to live with it :slight_smile:

  6. Ear plugs- I wear concert ear plugs when going to concerts or playing in electrified environment. (BTW- I use Eargasm ear plugs which I like. They are about $40 for two pair and include a nice carring container)

  7. Keep headphone volumes down to a ā€œsafeā€ level. This goes for amplified sound as well if not wearing ear protection.

Bottom line is there is no magic solution.

Again, I appreciate all the great feedback.

Cheers,
Roch

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Robert, I can totally relate! I am 70 as well, two years into the journey and doing things on guitar I never dreamed I could do. At our age, the journey is the destination!!

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Dean, you seemed pleased with your hearing aids. What brand are you using?

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I do. Iā€™ve been using Oticon MiniRite hearing aids. I still have the same ones, Iā€™ve never upgraded. Being able to hear the voices on TV, being able to hear conversations in a busy room, itā€™s nice. I have zero regrets about getting hearing aids.

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Thanks, Iā€™ll check them out.

Iā€™ve had Audible and now using Lexie. The Audibel were very good, they had blue tooth and a remote mike. I had them for almost 10 years and were replaced three times because I kept getting the extended warranty. Finally they stopped renewing the warranty:). They were extremely expensive though but I needed something good as I was working and always in meetings and conference calls.

The Lexie were 1/10 the price of the Audibel (Starkey co.). Their customer service is excellent but the hearing aids are not as good.

I felt my hearing was deteriorating but last I had a hearing exam they said hearing hadnā€™t changed. Strange!

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I donā€™t have tinnitus but do have hearing loss and have been wearing my plastic ears for about 10 years now. My loss was because of too much loud noise/noisy concerts when younger but itā€™s also hereditary for our family. I have recently had more tests which show the loss is getting worse and now have improved (more modern) Phonak aids which work a lot better. I have Bluetooth directly into my mobile which is great for calls & Teams meetings.

When practicing/playing I use headphones with my electric 99.9% of the time and rarely pick my acoustic. The headphones allow me to control the volume which is generally set low. I sometimes practice (depending what it is) with the amp turned off!

I have also found that I donā€™t listen to that much music these days as I prefer the silence!

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Stewart, good information, thank you. BTW- I havenā€™t listen to the radio in my car in over 2 years. Silence is golden!

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