KVR Audio

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:33 am

I'm curious about my fellow musicians and their hearing...

EDIT: I find the extra noise of tinnitus is like working in a room with bad sound, and I cannot hear sound as clearly or as easily as I remember. I already have a lot of fans in the room's PC making noise, and the tinnitus is like more of that. And I bought what was supposed to be a quiet case and large fans, so... Turning off the PC and using just the MacBook Pro alone (when not using lots of CPU) is like turning off half of my tinnitus. I wish I could turn off the real thing. This is why I dream of a silent new Mac Pro.

EDIT 2: Feel free to share the causes of your hearing damage if you like. Mine are: loud shows with bad sound systems as a teen, and psych drugs in my early to mid 30s.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:44 am

I managed to survive many shows in the 80 mostly by having some hearing protection. Another plus for me is that the last time I was in a band was the mid 80's. I dont do clubs with bands much anymore though because I want my hearing to stay in tact. When I was in the service a big deal was made about hearing protection and I think it just stuck because I know people my age in bad shape but my ears are doing very well. Besides that I really do not like loud, I dont like my music too loud so it's a wall of sound, I dont like loud bangs, loud talkers, in fact really if it's as loud as a live standard drum kit would be in a small room it's too loud for me.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:56 am

Good to hear (hah hah) that ear protection was a thing for you in those days and that you've been attentive to it. Had that been the case for me, and had I known about ototoxicity, I'd be much better off today. Back in the day, I was mocked for starting to wear ear plugs (after the initial damage was done), and then those same people would come to me for earplugs later in the shows we went to together...

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:41 am

I certainly envy those people in their 50s and above with no major hearing problems.

I'm 36 and have a slight tinnitus in my right ear. The frequency of the 'static hissing' is around 12khz, and this is made worse - or so it seems - when I have a heavy cold etc.

I appreciate that many people have hearing issues, including much worse and more prevalent tinnitus then mine.
However, I agree with what Rurik (Xoxos) said in a KVR thread a couple of years ago: certainly for slight-mild tinnitus, it can seem ever-present when the person believes it to be so.
Thus, it may be that any distress / concern about this condition, in its mild form, can be relieved by mind over matter: by ignoring the hissing, or accepting it and moving on.

I'll try to avoid spamming this thread too badly, but for anyone with slight-mild tinnitus like myself, I genuinely found Thomas Coleman’s Tinnitus Miracle program to be helpful. Yes, it has a corny name but I was willing to give it a try, and I've been happy with the outcome.

Furthermore, diet is argued to play a large part in preventing hearing damage:
https://audicus.com/you-hear-what-you-e ... ring-aids/

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my hearing, and I now take steps to try to limit the damage such as not listening too loudly through headphones etc.

Cheers.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:53 am

Mine varies through the day and my attention to it, but I realized recently that it's pretty bad in general. Could be worse though. Trying not to let it. Don't know I have a choice beyond actively avoiding further damage (which means no more experiments with live feedback). I'm almost 40 and age likely plays a part from here-on.

Zombie Queen · Post by **Zombie Queen** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:22 am

I've developed hi-pitch ringing after having a flu two years ago. I don't think it has much impact on my music as it's often just weird noises anyway, but it was seriously driving me nuts, I couldn't really calm down and concentrate on anything for months. While reading this thread I realized that I now learned to completely ignore the ringing, I can hear it when it's quiet around and I think about it, but normally, it became completely transparent. So I guess the best thing to do is relax and let it go.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:15 am

In the past ten years I've developed quite a bit of tinnitus and hearing loss in both ears. It started after a particularly bad cold, and then got worse with several other colds since then. I also think my chronic sleep deprivation is a major contributing factor. I find it is much more pronounced when I'm tired. I guess there really isn't anything more to say about it other than yeah, it sucks, and I only expect it to get worse over time.

chrisby · Post by **chrisby** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:03 am

Well this'll be a bit off the path but I have a pretty advanced case of "surfer ear". Basically where after decades of surfing in cold water bone starts closing in in the ear canal. Had it for a long time but the procedure to get it fixed is pretty nasty, some doc's lop off your ear to start (of course they sew it back after but still). While it's bad in all the ways you'd imagine the worse part is that it's uneven which means that one side is more closed than the other. As far as mixing goes that means often I'll think I have things sounding pretty balanced in the stereo field only to later find that one side is noticeably louder than the other (esp in headphones). Every year or so I think about getting the surgery and then I watch a few youtube vids of it and change my mind. One day though... maybe.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:35 pm

deastman wrote:In the past ten years I've developed quite a bit of tinnitus and hearing loss in both ears. It started after a particularly bad cold, and then got worse with several other colds since then. I also think my chronic sleep deprivation is a major contributing factor. I find it is much more pronounced when I'm tired. I guess there really isn't anything more to say about it other than yeah, it sucks, and I only expect it to get worse over time.

Speaking as a person with a totally effed-up sleep cycle (on disability for it), I hadn't considered that to be a contributor. I know stress makes it louder, and sleep aids (hah hah) can be ototoxic, but hadn't really thought about sleep deprivation itself making the damage worse. Hmm... Yay... :-/ Now I'm thinking about nervous system breakdowns from fatigue. Sigh. Sorry to hear I'm not alone with the sleep problems and worry

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:41 pm

chrisby wrote:Well this'll be a bit off the path but I have a pretty advanced case of "surfer ear". Basically where after decades of surfing in cold water bone starts closing in in the ear canal. Had it for a long time but the procedure to get it fixed is pretty nasty, some doc's lop off your ear to start (of course they sew it back after but still). While it's bad in all the ways you'd imagine the worse part is that it's uneven which means that one side is more closed than the other. As far as mixing goes that means often I'll think I have things sounding pretty balanced in the stereo field only to later find that one side is noticeably louder than the other (esp in headphones). Every year or so I think about getting the surgery and then I watch a few youtube vids of it and change my mind. One day though... maybe.

Holy shit!

Why are we so frail and our bodies so averse to the things we enjoy, we human beings..?? Or why do we manage to find so many ways to abuse ourselves in pursuit of fun?

Here's a hug for you too!

chrisby · Post by **chrisby** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:38 am

Well thanks, I guess on the upside I hardly ever need earplugs at shows anymore...

fese · Post by **fese** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:05 am

Tinnitus here too, most of the time it doesn't bother me and I can ignore it but from time to time it starts getting worse and becomes annoying. Then, after a couple of weeks, it goes back to normal. Started several years ago, don't know why. I guess it is just one of the several chronic diseases I collect.
I don't let it get in the way of making music. Maybe it is a problem while mixing the higher frequencies but then it is definitely one of the smaller problems I have with mixing...

Zombie Queen · Post by **Zombie Queen** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:33 pm

fese wrote:Maybe it is a problem while mixing...

Well, at least we don't have to use dithering...

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:51 am

Tinnitus can be a symptom of something other than hearing damage. Get your blood pressure checked. That's the source of my intermitent tinnitus.

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:43 am

Have a nice steady tinnitus on my left ear, so I my music suffers from over-panning to the left...

During the 90ies I survived some heavy concert noise without plugs (youth is stupid I know).

Doesn't impact my productivty except the fact that I don't use headphones that often.

KVR Audio

Do you have hearing damage; does it impact your music productivity?

Do you have hearing damage?