Who here is dealing with hearing damage?

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:24 pm

Had sort of a downer moment last night in what was otherwise a really cool studio experience... running test tones through the tape machine, 32hz and 16khz were both pretty much gone for me. From 14 to 21 I really wasn't paying enough attention to caring for my ears, just never occurred to me I guess til it was too late. I try to take care of them now at 25, but damage done, apparently. That said, I've felt like I've still done decent work for my level of inexperience, as have those I've recorded. I do however worry that maybe I'm just not hearing some phase problems I'd otherwise detect, and wonder how much of an impact this has on my mixing.

So yea - who's dealing with hearing problems, and how've you been working around them?

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:32 pm

I will get temporary ringing from time to time, though I've found it is due as much to loud volume exposure as it is to diet (too much salt) and allergies.

surf's up · Post by **surf's up** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:46 pm

I do get some occasional ringing, sometimes worse than other time. and ill have temporary hearing loss at times. but that has been going on since my late teens.

i track and mix and do everything in the same room right now, so i have a pair of those airport worker isolation ear protectors that i use when its loud, but i know thats probably not enough.

Cyan421 · Post by **Cyan421** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:36 pm

The other day my left ear had been feeling weird all day. Like weird pressure from allergies (maybey). So when on the drive home it got crazy. All of the sudden my ear felt like it closed up. Like someone crammed a ton of cotton in there. and pressure was just getting worse. So I got home a little worried, hoping it was just some allergic thing i took some allerige sinus meds and went to sleep.

When I woke up the pressure was gone along with the high end roll off cotton filled feeling.

I went to the audiologist a few months ago to get the molded ear plugs (awsome). The test showed a little dip at 6khz. Which im sure I'm due to punk rock band in highschool. Cement floor, metal garage door, Loud, lound drummer!

Red Rockets Glare · Post by **Red Rockets Glare** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:50 pm

CharlesM · Post by **CharlesM** » Tue May 09, 2006 3:06 pm

I have been dealing with intermittent hearing issues for about the past 7 years. Much of it has, I'm sure, mainly been due to having spent about 18 years playing drums without hearing protection.

What I usually experience is occasional ringing that lasts about 10 seconds, sometimes accompanied by a severe drop-out of everything, and other times just a drop in high frequencies. I also experience strange feelings of pressure, fullness and numbness in my ears now and then. However, all of this has diminished a LOT since I started wearing earplugs when playing drums or attending concerts.

The main issue I have is sensitivity...loud sounds with a lot of high-mid content, like sirens, banging pots/pans, and smoke alarms, are just excruciatingly painful.

If anyone experiences any of the symptoms I mentioned, the best thing I can tell you is to start wearing earplugs in loud environments and get used to it if you want to save your hearing. The frequencies put out by hard-hit snare drums and cymbals, loud guitar amps, and excessive low-end will just kill your ears. Human hearing was not designed to handle this kind of information.

I'm just turning 32 and it has been scary at times to feel like my hearing is already degrading, but the preventive measures have helped things a lot. In fact, the last hearing test I had showed normal hearing. This doesn't explain the sensitivity issue, but doctors have told me it could just be an anomaly because different people have different tolerances.

But believe me: Take care of your hearing and protect it if hearing music is one of the things you live for.

Chuck

globalsize · Post by **globalsize** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:41 pm

I'm 20, and already I've lost a lot of the high end in my right ear. Worse, I suspect it was from when I was a youngster putting my head on a floor speaker at dances (they speakers were so loud they would make your skull vibrate. Yep, I was a real bright one in those days.) When I whistle, I hear most of it in my left ear.

Already, I'm doing what Brian Wilson does: mix in mono. He was deaf in one ear. My left ear is fine, and I'm ultra-careful with noise now.

mertmo · Post by **mertmo** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:43 pm

When ambient sound around me gets too loud or intense (lots of reflections, like a loud restaurant), my left ear rattles like a blown speaker. VERY disconcerting and makes me cringe every time. I have just learned to live with it. Strangely, playing a rock show at full volume is no problem. But if I were just in the audience listening... it would be intolerable, my ear would just be "distorting" endlessly. Disturbing to say the least.

Many sounds are truly painful now, sounds that don't bother the people around me at all. Like an ambulance driving by, or a bottle being thrown into an empty dumpster. Circular saws cutting through wood.... EXCRUCIATING. Plugging my ears for something like that is a must, it would kill me otherwise.

I get ringing sometimes too. Don't even go out on the town without my molded earplugs anymore. Total lifesavers, especially now that I am persuing being a drummer fairly seriously. I would pay 10 times what they cost if I could go back in time and buy them 15 years ago. Whatever, I would pay 50 times what they cost... and I even knew about them back then. stupid stupid stupid stupid.

Should have listened to my mom.

Fletcher · Post by **Fletcher** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:43 am

My ears have been ringing since November of '75... lately it's gotten worse. I pretty much have no 4kHz left in my range of hearing but can usually hear up to 12kHz without too much of a struggle [not bad for a deaf guy in his mid 40's]

Dave Nutz · Post by **Dave Nutz** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:59 am

Ive got a fair bit of damage in my right ear that comes from several ear infections and ruptured ear drums as a child, as well as a problem with the drainage of my inner ear. Usually the high end rolloff is not noticeable, but my right ear has a hard time dealing with pressure changes, and sometimes it can get stuck with a differnt inner pressure for a few hours. It is also un-popable...i was able to until the age of 16...20 now.

majortom · Post by **majortom** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:57 am

I worked in a ear/nose/throat clinic for a few years(I am a nurse)

Here are some of the main things you need to be aware of and do.

Find an audiologist and get your hearing tested asap, this will allow you to know exactly what is going on, this is not an expensive deal at all, but is very informative.

next, and most important. EAR PLUGS! the best are the simple cheap foam one's. Put them in BEFORE the loud stuff starts, you grow "used" to loud noises fast when they are happening, if you wait you can fool yourself into thinking it's not that loud.

Past studies have found that MODERATE alchohol use is good for hearing(it is a vasodilator which allows more blood flow to the very small vessels in the auditory canal).

Tinnitus(ringing) is not yet able to be cured,but can be stopped at the point it is, if you follow good hearing care. If not it will continue to get much worse.

a side note, aspirin has a side effect of increasing ringing in the ears if too much is taken...go easy on it if you have ringing.

Good luck with this, stay on top of it and you will be a much happier old man. Todd.

Russian Recording · Post by **Russian Recording** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:08 am

I noteced someringing a while ago, but it;s not so bad. Everyone has it, it;s a ll a matter of noticing it. I played w/o protection in a loud band through the second half of highschool, but thankfully when I went to college I didn't play for the next 7 years. Now I know better and wear hearing protection at shows and practice. Thankfully I can still hear a little above 18K! I intend to keep it that way as long as possible.

mike

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:48 am

weatherbox wrote:Had sort of a downer moment last night in what was otherwise a really cool studio experience... running test tones through the tape machine, 32hz and 16khz were both pretty much gone for me. From 14 to 21 I really wasn't paying enough attention to caring for my ears, just never occurred to me I guess til it was too late. I try to take care of them now at 25, but damage done, apparently. That said, I've felt like I've still done decent work for my level of inexperience, as have those I've recorded. I do however worry that maybe I'm just not hearing some phase problems I'd otherwise detect, and wonder how much of an impact this has on my mixing.

So yea - who's dealing with hearing problems, and how've you been working around them?

I think 32hz to 16khz is pretty normal....most people can't really hear from 20 to 20..But what do I know??? I live for standing in front of my guitar amp like the Memorix Man and I can't STAND ear plugs..I think 32-16k is about my hearing range.....?

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:58 am

I have a hard time w/ earplugs onstage... I've taken to using these -6db ones. Not a lot of protection, but better than nothing, and I can actually get through a set without taking them out to hear what my tone was ACTUALLY doing. Of course, my band just split up so guess that's not a problem anymore...

I feel less bummed now, a lot of people who've made records I like a lot have said their hearing was at least as damaged as mine. Granted, I know it's only gonna get worse as I age, but at least I'm taking care of myself better now.

Russian Recording · Post by **Russian Recording** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:06 am

The molded musicians's earplugs are great if you play in a band (or go to shows often). You can get 10, 15 and 25 dB pads for them. The 15dB pads are the flattest, flat all the way up to 8 KHz. I use the 15 dB pads and they are great. I can hear the tone of my guitar, and they way they are designed you don't get that "boomy" sound in your head when you sing.

They are quite expensive though (about $160). Well worth it in my opinion.

mik

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