Tinnitus: The Musicians Demon (and mine)

[@TheReillyDiefenbach]

A very important post, Rick. I've got tinnitus, and hearing loss, as do many of my contemporaries from the 60's and 70's. Sting has it, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Hughie Lewis, the list is endless. If you're a youngster reading this and are not yet afflicted, do yourself a favor and protect your hearing by whatever means necessary.

[@fab208athome]

I remember that Pete Townsend story, Keith Moon wrecked his hearing in one ear from the exploding bass drum incident, and in his 40s he got tinnitus in the other. He went to a doctor and asked what he should do and the doctor said learn to lip-read!

[@robertakerman3570]

I was the "weirdo" that stuffed My ears @ concerts. Had nuthin' 2 do w/ tinnnitus.

[@nathanw32]

@@robertakerman3570 You still ended up getting it?

[@philipsudron]

...and Dave Grohl apparently.

[@tangogrrl]

Yes! Remember, loud sound does not necessarily equate to good sound. Follow that and you can't go too far wrong

[@pattoner]

As a drummer, I thank my lucky stars every day that one of my earliest teachers told me, day one, as one of their first bits of advice, told me, "Get good hearing protection." They literally refused to teach me any drumming until I put hearing protection on. I am grateful every single day that they were so adamant.

[@BernadetteSayre]

Check out Liam Stops Tinnitus. He is an Australian guy has a whole course on how to stop tinnitus for life! There are testimonials of people who have silenced their tinnitus.

[@JasonNoto]

Hearing protection can certainly lower the decibel levels to the ear, although loud vibrations can vibrate through the skull bones.. so it's best to actively remove oneself from situations that are registering too unnaturally unnecessarily excessively loud

[@peterhutlas3572]

@@JasonNoto I wish Slovakian ENT wouldnt say me that hearing protection on construction site is enough to protect hearing, what a bullshit

[@JasonNoto]

@@peterhutlas3572 such ENTs are ill informed without comprehension of reality. I would have appreciated steering clear of such hazards myself. I'm currently about a month or so into doing a course curriculum to repair symptoms on a KZbin page called Liam Stops Tinnitus. There's also an Instagram page. A lot of the insight is free in videos and posts. Slowly but surely I'm improving and will keep at it to repair, by implementing lifestyle changes to provide my body and mind what is called for to reduce inflammation and gain the energy to silence symptoms and repair

[@Nickalapokis]

Good advice, I didn't pick up ear pro until way down the line and even then only really used it in small rooms. Flash forward after years of open ear drums, drumline, loud brass in your ear, and I can only hear the tinnitus in quiet rooms with no ambient sounds.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

I’ve suffered from tinnitus for about 15 years now. It’s sucks and like you said the severity comes and goes. Hopefully one day we’ll get a real solution to the problem 🤞

[@loosilu]

I've had it for about 45 years. I've basically leanred to ignore it.

[@MichaelBordenaro]

Metal Jesus!! Love your channel man 👌😎

[@pohsibkcirrag6312]

Yes! I love you channel as well! Video Games and Music forever!

[@ianmichaels6475]

Same here, Metal Jesus. Love your channel brother!

[@colinegan9619]

The key is to make peace with it and it functionally “goes away”. Mine is technically always there, but I don’t “hear” it until I think about it. Effectively, it’s gone Check out Julian Cowan Hill here on KZbin if you need help getting to this point!

[@CringeNow]

I got tinnitus 4 months ago from a medication. Complete silence for 52 years, then suddenly 80db of torture, pure hell. You literally can't think. I lost 20 pounds I was so miserable. For the first time in my life I wanted to be run over by a car, or die of a sudden heart attack. But finally in the last 3 weeks the volume has gone down to about 45db. I'm starting to be able to accept it. I've been to so many ENT's and AUDs. I've tried all the crazy stuff out there. I would go to a witch doctor if I thought it would help. But really, the best thing has just been acceptance. For anyone just having this. I feel for you. If I could recommend anything, stay off the tinnitus forums, stay off the internet aside from positive success stories. It can be a dark rabbit hole if you're not careful. Also I recommend the book The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science for some positive stories. Best of luck.

[@FernandoDANTE]

Tinnitus forums can be very negative indeed. I've learned to stay away.

[@TheUntitledSimmer]

Thank you

[@LucyDenbowski]

How did u measure how loud your tinnitus was or is

[@rosskrause3926]

I felt the same way..wanted it to end however whichever way live or death.

[@accuratealloys]

I’ve had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. I’ve been a construction worker my entire adult life. Loud grinders and other machines back in the day almost no one wore ear protection. It makes depression worse to the point that I’ve considered opting out. Tinnitus is terrible.

[@travincal1]

Sorry to hear that man. It sounds awful and I hope you find a solution. Construction is hard enough work but when you walk away from the job the last thing you want is for the noise to follow you home.

[@michaelmccartney8506]

Pls stick around m8. My wife has chronic tinnitus

Stay strong man!

[@tomy.1846]

Be well, and keep discussing it. Hope you find something to help!

[@patriciahouser5737]

Me too. Hang in there. Someone's already mentioned a meditation practice called nada & I'm going to work on it using RJ Spina's techniques.

[@MarySpender]

Wishing for days of silence, Rick, I am so sorry. This is totally heartbreaking and so important to talk about. Thank you for telling your story. x

[@harry9392]

Always protect your hearing

[@JK-g62]

Mary...its nice to hear someone talking about this...pardon the pun. I, too, have tinnitus although not officially diagnosed. Ive learned to deal with it and move on. Between loud fast cars and loud fast music...i was destined to get it. The omly time it really bothers me is being in a quiet settting...and hear a high pitched constant cricket type noise.

[@cozmicpfunk]

I have a mild version of this compared to others- what I didn't see in the comments was anyone sharing the relationship between this malady and sinus/respiratory issues. I have had both my entire life- the tinnitus's effect/volume/degree is acerbated by these things including air pressure. I do suggest drinking healthy warm Tea at night and getting plenty of rest- both of these have a tremendous influence on my symptoms and severity.

[@andrewsussman]

I too suffer from this infliction. And it is hard to sleep with this “sound”. In fact, Rick and Mary, it is your (and Adam’s) videos that I listen to at night when going to bed to drown out the “sound within the silence”.

[@bojangles6444]

@@cozmicpfunk I have had vertigo since I was a kid. They can sometimes come at once- it’s not fun. No one really knows what causes the vertigo bc it comes and goes. I had a lot of ear infections when I was little. Tinny and shrill sounds don’t help either. That’s why I can’t listen to Coldplay. Definitely trigger music. I can’t believe people take that music seriously I think it’s awful. I don’t see anything sophisticated or even appealing going on in the arrangement I am without any clue why this is celebrated on here lol. I am starting to wonder if they are pushing certain artists or agendas. U2 has some disturbing imagery of children.

[@aarigod]

I’ve lived with tinnitus for almost 10 years now and I have to admit when I first noticed it I was extremely stressed about it. I thought it would be the end of my career as a music producer and live sound engineer. if it’s any help for you to hear this, I never let tinnitus take over my life and make me give up my dreams, and now I do music for a living full time. Like you, I also went through the process of reaching out for help and seeing numerous doctors to try and find a cure, all to no avail. I can honestly admit my tinnitus doesn’t bother me at all nowadays , as I have accepted it’s a part of who I am. I actually learnt that when I become conscious to the tinnitus it is amplified in my head, but when I don’t ever think about it, I can go for months now forgetting I even have it. Watching this video is actually the first time in weeks that I have heard my own tinnitus, because it’s a reminder I have it. But because I’m so relaxed and accepting about it now, it doesn’t haunt me like it used to. My number 1 tip for anyone suffering is to try their best to relax knowing it will always be there, however you don’t need to always be aware of it. Focus on other things in your life, avoid any stress and you will surprise yourself at how little the tinnitus will affect you. I can still work as a live sound engineer and make music without my tinnitus ever getting worse or being a problem because I am relaxed about it now. To be stressed over tinnitus is a self perpetuating experience because you are hyper focussed on the sound, which gets you stressed, which amplifies the sound in your head, which then makes you more stressed etc etc. To start becoming less conscious of your tinnitus, start listening to rain noise or podcasts / music / radio whilst you sleep. And throughout your day, just try your hardest to relax and not even think about the ringing. Keep yourself occupied and always have background noise around you. before you know it you will forget it’s even there. I hope reading this helps anyone suffering. Trust me, through my own experience it only gets easier the longer you live with it.

[@bobkovach1426]

You are right on in your assessment. I do exactly the same thing you just mentioned. Believe it or not, I feel better knowing other people go through this as well not just me so it makes me stronger to ignore it. Best of luck!

[@RB-oc7ti]

That’s a similar story told by Myles Kennedy of AlterBridge and Slash fame. He was initially pretty depressed about it when he first got it in his 20’s I believe…? But he has come to terms with it and has obviously had a very successful professional recording career as a vocalist and guitar player in several touring rock bands. He’s in his 50’s now and still going strong 💪. Says he just thinks of it (when he thinks of it at all) as his constant companion, and doesn’t let it take over his thoughts negatively. 👍

[@aarigod]

@@bobkovach1426 knowing you’re not the only one going through it is a massive stress relief. I thought I was the only one I knew who had it, suffering in silence with it, but I soon found out many other musicians had the same thing! It’s surprisingly common

[@aarigod]

@@RB-oc7ti exactly that. He’s learnt to accept it for what it is and not let it be an obstacle. Too many people (including myself to begin with), instantly see it as this all encompassing doom and gloom that is going to prevent you from living your life to the fullest. The sooner you can learn to live with it stress free the better

[@petertrast]

Great advice, your strategy is similar to mine. I almost never think about it even though it is always there. This video reminded me for the first time in months so NOW I hear it... lol. You do get used to it, so the stress part diminishes quite a bit, and even now my stress is like a 1 or 2 knowing I will always have it :) So don't freak out, it gets better even if it is permanent.

[@sandropereira4947]

Rick, I’m a Dentist and I can tell you that Tinnitus has multiple causes. One of them is Bruxism, that happens while sleeping. You said that after sleeping you were well, and after other night you were not. The Jaw (Mandible) has bilateral structures called condyles, where muscles are inserted and are extremely near the ear canal (internally). So, if any lack of balance or disajustment happens on the condyles, there are chances to affect the ears and cause noises...Tinnitus. Bruxism is mainly related to emotional stress that causes unconscious muscular contractions, resulting in teeth grinding and damage to the mandible balance. In these cases, specific night guard should be worn for 2-3 months and other therapies could be necessary to confirm or not the diagnosis. The objective is to relax the muscles and balance the mandible (the TMJ: Temporomandibular joint) to prevent those events. If it doesn’t work, other factors must be considered. In the U.S, Dr. Jeffrey P. Okeson may help you. That’s my suggestion.

[@נתנאלאדר-מ5ל]

when you say "unconcious muscular contractions" do you mean jaw locking or teeth grinding or something of that sort?

[@mandarello]

This is interesting. I had quite the tinitus problem on my left ear for some months. I went to a dentist who identified a small carius infection in my last tooth in the upper jaw, next to that ear. While drilling it out, my ear was screaming and I thought it would damage it for good. To my surprise, shortly after my ear was much better. For me, it was obvious that there is a connection between jaw, teeth and your hearing.

[@metacosmos]

a bad physician who mistakes ear damage due to very powerful amplifiers with other thing.

[@sandropereira4947]

@@metacosmos I wouldn't say that the cause you have pointed is wrong. In fact, what you said is a possibility, but as I mentioned: the causes are multiple...bruxism is one of them! The purpose here is diagnosis first, and all possibilities must be considered, otherwise the chosen therapy will fail.

[@erinescence2095]

OMG, thank you! This makes so much sense and I definitely have significant bruxism. I need a new guard.

[@carlitosruncun]

Rick I am Orofacial Pain specialist and as such I have to tell you that of all my patients with TMJ problems around 50% to 60% of them complain of Tinnitus. Just as you did most of them go to see the ENT first and once the ear related problems are ruled out the most common cause is TMJ related problems. If you wake up with tense masticatory muscles or have any sleep related problems such as snoring which goes along with night clenching and bruxism then a great solution is a night guard. Not a soft one as it was mentioned before on another reply but a hard one that brings your mandible forward and only allows clenching on the front part of your mouth and limits biting on the posterior teeth. Some people also need a night sleeping appliance. If you have any sleep related issues a sleep study would be in order. Hope this helps.

[@danmustard8134]

I began wearing a night guard several years ago and it helped tremendously. Jaw pain was reduced, wear of my molars, and tinnitus was reduced. I traveled once and forgot to bring it, and immediately realized how much it helps.

[@rtbrain]

I actually developed tinnitus right after starting to wear a full C-pap face mask.about 5 months ago. Caused me to start cleanching my teeth. My dentist suggested the mouth guard as well but how do I wear the C-Pap AND a mouthgard? I also have deviated septum from several broken noses so I'm a mouthbreather at night!

[@scantrontest]

I'm a sound designer for movies / tv and a few years ago was working on a scene with an elevator that was screetching and scraping.. The episode was a dreamy stylized one with many flashbacks to the elevator screetching, falling, scraping. I woke up the next morning, walked into the restroom and heard this high pitched tone.. I knew immediately what it was.. my heart sank. I've had it non-stop ever since. Some days are better than others but it's always there.

[@gilesl]

Same job as me and I also now have it permanently last few years!

[@sillygoose5171]

:( there is a little trick that helps some for a period of time. It's like you cup your ears somehow but you will have to KZbin it. I'm sorry

[@ivanberdichevsky5679]

Hey Angelo, how are you faring? Did it get any better, your T?

[@scantrontest]

@@ivanberdichevsky5679 Hey Ivan. Some days are better than others. During the day, I don't notice it as much but in the evening it's def worse. I don't sleep through the night anymore either. I usually wake up at least once each night about 3 or 4am to an incredibly loud ringing sound. My brain registers it as danger, so I wake up. It's just part of my life now.

[@ivanberdichevsky5679]

@@scantrontest Yes it seems to be the way it is with sleep. I guess some can sleep seamlessly but you and I definitely experience the same symptoms waking up middle of our sleep. To this day, I have about 10 pills I use in order to sleep. So, imagine...

[@adamwoodall]

I've had tinnitus for over 10 years now. I I played in a cover band for about 30 years and always stood to the left of the Drummer so my right ear really took a beating from the cymbals. When I got tinnitus I was very scared but after 10 years I just accept that it's a part of me and honestly it doesn't scare me anymore. Maybe it bothers me a little bit in a very quiet room or when I'm stressed out but for the most part it's OK. I guess my point is that it's not a matter of accepting it over time it's a matter of understanding that it's just a part of you and it's not going to hurt you and the more you accept the more unnoticeable it becomes. I go through many days now not noticing it at all and suddenly I go into a quiet room and I realize how loud it is. Best thing you can do is get on with your life and enjoy the support and love and friendship of people around you. It's a beautiful world out there and a bit of ringing in your ears shouldn't ruin your life.

[@andreasirawan1906]

Oh man Thank you very much for sharing..

[@stuggy6077]

I'm 5 minutes into this as a 50 year old ex musician and I'm crying. I played in bands until I was 30 and have severe tinnitus from this many loud gig's and raves in the 90's uk. I'm dealing with it, but it really suck's at time's. I wouldn't wish this on anybody.

[@novola1972]

Try to stay more relaxed and I will get better and stop bothering you. There are many things you can do to improve it and don’t despair. I WILL get better!!

[@em7dim9]

@@novola1972 He just told you he's had it for 20 years. It will get better, really? In what, another 20 years? Mine is 13 years old and is the same as day 1.

[@glennglazier2568]

Stuggy, I've been suffering from crippling tinnitus for the last 25 years -- and I mean it's so loud that ENTs who conducted "Tinnitus Matching Tests" called it record-level -- and fortunately as time goes on, one does acclimate. There are now periods where I go days without even notice it. So, there IS hope.

[@stuggy6077]

@@glennglazier2568 22 years in now with it, i got like 7030hz'ish Triangle hiss in stereo permanent, I obviously live with it but at time's feel like cutting my head off. Night's are always worst but yes sometimes the brain shut's it out but then it seems to come back with a vengeance. F'in annoying to say the least but I think in general my hearing isn't to bad but it's never been as good as other peoples have seemed, still love music and playing comes from the heart more these days than what I can here. Each and everyone of us that suffer with this suffer in different ways but we all suffer in silence.

[@godot2u]

I'm right there with you .. I can't even remember what silence is like, and I wouldn't wish T on anyone.

[@jesse.b613]

I've had Tinnitus in both my ears my entire life, as young as I can remember. I've literally never "heard" silence. It get's to the point it threatens your sanity. So I feel for anyone that struggles with it. Hopefully we get a cure in the near future!

[@corycardwell]

same here. I too have had it my whole life and it seems to be getting worse. I’ve looked to science for a cure, made a thousand wishes, and it is the last prayer I make every night to have a cure or even just a moment of silence.

[@loosilu]

Same, had it from childhood from a virus. I dont' know what silence sounds like. At this point I basically just learned how to ignore it. People who don't vaccinate their kids, this is one of the possible results.

[@comandinn505]

I remember lying alone 5 years old in the back seat of an empty, not running car in a quiet garage and hearing this noise. That was 56 years ago. A constant if unwanted companion.

[@patricioac123]

Sorry you had to go through this. For anyone who has no solution, I can only recommend meditation, my favorite app is Waking Up by Sam Harris, life changing stuff. As far as not hearing silence, John Cage once said (and we're gonna have to take him at his word) that in pure silence (an anechoic chamber he spent some serious time in) you can still hear three things: 1 your breathing. 2 your heartbeat. 3 your nervous system. I don't know what he meant by number 3, eh, he probably had tinnitus too

[@titian40]

Same experience here. I first noticed it when I was 6 or 7.

[@turner3d1]

I went to an ENT who gave me an explanation that actually makes sense. If he's right, everybody has ringing all the time, but it's so quiet that it's imperceptible. As your ears start to lose sensitivity to high frequencies, your brain tries to compensate, doing the equivalent of cranking the sliders for the missing frequencies as high as they will go on the EQ. This changes the signal/noise ratio for the part of your brain responsible for interpreting those frequencies, and the noise floor which is normally unnoticeable is all of a sudden very noticeable. I played professionally for decades, and I have now had tinnitus for about 5 years. Some days are better than others, and it sometimes goes away for a bit like yours - other times, it's almost conversation loud. Fortunately, it rarely bothers me even though it's almost always there - I've gotten very good at ignoring it.

[@fredmann8799]

Yes. The "sound of silence". Good you can ignore it!

[@manmanman6956]

this is nice except it can also make people who have really bad T, the kind that is almost unbearable , them, get less support , disability or whatever. The truth is T and hyperacusis completely destroy peoples lives.

[@turner3d1]

@@manmanman6956 I think you must have misunderstood my post - I was merely relaying the explanation from an ENT of what the "sound" actually is. I understand that its impact and severity varies from person to person, and I do not downplay that in the least.

[@johnaukermusic]

Same concept, but I always thought of it as a “noise floor.” As we age, our hearing diminishes in certain frequencies and the outside noise doesn’t mask that inner noise floor anymore. Sound exposure/damage can possibly contribute two-fold by creating more ringing (raising the noise floor) and inducing hearing loss (lowering the outside, “masking” noise). I’m not educated at all, though. This is just a lay person’s theory.

[@turner3d1]

@@johnaukermusic That's pretty much exactly what the ENT explained to me. The noise floor stays consistent in actual "signal strength", but in trying to compensate for missing frequencies, the brain "amplifies" those frequencies to the point that the level of the noise floor is extremely high.

[@rickbellmusic]

My Tinnitus is severe. Both ears, many tones, loud. Many years as a musician with tinnitus. In the past year a whistling sound has developed in my left ear triggered by outside sounds & even my own voice. Every single sound has an accompanying whistle, that increases in volume as the outside sound is louder. Have you ever heard of this? 2 ENT's, Mri & cat scan show nothing physically abnormal, so they have nothing to offer! It's making life difficult. I don't know what to do!!! I'm a songwriter with a home studio & I can barely do anything! Isolation is the new norm, but the ringing never stops. Rick, I thank you for bringing this up & wish you well & quiet.

[@sandysmith9869]

You described it perfectly. I have severe Tinnitus, and sometimes I cry because it drives me absolutely insane.

[@kaboom6157]

I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I feel powerless

[@FaCa387]

Stay brave!

[@beno_o]

Damn, I'm just 16 and I'm already starting to experience diplacusis, hypercausis and very mild tinnitus. Music was the only thing that was keeping me sane and now the very thing is making me go nuts! Idk if I should quit or not😭

[@profdave2861]

It’s not only a musician’s curse - it’s also common with those who spend years around loud or continuously droning equipment. In my case it was chainsaws, snowmobiles, and motorbikes. Unfortunately, my tinnitus never stops, although I will occasionally .have very brief periods where my brain tends to tune it out when focused on other things. It’s a horrible and all too common affliction.

[@aarondeeming7002]

you and me both mate

[@AnalogKid333]

Thats my case. Chainsaws and tractors mostly.

[@thomasj.9686]

@@markdixon5714 that sounds crazy, man. How did that even happen?

[@timhoovermusicman]

Lawnmowers,dirtbikes,rock concerts,lifetime of headphones,machinery in canneries for me.

[@liamstopstinnitus4617]

Hey! You can reverse that - not trying to sell you anything, please just check out my free advice! You don’t have to live with it!!

[@goodtimesupreme]

My tinnitus started from playing in a garage band without hearing protection. I haven't had silence in years, sleep is as close as it gets. Because of the struggle, I decided to go to school to study audiology and hopefully lend a hand to others who struggle with tinnitus and hearing loss.

[@SuperCamboRambo]

How are u now

[@goodtimesupreme]

@@SuperCamboRambo Not good lol

[@SuperCamboRambo]

@@goodtimesupreme are u just dealing with tinnitus bro?

[@aaronsmith2611]

I've dealt with tinnitus for so long I don't remember what silence sounds like. But, since mine is just a constant high-pitched ringing, I've adapted to it and toned it out and most of the time don't think about it. But, I would definitely encourage all musicians ESPECIALLY young kids just starting out not to neglect your hearing. It may not seem like a big deal now, but if you develop tinnitus, you'll regret not being more responsible when you had the chance.

[@byMasip19]

I've had it since I was a kid so I thought that's the way ears work and everybody had it. I think I will go crazy If I ever met silence. Take care.

[@TenSecondSongs]

I have tinnitus in my right ear, I just had a cholesteatoma removed and my ear drum replaced, I’ve learned to tune it out by listening to different types of tinnitus therapy, my favorite is violet noise. Some days are worse than others but, I’ll tell you one thing, I take ear protection very seriously now.

[@MajidHarris]

Follow liam stops tinnitus I got it too and it’s been so better he helped a lot of people to silence it. invest just time not people and you will know better.

[@TenSecondSongs]

@kentuckyken the wreck was caused by a perforated ear drum from jumping into water. Not noise. I protect what I have left with my life.

[@stephenwalsh2634]

KentuckyKen ...Obviously you do not have severe tinnitus or you would not have made such a callous remark. Either that or you have it so bad your life and humanity has been destroyed.

[@seansweeney3532]

Whoa!!! I didn't know you could HAVE all that done! I mentioned in an earlier post, that my tinnitus is scarcely noticeable, despite being nearly exploded at a gig... the Pyro guy (the one time we ever had a Pyro guy) wired the packs wrong AND loaded them wrong with no tests, mounted in coffee cans, with a packed house of about 1500 people set off this bomb. And you may THINK it couldn't be that loud, having ten improperly loaded flash packs go at once... but when I finally was able to sing, ten minutes later, I thought both of my eardrums were ruptured... but NO, THE PACKS WERE SO LOUD, that all the JBL wedges (about ten) in the front of the stage had HYPEREXCURTED and STUCK like some horrid inside out speaker prolapse! They POOCHED out and went so far, the coil formers wedged on top of the magnets. The old sound guy came over, and I just pointed. He looked down.... "aww..." and smacked the one and it popped back... ten more smacks and we were good! And I was 21 at that time... no serious damage that I could say... but the damned soul singer I was playing with for a while was partially deaf... he needed them loud! And he himself, like a TRUMPET... And just playing next to him, he rattled my right drum till it sounds like a warbling snare drum whenever I hear 2-4k... and I want that fixed!!

[@BigDish101]

I've wondered. Can trading your ears for cochlear implants get rid of it?

[@AndyRehfeldt]

My tinnitus is extremely intense. I also lost all my high end so I wear hearing aids. And even with those, I constantly say “what” to people. For many years I played bar gigs without ear plugs. And before that, starting on drums at age 7, no ear plugs. Growing up and going to many many concerts with no ear plugs. Playing super loud showcase gigs with no earplugs. Until one night when I came home from a gig, and the ringing was much louder, almost unbearable. That’s when I finally got musician’s ear plugs with the frequency filters. But of course that was way too late. Then a few years ago I went in for hearing aids, because my wife and colleagues made me go. Now in my mixes, the high hats aren’t too loud. I could go on and on, but I’ll end here. To you young musicians, don’t be an idiot like me, just because you want to hear your guitar tone-wear earplugs!

[@mitsanut5869]

I have it, too. Have had it for last 15 years. It almost destroyed me. In my case, I had bad ear infection that was missed by doctors and then it got into the inner ear. I almost completely lost my hearing but the sound of two dentists drills was still devastatingly present and loud. After some steroid injections right into my inner ears, my hearing came back gradually but tinnitus never disappeared. It gets better and worse any given day but my brain finally learned to mostly ignore it. I'm lucky to sleep well. I've read that it destroys people's sleep as well. I also gave up on doctor's treatments, chemical or natural. I am trying best I can to stay away from processed food in any form and live and eat healthy. That's all I can do at this point. I noticed I can't listen to brutal distorted metal music for even a few seconds without the sound in my head getting instantly worse. It's just like any other chronic health condition and it's debilitating effects on body and soul

[@liamstopstinnitus4617]

Hey you can fix your tinnitus, just so you know! ❤️

[@AndyRehfeldt]

@@liamstopstinnitus4617 I’ve tried remedies, and I’m willing to try yours, but I have a very tight budget at this time😐

[@nicksteeleblack]

He has free advice. No need to spend any money. Watch all his videos on Instagram and KZbin channel.

[@wladicus1]

@@liamstopstinnitus4617 _ How Please?

[@JimNZ]

It's been 3 years now with tinnitus... no silence ever. I'm almost 42 and had a history of tons of 'walkman' music plus working several years at a print workshop (very loud machines). Thank you for speaking out about this. Doctors told me 'just have some background music'... not much support in there. I noticed when you are tired, it gets stronger. It requires constant mental power to get it under control. Right now, while typing, is super high. I really hope science can find a cure to this!!

[@BloodBoughtMinistries]

It gets better man, took me a few years to kinda get used to the noise. Mine is also very loud. Try magnesium, it may or may not help.

[@JimNZ]

@@BloodBoughtMinistries will do!

[@christopherdunn317]

Cut down sodium i went threw hell awhile back and that was the reason and sugar cut it back as well !

[@gilesl]

yes it gets much worse when tired and stressed. I feel your pain

[@stephrichards4611]

@@gilesl Try pinging wine glasses, find the right one that cancels the tone. You'll know when, after you ping it a few times, plug your ears and it should go into a fuzz. It worked for me, I credit it with sorting my tinnitus out. it was 100/10 and now it's just a quiet fuzz all the time. Hope it works for you.

[@JR-gv3nf]

Hey Rick I spent 26 yrs in the Military , I was always around jets and weapons. I retired in 2004 and I have had ringing 24 / 7 for more than 20 yrs. I compared to 9.5 decibels like you but it has never let up. If it weren't for my wife and daughter I probably wouldn't be here. It is a struggle to cope with, good luck my friend.

[@aplusatlanta1]

As an on-stage musician for about 40 years I’ve started developing tinnitus about seven years ago and it was very scary. I will have flareups. I tried a technique where you put your hands over your ears and your snap your fingers onto the back of your head repeatedly and I thought it had to be a joke but it actually has made improvements when I’m getting a big flare up. There may be a lot of reasons for this something to do with the vibration jarring the nerves or The inner ear but whatever it is it seems to Create a noticeable improvement. It didn’t work as much at first but more I did it the more I noticed an improvement. Hell when you’re having tinnitus even a placebo effect is welcome.

[@muscleshots]

An additional observation, keep the quick rhythmic finger thumping up for several seconds and stop to judge response.

[@muscleshots]

Improvement may be dramatic and complete but in my experience with my patients tinnitus often returns. I may sometimes be managed successfully by repeated administration by the sufferer, as you mention.

[@chrisd2646]

I tried that one as well, but with no noticeable effect. Hey, nothing ventured...

[@nickfidler3131]

It’s a solid exercise when a bad flare up occurs. I wonder how they figured that trick out?

[@CyclistJack56]

@@theloniuspunk383 same here also tried that trick , some times it works ( for 30 sec or so ) somethimes it doesn't

[@yorankoppes]

"You just learn to deal with it, but you never really learn to deal with it." This is so accurate.

[@colinpasfield4649]

As a kid in the early 70's I used to listen to entire albums using headphones and the volume on 10. My folks had no idea of the damage I was doing. Today my ears ring constantly 24/7. I've made it a top priority to teach my own kids to look after their ears.

[@phillipzx3754]

Mine went to 11. Sorry "Spinal Tap" fans. But it was too easy.

[@normm7764]

Me too - exactly the same.

[@billc6087]

Same here. Had good times at those incredibly loud concerts back then however! Sadly, a very high price to pay...

[@BernadetteSayre]

Check out "Liam Stops Tinnitus". He is an Australian guy who has a whole course on how to stop tinnitus for life! There are testimonials of people who have silenced their tinnitus.

[@carlosreira413]

I pray for you for your tinnitus to be healed by the power of the blood of the lamb.

[@carolkeene7744]

Rick, the most humiliating day of my life was when I agreed to go to an audiologist my husband insisted I see. I took the hearing tests and failed them. Defeated, I continued to do as I was told, so I inserted the demonstration hearing aid my husband had researched and decided would be right for me. I put in the left device and realized a minor miracle had occurred. I inserted the right ear device and closed my eyes. SILENCE. I had not heard silence in over 40 years. I took them out and the cicada noise was back. So I reinserted them to find a silent haven. I began laughing, when only a minute ago I was on the brink of tears. “It’s GONE!” I declared. “These things make it go away!” Tinnitus is the reason I couldn’t hear my husband and all the rest of the reasons I was there to begin with. BUT the Signia hearing aids, for some reason are able to diminish the sounds that have haunted me for four decades. I almost dread taking them out to go to sleep at night. But they do need to charge and get cleaned while I sleep, so I have agreed to that, but I wear them ALL the time… for the peace and quiet I’ve come to love again. My audiologist said this happens to some people, but not everyone. I’m one of the fortunate ones! Maybe you are, too! Carol Keene in Illinois

[@morainemammoth]

I have had it for years and I had to alter my career path to lessen my stress. I believe I received a quote for a pair of those hearing aides and It was about $6000. Did yours cost that much.

[@ScienceofLogicTV]

Pure Charge & Go?

[@liveandlearn11]

Carol your post really moved me. I’ve been suffering for so long. Thank you for these empowering words. I’m so happy for you!

[@idesel]

I've seen on blogs some people claiming that while wearing hearing aids the problem stoped.

[@SirDella]

what kind of hearing aids are those?

[@teleclasster]

Mine began in 2010, its gotten a little louder every couple years. At this point its scary loud, yet I still gig (with plugs). Protect your ears young musicians!

[@rsmallfield]

So did mine - from a loud gig.

[@Ted_James]

I gig with ear plugs and practice with ear plugs and shooter's ear muffs, since we're all facing each other. Sure, the sound is muffled, but it makes a difference.

[@StrikeSideway]

I started playing guitar at a young age around 1970. By the 80's I was gigging, working in a recording studio and doing live sound for various bands. After a way-too-loud NYE gig of 1987 in Austin I was jarred awake at 3AM about a week later with very loud tinnitus. A subsequent hearing test revealed a bilateral loss of about 50db in the 4k-6k range. Several weeks later hyperacusis set in (severe sensitivity to any sound whatsoever). I remember being in a quiet library and just the sound of turning the pages of a book caused physical nerve pain. Took about 18 months for the hyperacusis to settle down but the tinnitus remains to this day. Not ever using hearing protection really cost me. It knocked me out of the music biz... I couldn't go on anymore and it was the end of my life as I knew it. Imagine building your entire life around music then having to give it all up... depression anyone? Today it's fairly loud but I have habituated and am able to almost completely ignore this 24/7 assault of my brain's audio processing center. Attempts over the years to re-ignite playing in a band again with industrial strength hearing protection just exacerbated the tinnitus seemingly tenfold and it would take about a year to get back to bearable levels after just putting the guitar down and walking away. It becomes a brain thing where it's no longer the loudness that makes it worse (although that must be avoided at all costs), but with noise induced hearing loss, just lighting those areas of the brain up again seems to kick it into overdrive... playing, performing and the emotional high it produces. It's like an op-amp turning up the gain in an attempt to ferret out nuance and compensate for a shitty signal to noise ratio. I have learned the hard way that it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie. I would recommend anyone with tinnitus from noise induced hearing loss to invest in properly tuned hearing aids with tinnitus masking capabilities (a.k.a white noise generation). Although I don't need hearing aids as I still have very functional hearing, they do an amazing job of calming down a jump in intensity after wearing them for a week or two. Also get some custom fit 'Musicians Ear Plugs from an audiologist if you perform or go to concerts. They have 9db, 15db and 25db attenuators. I wish they had them back in my day. This whole thing could have likely been avoided and I would have become famous. Probably dead from an overdose by the late 90s however. Just looking at the bright side here. Tinnitus doesn't ever go away once you get it and it can really change in intensity at times. When it gets louder, your brain latches on to it and won't let go making things even worse and it can take months or years to habituate to a louder baseline. Having hearing aids with a tinnitus masker really seems to solve this problem. It's a great comfort to know they are there if needed and can bring the ringing back down to tolerable levels in a matter of days/weeks vs. months/years. Just talking about it makes it seem much louder. Time to go think about something else.

[@donaldrowe8460]

This, "Just talking about it makes it seem much louder. Time to go think about something else."

[@johnreis1464]

I have had hyperacusis flare-ups myself so I know exactly what that feels like. It's like having bionic hearing in a bad way. Just dining out one day in an octagon shaped little restaurant doubling as an amplified echo chamber caused about two week of discomfort from a flare-up and several days of hearing "distorted" bass when listening to music. That was a first for me.

[@deadlotCamper]

nothing worse than going to a bar restaurant and the staff tosses plates and bottles as if they were deaf...cant tell you how many times im in a good place with my ears and a barback clanks bottles in the trash as hard as he can making my entire nervous system to spike and kicking off a tinnitus wave of a few weeks. tried wearing earplugs when i go out but thats ridiculous. luckily it usually calms down

[@em7dim9]

I don't hear from many other people with hyperacusis. Makes it tough to go anywhere. And when it triggers, of course it makes the tinnitus louder.

[@unbreakablealex2732]

@@em7dim9 I also have hyper akusis and barking dogs, screaming children, driving the metro, loud claps, basically everything above 75db stresses me out and makes my hiss tinnitus worse so I don't go out very often and if I do, then with NC Headphones oder earplugs. Sucks big time. But on the other hand, I have a lot of free time for learning about politics and hobbies, like music making (on a lower volume). lol, if I ever get to be a noticed musician, I could never go on tours :D maybe I should wear a mask before spreading my music to the public, so I can send out other people with my mask to tour :D

[@NathanWind99]

I've had it since I was a kid, no causal incident that I can remember. Had my hearing tested recently, it's perfect but everything is filtered through the high pitched tone. The real tragedy is the lack of treatment and care, or sympathy from others including many doctors who just assume it's untreatable and you have to live with it.

[@ganondorf66]

Is it treatable though?

[@JohnKuhles1966]

Anyone using Mobile (Smart)Phone and/or WiFi and/or BlueTooth too long and too close to your body/head ... CAN CAUSE among others Tinnitus ... Erratic Pulsed Microwaves (High & Low) = CUMULATIVE HARMFUL ... if you live close to 4G and or (new) 5G Cell Tower(s) you have to test yourself living away from any Cell Tower nearby for at least a month and see if it stops or not.

[@ganondorf66]

@@JohnKuhles1966 Nah i got mine from loud music and I'm pretty sure that's the cause of most tinnitus. That's also not how radiation works though.

[@JohnKuhles1966]

@@ganondorf66 cumulative EMF effects are known

[@jfo3000]

I've had it since childhood as well. They tell me it came from many ear infections, due to malfunctioning eustacian tunes. It's gotten worse with age.

[@dorothymartino3221]

I've had tinnitus for a decade now and it originated with a cold virus/sinus infection - thank you for bringing up this topic

[@IanVase]

Same. Except mine started around Feb/March. Along with this weird swimmy head feeling and anxiety. Been pretty debilitating.

[@maestrodmc]

I’ll be 53 this year and I feel so blessed to have avoided this. I’ve always thought of my ears as “I only get the one set, better make ‘em last!” Sometimes it can be embarrassing to plug your ears or stop working to put in ear plugs when you’re younger and others are being “tough guys“ about it. Or going to a concert and just getting right in front of the speakers to show you can take it. I’ve always taken care of my ears through many years of playing in bands, etc. To any younger people reading this, it really pays off to take care of your ears. You will never regret doing it, but you may regret not doing it.

[@mountainousterrain1704]

You are totally right of course. Protection is key but there is more to it. I have always protected my ears... but still developed Tinnitus at 45...

[@kingelvis5502]

Nerd...jk:)

[@jprkzoo3463]

People use to chuckle at me, for jamming cigarette butts in my ears on many occasions at concerts when I was younger. It worked.

[@StratMatt777]

@@mountainousterrain1704 This may not apply to you at all, but there is a known link between the nerve that goes through the neck vertebrae C4 in the neck and tinnitus. A physical therapist told me this in 2015 when I told her that my tinnitus increased after I did the neck exercises she gave me (which did fix my mild whiplash). They don't know (as of 2015) what the connection is, but there is one. So... if you ever had a neck injury...?

[@mountainousterrain1704]

@@StratMatt777 I have never had a neck injury, but you are right, there are so many nerve / muscular connections. This field definitely needs more research.

[@markanderson3870]

Its always there for me, sometimes louder than other days, but I've gone for at least a month without ever thinking about it. Its just there, and if I think about it, I can hear it, but on "quiet" days I can just tune it out without thinking and be aware of other things going on. I think that's key, accepting it, and living with it, and if you're lucky you can forget about it. Sometimes anyway.

[@ivanblakely903]

+1 exactly what I would have written. Have lived with it for 30+ years, but would still love a cure to be developed.

[@carlosreira413]

I pray for you for your tinnitus to be healed. "Pray one for another that you may be healed," the Bible says.

[@ThatKa5p3r]

Well said. Stressing about it actually ups the level so if you can, just try to carry on normally & realize it's just going to be there.

[@lanzdona]

Yes, that is it exactly!

[@patricioac123]

I had a similar situation and stumbled upon a weird cure, after 3 doctors told me there was no solution: The fourth doctor (a neuro-audiologist) figured out that I was pinching my trigeminal nerve due to stress, combined with the fact that I have a slightly asymmetrical jaw (if you close your jaw a bit too tight, you might hear a taste of what I was hearing constantly). So my problem is mostly fixed now because I wear a soft mouth guard during night and day. Amazing that my orthodontist had to construct the cure for an ear problem. Most of the ringing is gone, but it does ebb and flow if I forget to wear the mouth guard, and I have very slight tinnitus when it's quiet in both ears. That part I've made my peace with. Hope this comment helps anyone out there with a similar cause to this horrible problem!

[@cullenak4723]

Wow that’s incredible, I’m biting down hard and can here a ringing. That’s one good doctor

[@michmash7888]

Yeah, I notice that the ringing is worse when my TMJ is acting up….but sometimes it’s loud when my jaw feels fine. Glad you found some relief!

[@MrTwangstaable]

Damn, biting down does generate a tone!

[@cymrogygo1759]

See my comment above - looks like the same reason as I know of

[@grejen711]

@@MrTwangstaable That's a rushing noise. Much lower tone than my tinnitus. Seems to be a normal thing for a percentage of people.

[@lynnjacobs9885]

Rick, you're really lucky to have days of silence. I've had loud cicadas 24 hours a day, every day, for maybe 30 years. I'm not a musician, but experienced a lot of loud rock music in the 60s and 70s, especially. You generally come to ignore it, but it does limit your hearing.

[@Void-Realm]

Have you looked into tinnitus retraining therapy? If you have, how was it? I think it's something you have to do for a while. I'm trying to get my dad to try it. I get intermittent tinnitus, too. I worry it'll get bad as I age.

[@mistersooty]

This is what I was going to say, what I would give for one day of silence!

[@therealdonnawagner]

I've been a musician since I was a kid, was always very careful about volume levels (something my parents made a rule in the house), protected my ears at concerts and stuff, and I got tinnitus about 4 or 5 years ago. My husband blares his music so loud we can hear it in the opposite side of the house even when his office door is closed, likes to sit right near speakers at concerts, doesn't have tinnitus. Sometimes, the things ordained for us just aren't fair. If you ever do find a treatment that works, I'd love to hear about it. I hope you continue to have more silent days!

[@navneet9630]

Taking korean ginsengs worked for me, even if it didn’t completely get rid of it. It actually lowered the intensity of the ringing down to a great extent that i would have to plug my ears real tight in an isolated room to hear it

[@vekebg]

Do you have a stiff neck? Or headaches maybe?

[@astuartkaplan1854]

Is this Len Nigro's significant other? If yes, Regards from Rebecca.

[@zangin]

How old is your husband? My days of tinnitus began about age 54, and I attribute it to attending very loud concerts in my 20’s and 30’s. It’s annoying for sure.

[@shells500tutubo]

Your husband may have tinnitus and subconsciously has the music so loud for two reasons- he has hearing loss and he is trying to drown out the tinnitus.

[@AndreaBoccarusso]

It's one of my worst fears. I always wear ear plugs, I bought even the expensive ones. I hope genetics won't betray me, and I hope someday there will be a solution for this problem. I wish you the best

[@douweodh4146]

Hey man, if you do get it (which I hope not) don’t worry: people habituate to it. Cheers

[@SolamenteVicio]

There are various types of tinnitus • Objetive (your bones resonate a certain freq), subjetive ("in your head") • It can cause for loud volume, low volume (less common) • Sometimes is psicological (stress, depression), for drugs (alcohol, cigarettes, etc), nocebo (self suggestion) and even covid

[@playguitarguy]

Keep wearing your hearing protection!

[@jiveturkey9993]

Just keep wearing your hearing protection like you're doing and you'll be fine.

[@lordcrispen]

I've had it for over 20 years. There was one day about five years ago that I absolutely broke down and cried harder than I've cried for anything I can remember. I just wanted to remember what "nothing" sounded like. After that break down, I think I reached a calm understanding that it was never going to change and although I'd rather NOT have tinnitus, it doesn't wear on my mental state anymore. I think I pin it down to a Slipknot concert back in like 1999 at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach. Opening acts were fine but when they started their set, my ears just rang and rang and rang and I was too young and stupid to remove myself from the situation. PLEASE take care of your ears. Permanent damage is permanent.

[@aussie8114]

Stay strong. You’re not alone in dealing with it 24/7.

[@marcustmachado]

Me too. I did the same thing in a 1994 Bruce Dickinson solo show. My left ear was buzzing and screaming like an old radio and i stood there like an idiot. When you are young you make stupid things. I cant stand loud sounds anymore in my left ears, it hurts.

[@spiritlevelstudios]

Yeh '99 Slipknot would do it. I recovered after seeing them but I had ringing for a solid 2 weeks afterwards. That was the loudest show ever and I was only 15 at the time. I have custom made musician's earplugs now and always take them to live music or even the cinema when Nolan is the director, lol.

[@thepagecollective]

I've had it for 30 years. Never had a silent day. Ever. I accepted it and moved on.

[@thepagecollective]

@@marcustmachado High pitched sounds, screaming children, screeching women. Unbearable. Certain male voices like James Gandalfini's voice. It's like a hack saw. Dialogue is hard to ear, soundtracks and explosions are painful. Volume up, volume down, volume up. If three people are talking at once, all I can hear is noise. I carry ear plugs at all times. I wear headphones in public and play no music. Certain languages are spoken loudly and painfully.

[@nananina982]

I have tinnitus in both ears. it started in only the right. went to an ENT doctor. He just looked into my ears and told me I have wax buildup and he performed a wax removal procedure with a water pump. It was paniful as he did it and the very second he was finished I noticed loud ringing in both ears. It has lasted so far for a whole year. It did improve a little bit after a while but its still there. Somedays its worse than others. Honeslty the only thing keeping me going is my faith in Jesus Christ. And in a weird way this condition is a blessing because it does remind me that this life is short and I should think about the next life and try my best to get into Heaven since there life is perfect forever.

[@EricTorreborre]

Solidarity to everyone with tinnitus. I learned to live with it but stress and lack of sleep make it a double penalty: you're stressed and tired AND the tinnitus gets even louder.

[@sammyrothrock6981]

Absolutely truth !

[@lancecalanog3990]

I'm only 20, and I've always remembered having this sort of ringing in my ears ever since I was a child. It was only around 2 years ago when I was around 18 is when I actually got diagnosed with Tinnitus and minor hearing loss. All these years when I find myself lying in bed not being able to sleep, I always doubted myself if I were going crazy. I did not know at all that Tinnitus was normal. I literally thought it was the "sound of silence." I couldn't bear it and I had so many days where the ringing was absolutely killing me. Doubted myself and everything. Now, I think I've learned to live with it. It doesn't really bother me as much as it did before. It rarely leaves and if it does, it only does for a short while. I really long for days of silence, and I hope to all who have Tinnitus right now, I'm with ya. Peace.

[@carlosreira413]

Prayers for you and all who are suffering here for relief from this condition according to the mercy and sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all mankind, sinners all.

[@hollisearl]

I feel for you. You thought it was normal because you had it at such a young age and also because no one really talks about it - I wonder why that is!? There should be more publicity about it because it affects a lot of people and can affect them to the point of desperation.

[@aussie8114]

We all need to stay strong and endure it.

[@stephenverderber112]

I’ve had tinnitus for over 20 years. For me it was being in large data centers for years where the background noise is over 90 db constantly, so it’s not only musicians who suffer with this. Mine never goes away, I’m in my late 60’s and I am a musician and amateur audio engineer. I have had hearing aids for the last 15 or so years which help, because the good aids are programmable where a hearing test can determine the frequencies that you are having trouble with, and they can use EQ and program the aids to compensate. I’ve tried all the home remedies under the Sun, and nothing has worked. You get used to it, and you work around it, the hearing aids help a lot, but don’t go cheap on the aids as the cheap ones are crap! All I can say to everyone, take care of your hearing, and mitigate any very loud, very sudden noises and prolonged moderately loud noises!

[@shanepurcell8116]

+1 for the hearing aids. Went through the same thing with the VA. It has noticeably reduced the overall volume, even though it hasn't removed it completely.

[@stephrichards4611]

Try pinging wine glasses, find the right one that cancels the tone. You'll know when, after you ping it a few times, plug your ears and it should go into a fuzz. It worked for me, I credit it with sorting my tinnitus out. it was 100/10 and now it's just a quiet fuzz all the time. Hope it works for you. Happy to answer any questions.

[@frankbraker]

I can't imagine not having it. At least it's not severe for me - it's not nearly as loud as described in this video - but still it's always there and never stops. I got it from playing loud headphone music in high-school and it's never gone away.

[@spammy1982]

Same. I don't even really hear it unless I'm concentrating on it. I've heard it for soooo long I don't even think about it.

[@eugenetswong]

For me, I can forget that I have it, but it did wake me up 1 or more times.

[@captainpike8908]

Same here It's been so long (30+ yrs) that most of the time I don't notice it. Between Garage bands, drum corps and headphones take you pick of the cause. Hang in there Rick. You'll make it

[@seek__truth919]

​@@captainpike8908wait does that mean that people who have this dont go deaf??

[@salahhaizoune8549]

​@@seek__truth919no u wont

[@brianhansen1817]

As a blind musician, I’ve been dealing with this for over 20 years. It got to the point that it was masking the natural gas flow in our gas fireplace, and I couldn’t tell the difference between the gas flow and the ringing in my ears. Now anytime I’m playing on the platform at church, I have earplugs in. We still do it old-school, therefore the amps are loud and miked. My earplugs bring things down about 32 DB or so. I found it changes in blood pressure, barometric pressure, and other environmental things can raise or lower the decibel level of the ringing. Mine fluctuates throughout the day.

[@scotthillman5084]

I am legally blind as well, and losing the sense of hearing is scary and potentially dangerous

[@stephrichards4611]

Try pinging wine glasses, find the right one that cancels the tone. You'll know when, after you ping it a few times, plug your ears and it should go into a fuzz. It worked for me, I credit it with sorting my tinnitus out. it was 100/10 and now it's just a quiet fuzz all the time. Hope it works for you. Happy to answer any questions.

[@Meneervdberg]

How did you typed all this?

[@lurkersmith810]

Periods of silence: What's THAT like? I've had tinnitis as long as I can remember (probably since I was a kid), but it seems to have gotten louder the last few years. I remember walking into an anechoic chamber once, and to me it was deafening tinnitus. Same when, once wandering a movie studio and walking into an empty soundstage. I"m glad I'm not a musician. You don't notice tinnitus much in a data center full of roaring servers.

[@georgcantor8859]

Same here. For the last fifty years since the age of 10. Some days I don't notice, some days it's unbearable.

[@randycox3522]

It's my earliest memory, 24/7 since childhood with a variant for the last few years of crackling on top of the ringing. Then just last night a new one on top of those like popping tuned wooden xylophone blocks! Joy unbounded.

[@shanecabbage2187]

Those roaring servers are likely the cause of your worsening tinnitus. Mine is from working in surgery, so much noisy equipment in those rooms.

[@angryhobo212]

I heard of a trick that is pretty effective for giving you a few seconds of silence, which is kind of bittersweet but it's interesting to experience. Here's what you do: reach your hands back so that your palms are over your ears and your fingers are behind your head. Press your palms gently against your ears and keep them in place, and then use your fingers to tap the back of your head (like you're finger-drumming on a table). After about 10 or 20 seconds, when your take your hands away the ringing should be gone for a moment. Sometimes it works better than other times, but often it sounds like complete silence to me. But unfortunately the ringing comes back pretty quickly, after about 5 or 10 seconds in my experience.

[@raulfabbroni6252]

@@angryhobo212 WOW!!! I get the first 3 seconds of silence of mi life... Thank you!!

[@gnattydreadz]

Hi Rick. I’m in school to become a doctor of Audiology and have a very thorough understanding of tinnitus’ causes and treatments. The most common cause of tinnitus is that it is actually a secondary side effect of having a hearing loss (it can also be cause by many other conditions, Ménière’s disease, cancer therapy drugs). When hair cells in the inner ear are damaged by a high SPL the neurons sending signals to the brain don’t know when to shut off because of a chemical imbalance those hair cells control. The best treatment option, as bad as it sounds, is a hearing aid to boost the signal above your hearing loss, this stimulates the auditory nerve to levels that were previously achieved before your hearing was damaged and if you have a good audiologist it will prevent your hearing from being damaged any further (of course you still wear hearing protection in the presence of any loud sounds.) I’d be happy to talk more with anyone interested in the subject.

[@AdrianBlakey]

Post a youtube vid?

[@denmar355]

There are two camps on tinnitus. I’ve had it bad for many years. Whether it’s the ear or the brain it doesn’t change the outcome. Several centers in the brain that get signals from the auditory nerves are always getting slammed with these signals. It affects all those areas of the brain. The Rome study is still the best comprehensive information there is. Cognitive behavior therapy and sound therapy(masking) have not made any change for me. Cochlear implants and therapy stimulating the dorsal cochlear nucleus are showing promise, but are hit and miss in different people. The scary part is that depression and suicide are much higher in people with debilitating tinnitus. I hope medical science can find a way to alleviate it. But most importantly is take care of your hearing while you can!

[@gnattydreadz]

@@denmar355 yes Dennis you seem to have a well rounded understanding of all the mechanisms in place, tinnitus really is a bear for that reason as the cause/dysfunction could be anywhere along the auditory pathway. In extreme cases, people have actually had their auditory nerves severed and the tinnitus is still there and being generated by structures in the brain stem or temporal lobe. Like Rick said in his video, MRI is the easiest way of visualizing any abnormality but I would also be interested to see how his results on electrophysiology measures (ABR, P300 response) that track every landmark along the auditory pathway. It is time consuming process and not many audiologist who specialize in tinnitus as like you said, it can get beyond treatment of just the ears. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a toss up, no one want to be told ‘just ignore your tinnitus or associate it with something positive’. I hope to dive deeper into the research of actual medically based therapies as I continue in the field. Man has created some pretty incredible solutions to our problems, I’m sure we’ll be able to crack tinnitus.

[@deanmasini9768]

Where are you located or where do/will you practice as an audiologist? It seems like the hearing aid treatment you mention should be simple enough to be worth a try for almost anyone. I'd love to try it but wouldn't know for sure where to start. I live in Illinois in the USA.

[@gnattydreadz]

@@deanmasini9768 hi dean! I’m two years away from getting my doctorate. Not really sure where I’ll end up yet whether I will work as a clinician or in the industry. Check out Sensaphonics in Chicago they are one of the biggest musician audiology clinics in your part of the country and a great place to start. Dr. Sanctucci there has a long standing reputation in the industry

[@TomBailey]

I just discovered this video. I've had tinnitus since I was in 3rd grade (I'm 52). I remember when my elementary/grammar school did hearing tests for all the students, and I was put in a room with a set of earphones where I had to indicate when I heard tones. I started to indicate that I was hearing tones, but the person giving the test told me we hadn't started yet. So.....after growing up some, I decided to do the best thing for my ears and become a rock guitarist in a band. I absolutely cannot sleep unless I have a white noise generator of some type (usually a box fan, or an app on my phone). Other than that, I wouldn't say I am doing any suffering. I've had the condition for so long that I think total silence would be more bothersome than actually having tinnitus - but hey, I'd be willing to give it a go!

[@simondaniels4176]

I’m sure I’m not the only Tinnitus sufferer whose eyes lit-up when you said yours goes away and you have periods of silence. I think I’d cry with joy if that ever happened to me.

[@megster67]

Omg same. Just one silent day.

[@AlDunbar]

Same hear (sic)! I can't remember when I got tinnitus, but I think in the seventies. Luckily I don't get loud sounds, just a constant noise that varies from metallic to whooshes to birds chirping - that's my favorite, actually, and the most common. In fact I just went for a hearing test where they play tones at different pitches and volumes. Most were so similar to my birdy tinnitus that I missed a few beeps, and registered beeps where there were none. I guess that, on average, I was right on. I'll be getting my first hearing aids soon, so hoping that might help a bit. Fortunately it doesn't get in the way of hearing or playing music, and I have just somehow learned to ignore it. But it's enough that I know it must be he'll for some of us.

[@mikecorey8370]

I'm with you on that. It never stops. Haven't heard silence in many years.

[@jedimindfrak82]

Same. Mine's been CONSTANT for twenty years.

[@nicholasmercorella5318]

4 1/2 years on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier and 30 years of working in a factory have left me with some serious tinnitus. I find that it increases and decreases with allergy season. The benedryl i take for sinus headaches seems to make it go away for a while. Seems to fluctuate with air pressure, sinus pressure, etc.I get days of silence but it eventually comes back.

[@billwalker6946]

Rick, I'm glad to hear someone talk about this. I've had it for about 40 years. It is bad enough that I have thought that being completely deaf would be better than the noise that is in my head. I wear hearing aids that put white noise into my ears and make my life more bearable. Last year at my appointment with my audiologist, she could mimic the noise that I hear all of the time with the sound booth, she had my wife sit in the room for about 2 minutes listening to what I hear, she came out in tears. "I had no idea what it is that you are experiencing" was her comment. She still gets frustrated with my inability to hear, but there is a little more grace now.

[@mitsanut5869]

People do not understand the pain it can cause those who have it. I was so devastated by it that I cried several times a day in excruciating, undescribable pain that it inflicted on me. Mine was very, very loud for months. The only thing that let me survive this was the fact that I could sleep. In my sleep it disappears. But I lost so much weight in that period that I was a living skeleton, and my entire body really went through major shock before I finally learned somehow to cope with it. But it almost destroyed my will to continue living. I have to remind my wife quite often that it does bother me occasionally to such level that I get dramatic mood swing and usually I get angry for seemingly no obvious reasons. I know now to stay away from people when it starts going loud. Ever since I've had it, I've never went to see any live show anymore. I still play music, and my hearing is relatively good (all things considered), and I try not to go too loud with stuff. Tinnitus is not something that can be dealt with easy. There's no universal effective approach. It's often a very painful journey of everyday pain that is impossible for others to comprehend.

[@KT-dj4iy]

@@mitsanut5869 most comments in KZbin are a waste of space, but every so often you come across pieces of pure gold, like this one.

[@Willie_McBride]

@@TruthIsAsOldAsGod Well the problem with wishing that you were completely deaf wouldn’t solve the issue of tinnitus. Deaf people have tinnitus too. Remember it’s not actually an ‘external noise’, it’s in your head. At least that’s how I’ve always believed it to be. If I put those little foam earplugs in, my tinnitus actually gets worse. Because there’s no external sound to dampen it.

[@Willie_McBride]

I also have hearing aids that offer me the opportunity to play a few different sounds to help manage the tinnitus. I cannot handle the ‘bright noise’, it’s much too sharp & is extremely harsh. There’s an Ocean sound, Dark Noise, Stream ( makes me feel like I need to pee all Day, so that’s out) and a few others. I usually go with Ocean or ‘balanced’ the Dark noise, which I actually like, is so low that the tinnitus cuts right through it. The balanced sound is just that, enough low tone that it’s pleasant, & actually calming, but a little mix of high pitch to combat the tinnitus. There’s no panacea, but it’s what I’ve got for now.

[@relativetimeworx8459]

I feel your pain friend... 10,000 crickets in my head 24/7. My hearing delcines as early as 1K and drops off more severely as it goes up. Still recording and trying to mix the best I can. Definitely sucks. TV without closed captions is an anomaly.

[@nunnayabiz7911]

I am researching this because I have my own milder form of tinnitus for years. It's merely an annoyance, not a hindrance to hearing music. But it does interfere with the ability to hear complete silence. I never get complete silence, and I miss it. Here's one thing I found from a site that I trust: "Tinnitus In the United States, an estimated 17 million people have or have had tinnitus to one degree or another. Tinnitus is not a disease. It is a symptom of nerve damage and certain blood vessel disorders. It creates the perception of ringing, hissing, or other sound in the ears or head when no external sound is present. In 1986, Christopher Hobbs proved the effectiveness of Ginkgo as a tinnitus treatment. Ringing disappeared in thirty-five percent of the patients tested, with a distinct improvement in seventy days. When 350 other patients with hearing loss and tinnitus due advance in age were treated with ginkgo extract, the success rate for improved hearing and tinnitus was eighty-two percent.[9] Many patients taking Ginkgo for tinnitus, claim that it is inexpensive compared to other available treatments and that there are few side effects." Article: GINKGO BILOBA, at Herbal Legacy

[@KevinHallSurfing]

Haha did the test too. 10,000 to 11,000. Found it worse when I first get up in the morning. I need Closed Captions especially women's voices. Just can make out what they are saying? 🙁

[@5309backbeat]

High voltage wire buzzing in my left ear

[@godbyone]

Try vinpocetine. Over counter cheap. Helps a lot

[@5309backbeat]

@@godbyone Banned in Canada

[@Krstorm402]

I've had tinnitus since I can remember and I didn't know it was not normal until I turned 18. I have literally never experienced silence in my life. It used to be easily overpowered by sound but now I can hear it all the time even as I watch this wearing headphones I can hear it.

[@Bluesplayer789]

G'day Rick, I'm an audiologist, I got tinnitus after playing and watching shows 20-25 years ago. It got me into audiology. I use a neurophysiological model to explain and treat tinnitus in the auditory pathway with patients. I don't know if there'll ever be an injection or pill to cure it as it is probably random cochlea hair cell movement getting through to the auditory cortex instead of being filtered out by the brainstem (this "glitch" is triggered by noise events or hearing loss, temporary or permanent). The best tool in my toolkit for patients is counselling (information) and a close second is hearing aids (if there's any hearing loss however mild). The increase input from hearing aids helps in my mind to lower the above mentioned reflex to hopefully reduce tinnitus perception.

[@VanMoon]

Yep that’s what worked for me also. It’s actually not a problem to deal with hearing aids because I’m so excited to be able to hear more-or-less normally again, it’s almost one of the first things I do when I get up in the morning.

[@TheSouthernStocking]

Hmmmm so if there are this many Americans with tinnitus, then why do you suppose it's happening more often now. Access to powerful audio equipment and misuse of said equipment? I think it's possible that could be playing a decently large part in the amount of cases. But! What if it's constant stimulation causing it to crop up in so many people. I don't know about other people, But i very nearly constantly have a machine screaming in my ear. Let me explain what I mean. I live in Texas, It's hot, and I have a window unit style air conditioner(and have had one my whole life basically. In my room as a kid and in my own house now). This thing is loud and is going constantly. (keep in mind I also sleep with a fan directly in my face and have my whole life nearly) Not loud enough for hearing damage of course, but my point isn't that loud noise causes hearing damage but that constantly having a drone stimulating your ear might be causing hearing damage over time leading to tinnitus. However! There is a large possibility that I'm entirely off base because these are all just guess based on what little knowledge I have. Feel free to rip it apart.

[@VanMoon]

@@TheSouthernStocking I think you describe the problem over here pretty well. America is a very noisy country in the big cities and most Americans don't sleep enough. Plus we tend to have Non-Stop individual stimulation as well between music and video games and movies and television and we spend so much time in our cars with music going etc, we never give ourselves a chance to stop and think and our ears and eyes a chance to relax. Sleep is when our body repairs itself and and it's a chance to lessen all the external stimulation visually and in audio .

[@johnabbottphotography]

I completely understand what you're saying about there not being a cure (or never will be). However, I'm optimistic for one reason. EnChroma glasses. Stick with me, this is relevant. EnChroma glasses were invented to help people with some types of color blindness. I'm a photographer, so when I first heard about them, I was extremely doubtful. Glasses can filter out color, but they can't add colors that aren't there. That was my reasoning as someone who genuinely understands light. But I wasn't aware of how color blindness works. The cones in our eyes are tuned to red, green, and blue. Those photoreceptors have very little overlap on the light spectrum. But in some cases, people have cones that overlap too much with the other cones, most likely red and green. The overlap confuses the brain with color information, and the brain interprets a lot of colors as shades of brown. The unique thing about color blindness glasses is that they filter out the overlap, and stop the brain's confusion with what is, essentially, a notch filter. That means that (in theory) those people cannot see that one color notch very well, but most things in the world are actually multiple shades of colors. Since you're an audiotech, you probably understand the concept of notch filters pretty well. :) Now I completely grasp that there is a difference between a sound generated inside of the ear, and interference created outside of the ear. But since we've already figured out how to stimulate nerve endings inside of the ear to create sound... wouldn't it be possible to find the signals generated at the nerve endings in "silence", and then filter them out by creating inverse signals in that notch? Yes, it would mean that the people affected would not hear sounds in that tiny notch that was created. But isn't that better than not being able to hear most anything? Just a thought looking towards the future.

[@TheSouthernStocking]

@@johnabbottphotography That's some nice insight there. Though to be fair to the original commenter they never said you wouldn't be able to solve the problem only that it probably wouldn't be solved by drugs because of what the issue is caused by.

[@photoshopcafe]

I have has it for 6 months, but never had a day of silence. I just learn to tune it out, but its always there and worse at certain places like my desk. I'd love some silence. I started talking to my friends about it and most of them have it too. We are all musicians

[@calebdenney6061]

Usually when I get it as soon as I start really listening to it, it goes away:)

[@juliem6696]

@@calebdenney6061 You're lucky. For many people, myself included, really paying attention to it brings it on full volume.

[@thomasnowicki5844]

You're a lucky man, Rick. You have periods of silence. I still remember the exact moment my tinnitus started, about twenty years ago. I believe it may have been due to medication and well as loud music when I was young. I discussed it with my doctor, he said there's not a lot medically that can be done, at least not right now. What I wouldn't give for just five minutes of normal hearing.

[@yokisullivan8647]

Mine is a high pitch noise and it never goes away i think, but like mostly I don't hear it because I just don't think of it. Yours is much different from mine, I suppose?

[@meinhendl]

thank you for talking about . i got tinnitus , i think about 15 years ago . i can stand it ,it is always with me but i suppose not so strong , as many others . a kind of hissing . doctor could not help me at all. a fried gave me advice to trynot to listen and not to concentrate on it. after some time i became able to fade it out somehow till today. i am 72 now. if i am nervous or upset i think it becomes stronger. anyway, it is my friend always with me , but i am able to forget him and give him no meaning . but i shall never forget the first fourteen days , i thought i would become crazy. all the best wishes for all who are suffering from that evil.

[@tekkwolfe]

Constant low volume high pitched tone in both ears every day for the last 20-odd years. Not from loud music though. Spent 12 years in the military. Gunfire, explosions, loud engines, all the usual suspects. Used hearing protection religiously but it still happened. I don't even remember what silence sounds like any more. Sorry to hear you're dealing with this as well.

[@drregmonster4371]

Read a recent WSJ article about a company being sued because the hearing protection provided to military members didn’t help.

[@ofdrumsandchords]

@@drregmonster4371 I met an instructor. He wore intra-ear protection + noise canceling headphones used on tarmac to guide the planes, he has tinnitus, and severe loss of hearing. You can't win against a firearm.

[@skydancer506]

That's where I got mine from. January 25, 2004 at 10:30 p.m. Local in Iraq. Rocket attack. It's been 18.5 years and counting.

[@Bad.Rabbit]

Same. 10 years of shooting 50 cals from helicopters. I'll never forget the first time I really noticed the tinnitus...I thought I could hear the electricity in the ceiling or something. 20 years later it's still there. Some days are louder than others.

[@ericfletcher8454]

Rick, I've had the demon since I was 5 years old when I suffered an ear infection. Mine is 2300K Bi-lateral and if you asked me to point at it, it's internal On the level of my right earlobe but 3 inches into my brain. I have never known silence after that ear infection. My Ringing (It's a pure tone) is always above the noise floor of the environment that I'm in so it can become especially maddening. What's crazy is at 57 years old I can still crush an auditory test and can still hear high frequencies I am game for ANY study that can fix or reduce this.

[@flightnavigator8999]

Same here.

[@Addem12]

Books with deep research: The Invisible Rainbow (Arthur Firstenberg) Geoengineered Transhumanism (Elana Freeland)

[@ericfletcher8454]

@@Addem12 lol. Your Tinfoil hat is on a bit tight. My tinnitus has been ringing since 1969 so no I am not hear radio signals. Take your conspiracy crap somewhere else

[@benpolgardy9062]

I've also had the ringing in my ears for as long as I can remember. I actually thought that it was completely normal and everyone had it. Funny thing is that apart from the ringing I have extremely good hearing. Still, it would be awesome to know what real silence is like. 🤫

[@Addem12]

@@ericfletcher8454 OK Eric, I will take my conspiracy crap somewhere else

[@Skaggins]

I've had tinnitus all of my life. As a child I remember "listening" to it after I went to bed and all was quiet. I thought all people heard that way. Thankfully for me it's a high pitched ringing with different tones in each ear and the tones aren't dissonant (which could drive a musician crazy). Now that I'm in my 50s, I've added hearing loss to the problem (industry related). Then add to that masks during covid and I was completely out of the conversation in a crowded public place. I bit the bullet and went to a hearing specialist and bought hearing aides. When I put them in it was like the room "opened up" to me. What a releief. If anyone is suffering from tinnitus, I'd reccomend a hearing test. it may be that hearing aides could help. They don't take away the tinnitus, but they help you with the real sounds that are happening around you.

[@paulwilson6357]

Yes! Same here! I've always had it too and assumed it was just the sound of your body working back when I was a kid. I think they do make noise cancelling earplugs which produce the same pitch as the tinnitus out of phase which removes the sound. They use similar techniques in MRI machine headphones.

[@sandrawallace3684]

Ditto I have been hearing 'cicadas' (tinnitus) since somewhere early in childhood. I never realized this wasn't normal and cicadas have nice association with warm summer afternoons near the beach so they were quite comforting in a way as a child. I felt quite foolish after the 'Aha!' moment when I realized that other people don't hear this way. I am glad that I am not the only one with this experience. Thank you Eric for sharing.

[@clithulhu4017]

@@paulwilson6357 Same here! For me it's a quiet but present tone at 18.5K. Thankfully it's not that loud and a very high frequency

[@joaquinalexander9]

I can hear it at night also...and I've gotten used to it; it's tolerable. When ambient + outside noise is louder, it seems to blend in and I can't hear it. This started about 11 years ago. Fortunately, it's been the same- same volume etc. With so many other things beginning to fall apart in my late 40s, I'm hoping this stays that way.

[@danielensz8892]

This is me

[@4dbarber]

30+ years here. Thank you for bringing this up Rick. I, too, dream of silence instead of tolerance. I've found that alcohol exacerbates mine as well. Hoping for some medical progress on this front!

[@Aitherios1]

Having spent most of my teen years around musicians who all suffered from tinnitus, I wore protection to every practice & performance. I avoided areas of loud noise (workshops, vacuum cleaners etc.) . Then one day, 20+ years into the industry, working in the silence that is 4am, I yawned and stretched. Bang. Tinnitus. So much for being careful. Depressed me for a while, but now I make my own ambient recordings, centered mostly around synth strings and it tends to tame the beast on bad days. Would give almost anything for a day of silence :)

[@popculturevictim7789]

I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. Mine is a constant low volume, high-pitched ringing. It will sometimes become louder then fade away to low volume again. Every few months there will be a sound that I can only describe as dropping a tube amplifier on the ground, with a sound like static that follows and then fades, and then I will hear complete silence, but the silence only lasts for about 5-10 minutes, then I notice the low volume ringing coming back. I only started to question it when I was about 7-8 years old and I realized that my friends didn’t hear what I was hearing. I’m 28 now, and the only advice I can give to someone who is just now starting to suffer from it, is ignore it the best you can. The only other “home” remedies that have given me any relief are: making sure the inside of your ears are completely dry after a shower/swimming, don’t use headphones or earbuds at high volumes, keep some kind of background noise (TV, fan, white noise machine) going constantly to distract from the ringing, and strangely, I saw (or heard, I guess) improvement after I stopped smoking cigarettes. While there is no cure, it is manageable. If you are experiencing this, you are not alone, and my heart goes out to you.

[@CraterCaster]

That's close to how i have it. im 19 and i just learned to ignore it. sometimes you don't notice it but then it just comes out of nowhere as really loud and i have to just stop whatever im doing to let it go away.

[@mikemiller659]

I just read a comment stating that Grinding of your teeth while sleeping is one cause, That is something I do, mater of fact I had to have a molar removed to to damage from Clenching. My ringing is about a 3 on the scale and reminds me of the sound an old school TV makes..the CRT high pitch sound. My ringing lessens during sleep, I wake up to Pee & realize the sound is less. I do fear being trapped in this body with a Louder ringing that I cannot deal with.

[@ghaguitars]

I have had tinnitus for over a decade now, and my experience has been if my stress level or anxiety is running high, the ringing gets really loud. Probably high blood pressure is making it worse at those times. Rick thank you so much for talking about this. It's never been like 100db loud like you have experienced, but enough to make a difference in what I'm hearing. I have my hearing tested once a year, and have very minor loss in about 4k in the left ear and 6k in the right. I've never had a day of complete silence, just less ringing. I would give just about anything for a day of no tinnitus.

[@joebill663]

ya stress and blood pressure amps it

[@bobkovach1426]

Salt increases blood pressure so cut back on salt in any form. Good Luck!

[@diegoaduriz9433]

I have tinnitus, for around 25 years now. Not blessed with silent days, not once. I remember exactly when, where and how I got it. I was on a dance club, the music was loud, very loud, and I was passing by the speakers. It hurt, actually hurt because of the loud noise, but I did not care. Probably one of the worst decisions of my life. Hope I knew better. Anyway, the day after I woke up with this ringing..it happened before and it always went away, so I did not worry too much. But this time it did not go away. Never. Not once. Not a single silent moment in my life ever since. I cope with it. It's kind of binary, you have no choice actually. So you cope. But life was never the same. It rings...all the time...everywhere...always. Thx for your video, and a big hug to everyone sharing. Diego

[@TraneFrancks]

This truly terrifies me. I've always tried to take care of my hearing since my early 20s when I came out of a band practice with it sounding like I had pillows in my ears. Since then, I've always used hearing protection at band practice/gigs. Every once in a while, I'll be sitting watching a video or listening to music and suddenly a tone will enter from out of nowhere. So far, I've been able to just relax and breathe for a minute and it goes away, but I'm concerned that will not be the case one day. For all of you who suffer, you have my sympathy. I just can't even imagine ...

[@kaylowder6081]

MIT study demonstrates hearing loss reversal. Take a look at the article “Reversing hearing loss with regenerative therapy”. The article states that within 10 years reversing hearing loss through ear cilia regeneration will be similar to a Lasix surgery procedure for vision. I’ve had tinnitus for 20 years. It’s a pain, but I’ve adapted. Looks like there’s hope for all of us diagnosed with tinnitus.

[@TheAisleOfPlenty]

Very promising to hear that..

[@oneaburns]

That would be nice. I hope it’s true.

[@garydonnelly100]

Something I've always wondered, why anyone hasn't researched this before. They have treatments for regrowth of hair, why not cilia in the ear?

[@CockatooDude]

@@garydonnelly100 Because it's very difficult to get the treatment to where it's needed. You can apply treatment directly to your hair whereas the inner ear cilia can't be gotten to physically. The application of the treatment has to be on a molecular or cellular level.

[@LeRagster]

I read something in New Scientist years ago about how the regrowth of cilia might be stimulated somehow by doing something with enzymes I believe. I often wonder how they are getting on with that.

[@fivewattworld]

This is great Hyoes! And yeah, I can hear ringing as I type this.

[@PeterGiersch]

Watching this and other tinnitus videos, I realize how lucky I am. I have been playing drums and listening to music very loudly since I was 15. I have had ringing in my ears my whole life and it has never bothered me. I would say that more than 50% of the time I forget that I have it. When it "comes back" -- that is, when I suddenly notice it again, it, I just ignore it. I am not trying to say that other people "should just ignore it" because everyone is different. This is just one way in which I am blessed. Prayers and best wishes for all those who find it a trial. Hang in there, and keep doing what you love.

[@tigerhunter8878]

Rick thank you so much for talking about this topic. I’m 18 (almost 19) and this is a huge warning for any young musican like my self that fear such demon. This just makes me want to protect my ears a lot more. Thank you

[@thomasberinati3380]

I feel ya Rick. Years of loud band rehearsals, mixing in headphones, loud concerts in small clubs, cranking the stereo with no ear protection . Paying for it all now .

[@STOPlSLASH]

Finally someone who talk about this ! it's my biggest fear and as musicians, it's one of the most important topic for us because our ears are essentiel to everything : listening, playing, recording et mixing... A video about ear protection would be a great idea !

[@pariaheep]

Finally, a "coming out"! Thank you Rick! No genre of music should require you sacrificing your inner peace with an affliction like tinnitus. The ear is a supersofisticated, yet superfragile "apparatus", and the damage to it is irreversible. As it has been a generational thing probably not to talk about it, so we must get educational about it. It takes lots of years to learn to handle it, and this might be very confronting for yourself and your family/environment.

[@davidmuir1509]

I’ve been a musician since the early 70s and probably started ‘hearing’ my tinnitus about the age of 15 (1973). Over the years it’s come and gone especially when there has been emotional turmoil in my life. About 5 months ago it came ‘back’ with a vengeance. Like yourself a top neuro-otologist had absolutely nothing to offer me. Also, like yourself I will sometimes have silent days, but if I take a nap or sleep it comes roaring back. I am investigating chronic pain apps and investigating neuroplasticity therapy which involves concentrating on the thing you wish would go away, i.e. your tinnitus. Unfortunately, I am now taking anti-anxiety meds because I haven’t yet learned how to again re-habituate. Thank you for talking about this. So many musicians and millions others suffer from this. I am simply amazed that there still seems to be no valid treatment. Suggestions are welcome.

[@ianbaxendale1021]

I've had tinnitus for around 30 years, it started after going to see a band, they were that loud I walked out of the bar they were playing at almost deaf, it took about three days for my hearing to come back, but it left me with a constant ringing and hissing in my left ear. I was put on medication to help calm it down, if I miss taking the medication it becomes a loud screeching. It's a shame there is no cure for all of us who suffer from it

[@aaronsmith2611]

I wish all sound engineers would get a clue and realize louder is not better. I play in rock bands, but had a sound engineer one time that typically does more jazz. It was one of the best mixes I've ever heard. I wasn't blaringly loud and you could hear a whole lot better what was being played. And bonus, at the end of the night, my ears weren't screaming.

[@denmar355]

@@aaronsmith2611 I agree. Most concerts now are blasting 105-110 db peaks by the last set. Crazy.

[@stephenbedford1395]

Hi Ian, do you mind if I ask what medication you were put on? I too have had it for over 30 years but have never been medicated for it.

[@stephenbreitling2327]

if you want to make other people think, that the sound is good, you just turn up the volume. louder always sounds better! if you want a good mix though, you turn it down rather low. only to judge the bass, you need to have a certain level, but everything else, you should mix rather quiet. there is hardly any need to turn up loud for more than 30s, then you turn down again and things still should sound good!

[@ianbaxendale1021]

@@stephenbedford1395 it called Betahistine Dihydrochloride 16 mg

[@RobertBeatty]

Had it since the end of '14. My humble advice: Go to an audiologist and shell out a bit for a pair of decibel-rated custom-molded earplugs (which reduce loudness while maintaining full frequency range--highs not lost). One the best investments I have ever made in my life. The other advice is don't catastrophize it. Habituation happens and you learn to live with it, leading often enough to it disappearing (if you take care of your ears). Obviously, many other factors and everybody's cases are different. Just my two-cents. Julian Cowan Hill (YT channel) has a lot of good tips.

[@Anjohl]

this is sage advice. The key to Tinnitus treatment is changing *ourselves*; namely our perspective and philosophy in life. I think it's very similar to accepting aging, in that it involves accepting the "now", and getting on with life.

[@fcamiola]

Yep..I've had my custom made plugs for over 30 years now. Filters with dB ratings

[@TheMrPastry]

Thank you for sharing this Rick. I have not experienced silence for over 10 years. The hardest part is trying to sleep at night.

[@rumblehat4357]

I've had tinnitus since 1985. AC/DC at the Meadowlands. Angus and the boys were so loud, you could FEEL the sound on your eardrums. The pressure was insane (and I was in the back of the stadium.) It was crazy loud in the beginning but after a few weeks it lessened. Now I only hear it when it's really quiet, but it's been decades.

[@josiek5989]

You're not alone with AC/DC induced hearing loss.

[@CC-te5zf]

My first concert ever - Back in Black, Atlanta, Fox Theater. My ears rang hard for three days. I was 16 years old - I thought that was cool. Now, not so much...

[@bigscarysteve]

My brother is a huge heavy metal fan and went to tons of concerts in the 1980's & 1990's. He said the loudest band he ever saw was Motorhead. They had it cranked so loud, he said the floor rumbled when Lemmy simply spoke into the microphone.

[@onlyinasheville]

@@CC-te5zf same here Chad. Those boys wrecked my ears for a week. I'm scared of big sound now and carry ear plugs

[@microsoftpain]

I went deaf in my left ear after my first concert and I couldn't hear anything out of it for like 3 hours after the show ended. I had no idea that could even happen at the time. Now I bring earplugs to every show lol.

[@bradleyrubac4217]

I’ve had tinnitus for around twenty years - first five or six sounded like music turned down to one or two OR like it came from the next room. Then came the cicadas - realized it was tinnitus - doctor said learn to live with it. Left ear then right - has always seemed to be a competition - left always wins, by the way. Then, three years ago the left ear began going through huge changes - bottom end dropped out, no bass at all - then came back at around fifty percent and the top end vanished - eventually settling with about fifty to seventy five percent bass and seventy to eighty percent treble. And then came horrible distortions. Sounds like someone took a speaker and punched twelve or fifteen holes in the paper cone. Comes and goes although it’s never completely gone. Doctor says I have seventy percent in my right ear and around thirty to forty in the left. His remedy is a hearing aide in the left that bounces over to the right ear - no more real stereo hearing (not doing that). Trying to learn how to live with it all - trying. Can’t hear my acoustic guitar very well anymore. Whole thing drives me nuts!!!

[@rogermiller2159]

Before you get those hearing aids.. I went through almost exactly what you describe. My ENT gave me the kind of hearing aids you describe. One side has a mic but no speaker. It sends the sound to the good ( better) ear. My hearing became progressively worse even though I had hearing aids. The hearing aids amplified sound but did not improve my hearing. I found a new ENT and she said that although my hearing in my right ear is diminished, it still works. I won’t put this in caps but,, If you abandon that bad ear it will atrophy. Having one ear with only 20% is so much better than no hearing. I finally have hearing aids that help after frustrating for four years. Being able to hear direction was such a shock. Your ears triangulate sound and that is huge. I can now hear which elevator just dined. I can now know the direction of sounds. Do not let that go.

[@dancunningham6175]

I am a huge advocate for hearing protection. I can not stress enough to any musician that doesn't wear hearing protection, please start today. My brother has had tinnitus since he was about 5 years old. We started playing in a band when we were about 12-13. I would always make fun of him for wearing ear plugs. I thought I was so much cooler for not using ear plugs. About 5 years into playing drums without hearing protection, I got what I deserved and developed tinnitus, and I haven't had a silent day since.

[@SnowBorn1]

On November 2nd it'll be two years since I've had hearing loss and Tinnitus, but only in my left ear. The hearing loss and tinnitus came on suddenly and with no explanation, and like you, when it first started I was in hell. By February I was ready to take my life. I started making goodbye videos for my family - but thankfully I didn't follow through. But now, almost two years later, I've come to some semblance of peace with it. Its still loud and there hasn't been a day that I haven't heard it, but I'm now able to sleep with it, and I'm able to function a bit more. I've gone back to school and I'm determined to live my life in spite of the horrible ringing. I hope whoever's reading this knowns that they aren't alone, and that life will get better, even if the ringing doesn't. And look to the future, you never know what new treatments might be out there. Or who knows, you might wake up one morning and its gone.

[@monkmc1860]

About a decade I've suffered now. But you can train the brain to just not hear it. Maddening at points.

[@georgedykes5750]

Rick, I have been engineering, mixing, and mastering over 30 years and developed Tinnitus about 10 years ago. No quiet days at all. I have learned to mix and master with scope and graph plugins in software to make sure i don't blast out high freqs. I then have my assistant take a listen and often am pretty close. It is a demon for any musician that has it. If you ever come up with a better work around please share it. and lets all hope it doesn't get louder. We all respect your work and appreciate your willingness to give to the musicians all over the world.

[@basildog007]

I just wanted to say, for those who recently developed tinnitus, and find themselves "in a nightmare": I have been where you are. I went through the darkness and got out the other side. It's been 13 years. Nowadays I am COMPLETELY FINE WITH IT. My main lesson: everything started to go much better AS SOON AS I GAVE UP ON "CURING IT". After trying everything and getting disappointed all the time, I finally accepted it, and quite fast things turned around. I would advice everyone to watch the movie "Sound Of Metal". I found relief the same way. Be at peace.

[@henryzachary7489]

This is exactly my experience. Do not give up your life and happiness to this condition. It is very, very common, not only to musicians. Almost everyone who has it still manages to continue living to an old age.

[@MusicGunn]

I never went through that darkness. I have a mind that accepts what is thrown at it and I carry on. I am not a musician though and I can totally understand that this could be life altering. It does not effect my enjoyment of music but I can see it would affect the making of music. The best thing to do is to accept it. There is no magic potion to counteract it and be very skeptical of anyone that says there it.

[@Davornot]

This.

[@Willie_McBride]

I saw that movie, it was a very emotional movie, and I have been thinking about the lessons learned in it trying to deal With my tinnitus. Sometimes it’s so loud & prevalent that it’s debilitating, those periods can last for several hours, but I find that if I occupy myself, & introduce quiet pleasant sounds while running errands or doing tasks & projects around the house, the intensity seems to subside to where I kinda forget about it for a while

[@PhilJonesIII]

My experience exactly. If a cure turns up then we are sure to hear (sic) about it quickly enough.

[@habeascorpus1]

Wow that's a hell of a scary story! It reminded me of the first time I tipped my ears over the edge. I ended up in a very dangerous emotional state where life became meaningless. The more I focused on it, the louder it got.I was fortunate to discover a tinnitus support group as well as meditation. The salvation with me was being taught to accept the sound and ignore it by exposing myself to distractive sounds such as white noise. Easier said than done! I had considered this to be absolutely ridiculous at the time but quickly realised I had no other option. Long long story short, working on accepting and ignoring the noise eventually paid off. These days I hardly NOTICE it's there. In my case the ringing is ALWAYS there. It's a case of whether I notice it. Tinnitus is also a measurement of how stressed you are. Also, things like red wine can trigger it. A lot of things beside loud sounds can bring it on.

[@mickandrus367]

I've had it my entire life. I can remember as a small boy asking my mother about the ringing and she replied that she had it too and "you get used to it." I sort of did. It's still there and, like you, it comes and goes but it's never, ever silent. For those who acquire it as adults, I expect it's completely maddening and I feel for you. If, like me, you've had it always then it's just part of life.

[@mquirinus]

I have both hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear only. Mine started when i was around 16 (already playing death metal back then). I'm 41 now and I'm hearing it right now as i write this post. Most of the time i just forget about it, or try to. If I'm on the streets without ear phones it won't be perceivable, if i put on some ear phones I'll perceive it every time the music stops. And if I'm in a quiet environment with closed windows it's also terrible. I'm a philosopher and i always have a hard time working (reading and writing, studying etc.) in libraries for obvious reasons. One night i went bed to sleep and suddenly i just noticed the tinnitus was gone for a moment and i could feel the silence around me... It was amazing. Normally what i do is always try to have some degree of sound ("noise" if you will) around, like the sound from a ventilator or an ar conditioning or any kind of "humming", so that there's never absolute silence and so that i can't notice the tinnitus. I've also tried one of these videos of sound frequencies that kind of "cancel" the tinnitus, and i was surprised it actually worked. It seems it tricks the brain somehow and neutralizes the perception of the internal sounds by coinciding the frequencies of the external sound (produced by the track on the video) with the tinnitus sound frequence. Cheers!

[@nige-g]

I've had tinnitus for at least Twenty years, usually hissing, I don't know why but listening with noise cancelling headphones helps me. The letter p can sound like b or t for example, it is what it is, so I've learnt to live with it. Good topic Rick. P.S. Crowded areas become a mish mash of noise. Warm regards Nige 🇬🇧

[@stevepreskitt283]

Sorry to hear about your struggles with tinnitus, Rick. I'm in my mid-50s, but I've had tinnitus every waking moment for as far back as I can recall in my early childhood, and really didn't understand that it wasn't normal nor even what it was until I was an adult. Otherwise, I have no hearing issues. Nothing was ever diagnosed, but having had it my whole life, I learned early on to subconsciously filter it out unless I actually decide to listen for it. So, for me it's not a big deal since it's all I've ever known, but for someone that has truly experienced silence for most of their life, I can't even imagine how disconcerting and frustrating it might be.

[@bobbrent5994]

My tinnitus almost disappeared during a MDMA Trip, I was blown away and started reading a few articles about tinnitus and seritonin levels, apparently there is a connection, Tinnitus came back but I can really notice that my tinnitus gets worse during anxious periods of my life

[@AVISIONVIDEO]

definitely a connection with serotonin!!

[@quintonudink3538]

I know this is going to sound bonkers but it's been way LESS severe since I got covid a few weeks ago. I haven't had to sleep with the fan on since.

[@emmalewisart641]

omg this is great, thank u for sharing to all on this thread :)

[@EliSantana]

Mine goes away during psilocibyn trips and it creates a strange, almost uncomfortable stillness. I would give anything to experience that in a sober state of mind. Some mornings I wake up and the ringing is unbearable.

[@fredmann8799]

Absolutely! And there are several b-vitamins as well as other supplemental complexes which increase seratonin back to proper levels.

[@Macc2356]

I'm really glad you have the comfort of having a few days here and there without tinnitus. I'm 25 and i've been experiencing constant ringing tinnitus for close to 10 years. I think over exposure to loud music started it but it definitely got worse after I had a pretty severe episode of depersonalisation (seems to be quite common with people who suffer depersonalisation). I hate it and even now that i'm focusing on it, it drives me insane but the only real solution is accepting your situation and not letting it overwhelm you. The more you accept it and let go of the anxiety surrounding it the more you learn to live with it. I still have to sleep with white noise playing from my phone but I can only be grateful that i'm still able to hear and enjoy music. As terrible as it is, tinnitus has taught me to appreciate what i've got and allowed me to sympathise with those less fortunate than myself. Tinnitus really sucks but there are many ailments that suck worse so stay strong.

[@vincenzo6162]

I’ve had tinnitus for years as well. So, I’m kind of surprised when you’ve mentioned that you get to enjoy complete silence on some days. I’d count my blessings 😁👌

[@CAndrewNelson]

I feel for you, Rick. I haven't had a silent day since 1994. I was done in by a bad set of headphones I was forced to wear back in the day working in the Customer Support department of a game developer, answering tech support questions all day long. I finally got away from from it when I was able to transfer to the Art Department to start working on the creation if the games, but by then the damage had been done. My tinnitus isn't as horrendous as it was in the beginning, but it is always there. Like you said, you learn to live with it and push it to the back of your consciousness most of the time. The hardest part for me is when I travel. The cabin pressure from flying on airplanes aggravates the hell out of my tinnitus sometimes. So glad you made this video. People need to be made aware of tinnitus and take it seriously.

[@PatrickGalbraith]

William Shatner is a well-known advocate for this issue. He ended up with Tinnitus after that one episode of Star Trek with the explosions that damaged his hearing. I have it from my time in the Navy, as does my sister. I find just trying to relax, use a white noise generator at night helps. I hope you find something that helps too!

[@DavidThomas-oz2ui]

Starting antidepressants helped me more than anything to not focus on the ringing and live more peacefully. Be very careful if you do go this route since some antidepressants (like Wellbutrin) can actually cause tinnitus, so read the manufacturer’s detailed disclosures on their website. Also, knowing that exercise, caffeine, alcohol, or lack of sleep can all cause temporary increases helps me get less worked up about it. Thank you Rick for bringing attention to this. I wish so much that I’d known about it at a younger age, so knowing that some young musicians will see it and maybe you’ll save them from decades of stress and self hatred is as valuable as selling a million records.

[@DonVal86]

I developed mine in college after the most stressful semester of my life. I was devastated as I was studying music. It went away after a couple of months. I still avoid loud sounds unless I’m bumping a great rock song. Great video.

[@LucSulla]

One thing that helps me is listening to notched pink noise for the frequencies where my ears ring. It doesn't make it go away, but it contextualizes it so that it feels quieter, at least for me. But the best help was giving up on wanting silence. There are things in life I would love to have, but I will never have them. Even so, life is good. Pure silence is just another thing on that list. Plus, my actual hearing is still good overall, so yin and yang a bit. Either way, giving that desire up as much as I can helps a lot. I find reading stories with folks saying, "I will never hear a quiet day again," doesn't really help. No point in stirring up nostalgia for something I cannot change now. No, you probably won't have a purely quiet day (unless you're lucky like Rick). And you can be OK with that. Beyond all of that, I find stress really amps up my perception of how loud it is, which in turn can trigger a new round of panic. Tinnitus is somehow connected with the limbic system, which is in turn associate with things like your "fight or flight" sense. It's been speculated that it can trigger that urge a bit, particularly when it is particularly noticeable (maybe that's why it's noticeable). I wouldn't claim to be a neuroscientist, but I suspect it isn't an unreasonable hypothesis that increased stress and increased perception of tinnitus would be linked for that reason. I find trying to calm down and trying as best I can to concentrate on managing my stress instead of worrying about my ears has the side benefit of returning me to a more peaceful state of coexisting with the condition.

[@paulraphael]

This is interesting. Some research suggests that tinitus is sometimes a "software" problem in the mind-that its normal filtering strategies have gotten confused. So maybe someday there could be a training regimen like what you're doing that could cure it.

[@szabolcsmate5254]

@@paulraphael yes. I think you are right, I could imagine a good therapy could go a long way. In th emeantime though, avoiding silence using mild noise enrichment is a great start. Simple but effective.

[@josebegui]

I agree about the fight or flight reaction, I get it sometimes late at night when the ringing is most noticable. I have learned to just take deep breaths, calm down and let the rush pass.

[@chrishardy5078]

I had an MRI scan just a few days ago to find the cause of my tinnitus, however they feel mine may just be caused by anxiety. The doctor I saw explained there’s a possibility that everyone naturally has tinnitus due to our brain drowning it out, different forms of stress and anxiety overwhelm the brain causing it to stop this function. A study was carried out on 100 people where they all claimed to never have experienced tinnitus, during their time in a dead room, around 90+ of them all experienced it.

[@aaronsiegel2453]

Wow interesting

[@mallorga1965]

I'm sure anxiety is a factor.

[@DrMarmalader]

At the height of my anxiety I couldn't be still in my room because I would be bothered by a screech that I never noticed before. I started noticing all of the sounds in my room, the coil whine of electronics, the kitchen fridge, the light bulb. I started hearing frequencies in my body as well everywhere. After going to an audiologist I found out that my hearing was completely fine and I somehow eventually stopped thinking about it.

[@JamesWilson01]

It's likely caused by neurons firing in the absence of any stimulus. One day deep brain stimulation or something similar will provide a cure by breaking the cycle, just as for chronic pain, but unfortunately we're a long way off reliable and affordable treatment at this time.

[@caseylockwood5512]

Thats actually fascinating!

[@Fengrad]

Thank you for making this video, Rick. There needs to be more awareness about the dangers of not wearing heating protection. I’m a musician in my 20’s and I have ear-ringing as well. I remember when it started a couple years ago, I had trouble sleeping almost every night for months. It’s gotten slightly better with time since I’ve started wearing earplugs to loud social events like bars and even to loud action movies, but it’s still there. I talk to my friends my age, and even many of them have it to varying degrees. I wish I had always been more careful with protecting my hearing, and I hope they find a cure one day. For now, although I’m sorry you and so many others have to go through this, it gives me some comfort to know that I’m not alone in having this problem.

[@JorgeOchoaLions]

You described my experience exactly. My approach has been: habituate to it, and do not focus on it AT ALL.. give it ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION. By now, I literally forget that the ringing is there; the only time I notice is when it goes away on the days of silence, and then I remember that it had been there. When it is unbearable, I carry on as if it wasn't there, I make absolutely no changes at all. Physical exercise seems to be the most consistent at producing days of silence; I ride a road bike 3 or 4 times a week. Cheers!!

[@ElTachoAquino]

Same approach here, 12K ringing, not so loud luckily. With my right ear I can hear my inside eyeball and bones movements, and the lowest notes when playing guitar or bass.

[@alchemydp]

I was thrilled to be part of a Taiko drumming group for a couple of years. I started getting tinnitus and stopped drumming. Broke my heart but knew I didn’t want to live with worse. It’s quieted down now - and I miss drumming. My Heart goes out to you!