How much hearing loss do you have?

[sonic1974]

I'm sure all the rockin' from folks here has lead to some damage. 

For me, I have tinnitus and I have problems understanding conversations if there's a lot of background noise, say a crowded restaurant. It depends who's talking, I have a friend who's really bad, a low talker (seinfelf reference) and I'm constantly leaning in to hear what she's saying. Very annoying.

Seems to happen more with female voices. Maybe this will be a plus with my upcoming marriage.  

Funny thing, I don't think it's necessarily from playing guitar. Ever since the first time I played with a drummer, I've been quite vigilant about wearing hearing protection. 

I think it was from listening to headphones in high school, like everyday on the bus, 45 minute ride back and forth, ear buds cranked to 10. 

 

[Biz Prof]

Huh? 

[ARM OF HAMER]

                                                                                           What did you say?????????????????

[Hamersaur]

Not sure but I think I might be going blind faster than I am going deaf.

[murkat]

except for the 747's ready for take off in each ear, I hear great.....

[Ting Ho Dung]

I think my hearing is okay but I have hairy palms for some reason. 

[Biz Prof]

Based on people in my peer and social groups, industrial machinery, combustion engines, and firearms use are more common sources of extreme noise that led to hearing loss. I have certainly blunted my hearing via loud music, but I am better off than any of the plant workers, mechanics, and retired artillery gunners I know. 

[sixesandsevens]

I have some.  It's more in my left ear than right.  It manifests both as tinnitus and also attenuation at high frequencies.  Like you, I wore hearing protection from a young age (~16).  I distinctly remember a guy coming to scout my band and putting in one earplug.  I asked him why just and he said the other ear was already deaf.  That stuck with me.

As an aside, I have a bandmate whose HF hearing is WAY better than mine and we're the same age, so I think some of it is the luck of the draw.

[G Man]

I somehow have avoided it to this point, which is saying something for my 49 years of noise.  Now my vision on the other hand, seems to be rapidly getting worse with the passing years.

[Biz Prof]

1 hour ago, G Man said:

Now my vision on the other hand, seems to be rapidly getting worse with the passing years.

I enjoyed 20/20 vision for the first four decades of my life. I could split a frog's hair at 40 paces using iron sights. Then, within two months after my 40th birthday, I began to notice how hard it was to read and see objects up close. Pill bottles, text messages, serial numbers, etc. became damn near impossible to discern. It happened rather quickly, and it has gotten progressively worse in the following years.

Getting old...it's not just for seniors anymore! 

[Jeff R]

48 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

I enjoyed 20/20 vision for the first four decades of my life. I could split a frog's hair at 40 paces using iron sights. Then, within two months after my 40th birthday, I began to notice how hard it was to read and see objects up close. Pill bottles, text messages, serial numbers, etc. became damn near impossible to discern. It happened rather quickly, and it has gotten progressively worse in the following years.

Getting old...it's not just for seniors anymore! 

^^^^^ Me to a "T"  

I'm sure my hearing is equally fucked. I've gone so long with white noise faint hum in my inner skull when I'm in a quiet or silent setting, and hearing what my mind interprets as scatterchatter, particularly through phones. The latter has been and still plagues me professionally and socially.

[3of5]

I guess I am lucky.  58 years old and I still hear the high frequencies that only kids are supposed to be able to hear.  I also am able to hear super low frequency sounds that almost no one else can hear.  This is not necessarily a good thing.  I am frequently bothered by sounds that nobody else around me can hear.  They think I am some sort of nut case because they can't hear the sounds that are bothering me.

[The Shark]

Peter Frampton's crew damaged my right ear beyond repair.  It was the "Art of Control" tour.  The venue was in an Orlando bar called "Edgewater and Par".  They had an airplane crashing into the building as a motif.  I, about ten minutes before the show was to start, was standing in front of Peter's rig waiting for the show to start.  There was background music being played through the venue P.A. system.  I moved to the right in front of the house system.  A three or four second volume burst through the mains of some background music damaged my right ear for life.  I've had a deficiency at 8K ever since.  I went home just as the show started.  My eye ears nose and throat doctor told me my right ear was toast.

If you're in my car, you'll notice that the right side of the music system is louder and has too much treble.  That's because the high end is deficient in my right ear.  I mix our band and use my left ear exclusively to get things right.  I've been holding my nose, looking up and blowing my right ear open for three decades. 

I don't have tinnitus.  If my ears ring or buzz, it's my blood pressure.  I look at people with my left ear forward.  I learned to live with it.  I don't even know if my hearing has deteriorated because of playing live for thirty years.   

[Carl.B]

Mine is part heredity and part past working environment. My Dad and my Uncles all wore hearing aids and now my older brother has a hearing aid. In my younger day's I worked in a large printing plant running a 6 color Heidelberg press and prior to that in building that had 60 smaller ABDick printing presses. Then for almost 10 years during that same time I ran sound for 2 different bands 4 to 5 nights a week.   

[Disturber]

Could not hear the absolute highest frequencies with my right ear two years ago when I did a hearing test. Nothing major, nothing to worry about.

My ears are doing good, compared to the abuse they have taken over the years. First concert 1982, Rainbow. 14 years in the music biz with concerts almost every week. Listening to music daily in plug in earphones, rehearsing once or twice a week with a 50 watt Marshall, two loud kids at home. Bring it on, I say.

[jisham]

GREAT TIMING FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:  Below are the results of a hearing test I took a few weeks back. I've played in bands either as a drummer or guitarist going on 40 years or so at this point and I never wore any type of hearing protection. The test showed my hearing is pretty much completely trashed (the doctor considers my hearing "severely damaged"), especially the highs which are shown on the right of the test. I can hear fine talking one on one for the most part, but anywhere there's a lot of background noise (ie, large meeting rooms or restaurants) is a real challenge. Two weeks ago I picked up some insanely expensive hearing aids, which are great, but all of this was totally preventable if it wasn't for me being afraid hearing protection didn't look cool.

This whole experience has made it important for me to encourage those of you who are much younger to please consider wearing some type of hearing protection whenever you jam in a band setting. My doctor said those $2 foam ear plugs would've saved my hearing but I always thought it was "uncool" to wear them. Any way, hope this helps someone. 

[jwhitcomb3]

Constantly ringing and I can't follow a conversation in a noisy room. Been wearing fitted musicians plugs for all musical events,and even movie theaters for several years. They improve the clarity at high volume concerts. Expensive and worth it. 

 

[kizanski]

I started my work life in construction; hammer drills, Hilti charges, core drills, etc, and I've always been a fan of loud music, but my hearing actually saw the most damage at the hands of a Doctor.

About 10 years ago, I caught a cold. In my attempt to "let it work itself out," it got worse and eventually became an ear infection. The pain in my ears got to be more than I could stand and I called my Doc for an appointment.
Unfortunately, she was on vacation, but if I wanted, I could see the Doctor who was covering for her. Of course I jumped at the chance.

After what I felt was a rushed "examination," he told me that the pain in my ears/head was not from an infection, but from excessive wax buildup.
Sounded strange to me, but I figured he's the Doctor, so what do I know?

He instructed his two nurses to irrigate my ears with a peroxide solution and he'd be back in a few. So, they did and he returned.
"Are you 100% better?"
"It's improved, but certainly not 100%."
"No! You should be 100% better!" he proclaimed and examined the amount of wax that the nurses were able to extract. "They just didn't use enough force when they irrigated your ears."

Can you tell where this is going yet?

So, he was going to show them how it's done.
He filled the bladder with the solution, placed the catch basin under my right ear and (extreme exaggeration alert) took a running start at the bladder and collapsed it with a WWE wrestler-style elbow smash, sending the remaining ear wax in my right ear through my brain, out my left ear and on to the wall, shattering a nearby window.

That's what it felt like, anyway. The more accurate version of it is that he simply used way too much force flushing out my right ear, repeatedly, attempting to extract every last morsel of ear wax.
I think he wanted to make a candle.

At one point I heard a faint "Pop," and I told him, "Hey, I just got a taste of peroxide."
"Ok. We'll stop," was all he said, and he sent me on my way.

Now the pain was even worse.
A couple of days later my Doctor returned and she examined my right ear, and she didn't like want she saw.
She referred me to an ENT in the neighborhood and asked that they see me right away.

The first thing that they do when you visit this ENT group is to sit you down with the in-house Audiologist and they test your hearing.
I think we're all familiar - you sit in the soundproof booth with the earphones on and raise your right or left hand, depending on where you hear the sounds that they send to you.

The ENT examined me and said that my eardrum had a hole in it.
"Could that come from overly-ambitious irrigating?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Most definitely."
He also said that the hearing test showed significant hearing loss in my right ear (no surprise with a hole in my eardrum).

Great. Now I have a fucking HOLE in my eardrum and I'm literally half deaf.

And then there's the pain. Let me tell you, it is profound and it fucks up your whole life; work, home, sleeping, you name it. Your patience is always on it's last nerve, and you wish someone would "answer that God Damn Phone!!"

ENT Doc said that in some cases, the hole will heal itself after several weeks of drops, keeping it dry, etc. If it doesn't heal itself, they have the ability to repair it by patching it, much like we used to have to do with our bicycle tires when we were kids, by grabbing a patch of my skin from somewhere else.
We'd have to see what happens in 6 months about the hole and my hearing, but he told me to expect to go the "patch" route.

It didn't take that long for me to return to the ENT, though.
The antibiotic drops (which I had to administer 3x a day) had killed all of the bacteria in my ear canal (some of it you actually need) and now I had a mold buildup, so now I needed other drops for that...

Six months later, I return to the ENT and again, first straight to the Audiologist for another hearing test.
The ENT comes out some time later and examines my right ear. He said that the hole in my eardrum had healed and that I was very lucky. He reiterated that most often an operation is necessary.

Then, hearing test results in hand, he asks the $100,000 Question, "So, how's the hearing?"
"Well," I said, "At first, I couldn't hear anything out of my right ear, but it started to come back slowly. That took several months. Now I feel like the 'volume' in my right ear is almost up to where it is in my left ear, and the higher frequencies are starting to..." and I notice he's shaking his head as I'm speaking.
"What... Why are you shaking your head?"
He holds up the hearing test results.  There were two graphs - one for each ear.
"Here's you six months ago. Left ear is even and steady - looks good.  Right ear, obvious upper and mid frequency loss."  The graph looked like a stock which took a gigantic shit overnight. He continued, "Here you are today..." turning the page, "...right ear is only slightly improved, but the reason it 'sounds' so much better to you is because your left ear has come down to meet the right."
My face said, "Huh?"
"Your brain can't have that stark unevenness in the perceived volume in each ear, so it 'shuts the good ear down' to make things even for you."

Way to go, brain. You fucked me again.

Now 10 years later, there's still a constant ringing in my ears. I'm not really aware of it unless a room gets quiet. This makes sleeping a challenge sometimes.
Also, my ability to hear higher frequency sounds with my right ear is still not good. I usually have to turn my left ear toward people when they are speaking.
Bars and restaurants where there are other people talking are especially tough and most people have gotten used to the fact that they often have to repeat themselves. Sometimes twice.

I've never been a litigious person, but I still kick myself in the ass every day for not suing the ever-loving shit out of that fucking quack who, essentially, deafened me.

[bubs_42]

Just wanted to add: Until I moved to my current location in 2005, I never wore ear plugs when I mowed the grass, or weed eated, or ran the saw in the garage. But do wear them every day in the Machine Shop, Everyday. One day i'm watching my neighbor mow with a set of muffs on then another doing the same thing. I thought to myself "Hey idiot protect your hearing!" Now I don't get on it without plugging in.

Practice time is now reduced to an attenuation on my amp and earbuds in my ears so I can get the volume down down down.   

[Ting Ho Dung]

10 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

I enjoyed 20/20 vision for the first four decades of my life. I could split a frog's hair at 40 paces using iron sights. Then, within two months after my 40th birthday, I began to notice how hard it was to read and see objects up close. Pill bottles, text messages, serial numbers, etc. became damn near impossible to discern. It happened rather quickly, and it has gotten progressively worse in the following years.

Getting old...it's not just for seniors anymore! 

I forgot to mention along with my hairy palms I'm quickly going blind. I noticed in my late 30s that I could no longer read the phone book. Remember those?

13 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

Based on people in my peer and social groups, industrial machinery, combustion engines, and firearms use are more common sources of extreme noise that led to hearing loss. I have certainly blunted my hearing via loud music, but I am better off than any of the plant workers, mechanics, and retired artillery gunners I know. 

When I used to guide, a fellow guide would often be on my boat when we scouted. Idling with the rods in their holders would often produce a whistle when the breeze hit the braided line just right. I always got a kick out of it. I mentioned it to my friend and he said he couldn't hear it. Then he said his hearing was damaged from the years he spent in the military in Iraq. Another friend of mine who was an alligator trapper said he lost some of his hearing from working on aircraft when he was in the forces. He says he receives a disability check from the gov. My guide friend didn't mention it and I didn't ask. My asshole ex-friend, Trooper Bill, said he lost a good amount of his hearing from qualifying twice a year at the gun range and running a K-9 unit where his dog was always barking in his ear when he was responding to a call. He said the sirens didn't help as well. My dad has always had sinus infections and one year he flew to England and when he got off the plane on the return trip he couldn't hear worth shit. The doctor said that flying combined with his sinus infection screwed him up. 

I listen to loud music in the car. Sometimes it makes my ears ring when I exit the vehicle. I also practice pretty loud (ask Mathman) but so far so good. I can still hear the birds chirp. But I need to give my palms a waxing every now and again. 

[G Man]

10 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

I enjoyed 20/20 vision for the first four decades of my life. I could split a frog's hair at 40 paces using iron sights. Then, within two months after my 40th birthday, I began to notice how hard it was to read and see objects up close. Pill bottles, text messages, serial numbers, etc. became damn near impossible to discern. It happened rather quickly, and it has gotten progressively worse in the following years.

Getting old...it's not just for seniors anymore! 

Yeah, that's my vision to a T as well.  Kinda works out, as long as I don't wear glasses when looking in the mirror I look as young as a spring chicken, no lines around the eyes, no greys trying to work their way into my scalp, its lovely really.

[Disturber]

2 hours ago, jisham said:

This whole experience has made it important for me to encourage those of you who are much younger to please consider wearing some type of hearing protection whenever you jam in a band setting. My doctor said those $2 foam ear plugs would've saved my hearing but I always thought it was "uncool" to wear them. Any way, hope this helps someone. 

 

I got those custom molded earplugs in the mid 90's, and that dampens the frequencies even. They are a bit diffucult to get in to the ear, but when in place they are awesome. I have worn them to most of the concerts I've been to since. Not in the last five years though, as I don't go that frequently any more, I usually forget to bring them.

When I play with the band I use a pair of rubber ear plugs that looks like small christmas trees. They do the job of cutting some db's of the top. Funnier to play without them, but then the ears ring for two hours after, so I usually wear the plugs. Like having sex with a condom on, sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.

[Jakeboy]

Holy shit, Kiz! I get my ears irrigated 2-3 times a year to remove waxy buildup......it gets so bad IT affects my hearing...

Working around bomber jet engines for a 20 year career, even with hearing protection in close proximity has given me tinnitus. It is always there....I simply live with it. Def hi-freq roll-off....

I like to play loud when onstage and I have never worn hearing protection there cause damn, it is hard enough hearing myself without it. I like to be close to the drums for the groove....so the last 12 years have certainly added to it and I am more careful now. Gotta protect what I have. If it is crazy loud, I'll wear plugs. I wear muffs when mowing and shooting. 

Tinnitus sucks. But at 54 I am thankful it is the least of my worries. 

Lesson from all these posts: PROTECT YOUR HEARING.

But it is so hard when our Hamer's sound so glorious CRANKED!

[DaveL]

Kiz, that's awful, sorry to hear.  

 

I have some hearing loss in my left ear...   been to many concerts, playing in bands etc... but I think I

damaged it from headphones,  I have some tinnitus...  the ringing is not too bad,  the only time when it becomes

a problem is when there is background noise.    but it's subtle, you kind of have to be aware,  driving, walking down

the street etc...  sometimes I have trouble picking up the direction of the sound. 

 

    but thankfully, It doesn't stop me from rewiring my guitars with CTS tight tolerance pots and expensive

capacitors cos I can TOTALLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE... lol   

 

[MCChris]

17 hours ago, sonic1974 said:

For me, I have tinnitus and I have problems understanding conversations if there's a lot of background noise, say a crowded restaurant.

This is exactly my situation.