I have tinnitus. After many years of playing in bands it would be remarkable if I didn't have it. I always stood to the left of our drummer on stage and I do notice that my right ear has more high frequency loss compared to my left (left side crash cymbal in close proximity many times). My tinnitus is 'there' when I want to hear it. I can distract my focus when listening and don't really notice it in those situations. I still do independent audio production and my listening skills I learned while doing work at a recording studio help greatly with focused listening. My tinnitus is a whooshing noise with what sounds like a LFO mod filter which results is an ever changing white to pink noise type of situation - very swirly and actually interesting to 'listen' to when I choose to do so. It's a bit louder than ambient room noise so my case is fairly mild compared to some folks - Pete Townsend comes to mind. I did some of this to myself - doing things like sticking my head up close to a loud PA - I mean within 2 inches of the speaker in the cabs. Young and stupid - that was me.
I'm 70 now and have some of the 'normal' age related losses. You know, those times when you get a loud tone burst in one of your ears - I was always told that was the 'hair' that senses that particular frequency dying (at least that's what stuck in my memory). Mix Magazine used to have a hearing related issue every year back in the 90s. I learned a lot from those articles. One was on the 'theory' that even steady state noise, as opposed to transient noise, can contribute to hearing impairment. In the late 80s an optician friend had a connection to what were higher tech ear plugs that reduced all frequencies equally by a certain dB amount (he did hearing aids too). He did ear molds for all of us in the band that wanted them. Basically we got what were then $250 plugs for free. I wear them whenever I am going to be in situations with high sound pressure levels - even when I mow the yard and stuff like that. The House Institute is a good place to go for info on hearing loss and current related tech.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the plugs I use are the ERs - don't remember which reduction; 15 or 25 dB. After reading most of the thread I wonder if it was those crazy screaming girls at the 66 Beatles' concerts that started mine off. The afternoon performance was worse than the evening, but it was just constant screaming from when they took the stage til when they left. Didn't even consider hearing protection in 66.
I'm 70 now and have some of the 'normal' age related losses. You know, those times when you get a loud tone burst in one of your ears - I was always told that was the 'hair' that senses that particular frequency dying (at least that's what stuck in my memory). Mix Magazine used to have a hearing related issue every year back in the 90s. I learned a lot from those articles. One was on the 'theory' that even steady state noise, as opposed to transient noise, can contribute to hearing impairment. In the late 80s an optician friend had a connection to what were higher tech ear plugs that reduced all frequencies equally by a certain dB amount (he did hearing aids too). He did ear molds for all of us in the band that wanted them. Basically we got what were then $250 plugs for free. I wear them whenever I am going to be in situations with high sound pressure levels - even when I mow the yard and stuff like that. The House Institute is a good place to go for info on hearing loss and current related tech.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the plugs I use are the ERs - don't remember which reduction; 15 or 25 dB. After reading most of the thread I wonder if it was those crazy screaming girls at the 66 Beatles' concerts that started mine off. The afternoon performance was worse than the evening, but it was just constant screaming from when they took the stage til when they left. Didn't even consider hearing protection in 66.
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