Quote:
Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee
I've got it fairly badly. I don't quite know why, as I started using ear protection when going to concerts in '91 and didn't really go to many prior to '87. Of course I'm of the generation that listened to the walkman rather loudly, but before the ear buds thing happened.
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My ex girlfriend used to suffer with it really badly. I'd catch her punching herself in the side of the head some nights. I had the benefit of being taught exactly how the damage occurs by acoustic shock in my sound engineering degree. She had been standing with her head in 20K rigs output end at underground parties for years. By the time I met her, she was terrified of loud noise/music/voices she believed strongly that it would make her tinnitus worse, and she carried earplugs at ALL times. She also maintained that non-sufferers are unable to understand the torture that it can be and in at least some sense I guess she was right.
One thing I will say in regard to your quoted post and very few folks seem to be aware of this,
even at seemingly moderate levels headphones of any kind are unreasonably dangerous to your hearing, and if you use them regularly you should definitely wear proper acoustic attenuating plugs while you do so. (they cost a bit but they lower the volume rather than muffle the sound)
I spent a few years mixing drum 'n bass records in the 90s and my left ear (the one I'd use to monitor, normally headphones) frequency response has dropped to less than 10KHz (should be at least 15-16K for my age) from doing that meaning my directional sound processing cannot be totally trusted. quite often I think a sound that came from the left came from the right, as my right ear processed a louder less muffled sound. I am lucky to have only very brief periods of tinnitus, no more than a day or so at a time. I think the most useful therapies are psychological as the damage cannot be repaired, but it can be lived with, and as long as you take care in future there is no reason for it to get worse. Trying to remain positive and stress free is the most important thing as all sufferers report worsening with stress or anxiety, which creates a negative feedback, making you more stressed making the ringing worse etc...
All you who suffer have my deepest sympathies.
Regards,
Sam