Tinnitus

[7/4]

I've got it and I'm a vibes player. I've always heard something "extra" when playing block major 2nds, major 3rds and minor 3rds (sometimes perfect 4ths also) on the top end of the vibes. Even my tuner could not hear it and it never goes away. Very disturbing. Try not to play any of those intervals block style in my playing. At other times it is just an annoying ringing in my ears.

Sounds like you're hearing the summation and difference tones of inharmonic overtones resulting from playing equal temperament on a tunned percussion instrument. They would be really out of tune with the actual notes. Try reading Sensations of Tone by Helmholtz.

Or maybe you have hearing problems, WTF do I know.

[BruceW]

Well I know this, I DO HAVE an ear problem. I have been diagnosed with Tinnitus after many hearing tests. Will check that book out. Thanks

[7/4]

Well I know this, I DO HAVE an ear problem. I have been diagnosed with Tinnitus after many hearing tests. Will check that book out. Thanks

I don't doubt you, but those crazy inharmonic beatings can be disorienting. Take care.

[Brad]

Well, it's nice to know I'm not alone. Like Tjobbe, I got this from a cold. Back in 2002, I got one and the ringing wouldn't stop. This happened during the holidays and the specialist was away so I had to wait until the new year. Plus, I needed Xanax to get to sleep. I thought I was going to go out of my mind. Anyway, I saw the specialist and he told me that I was stuck with it. I half-seriously contemplated suicide a couple of times.

I finally went to see my old ear doctor in Connecticut, who told me you had this before, just not as loud, and told me to start living my life. That seemed to calm me down and I slowly eased myself off the Xanax. Over time, it's become like background noise and I have no problems sleeping at night.

One thing that has happened is that I do get frequent headaches and do need allegra and occasional aspirin to get by.

Ocassionally it gets a little worse but I know how to calm myself down and just live with it. Someday, they'll hopefully find a cure but I doubt it.

[J Larsen]

Ocassionally it gets a little worse but I know how to calm myself down and just live with it. Someday, they'll hopefully find a cure but I doubt it.

My non-expert opinion is that it wouldn't be much harder to cure than anything else, but it probably isn't very high on anyone's to-do list. They may find a treatment for something else that cures tinnitus in some people as a side effect. If they can make psychoactive drugs to tell your brain to make less stomach acid, it seems to me that they can probably make psychoactive drugs to tell your brain to stop making that damned noise (and I'm told it is usually more of a brain thing than a cochlea or auditiory nerve thing - evidently even cutting the auditory nerve doesn't cure it in many cases).

Saw the doc today and he thinks the recent flair-up may be connected to the fact that I've also had migraine problems lately - he's not sold on the eardrum explanation, mostly for the reason I wasn't sold on it (looks like an old wound). The fact that it is changing in character is giving me hope that it will go away - I'd be more worried if it were staying steady.

[Brad]

I gave up going to the doctors a long time ago. IMHO, there's nothing they can do. The noise is there. It won't permanently go away.

[Matthew]

I've been spending the day catching up on all things XTC through the internet, and I came across Andy Partridge's, (of XTC fame) experience with Tinnitus -- Yikes!

It started with being TOO BLOODY LOUD on stage at gigs and wearing no ear protection,yeah,tougher than those wussy metal bands eh? Those years skimmed off all of my highs pretty much.Then in 93, I got an ear infection which blew out my right eardrum.This eventually healed but left another dent in the old shell likes.On the final day of mixing MONSTRANCE this year,a well meaning,but clumsy engineer,hit a wrong button.Unfortunately I was checking in headphones to see if we'd succesfully removed some buzz ,which through his earlier clumsiness ,had gotten recorded on a whole days session,and the headphones were at FULL volume on the desk.I was basically checking the silence.The button he pressed sent the sound of a sidestick sample[3 quick beats } into my ears,and KAPOW!massive further damage and worst of all,very very LOUD tinnitus in both ears.24 hours a day.Well,to bring you up to date,I've been doing hyperbaric oxygen treatment for the last 5 months and the noise was becoming bareable,down from 80% to a non crazymaking 35%,then I did something foolish last Sunday.Our smoke alarm went off as dinner was being cooked and like an unthinking idiot,I rushed up and wrestled with it for about 20 seconds to get it to stop.What the fuck was I doing standing one foot away from a screeching alarm with tinnitus.Yep,you guessed it,I've been put back virtually to square 1 and both ears are screaming away at around 65%.I cried like a baby for hours,I was inconsolable.

Needless to say I'm depressed as shit about it,and after further tests,my poor old creamhorns are rather deaf indeed.Its not going to stop me making a solo album though!Watch out for your precious ears in those studios Jeff.OO,nearly forgot,right ear slighly worse than left and ,no I dont have a phone amplifier.....yet. AP

[clifford_thornton]

Wow. Yikes.

[J Larsen]

That guy obviously has it really bad. I've heard there are cases where the sufferer can not hear most external sounds because their tinnitus is so loud.

I'm happy to say that mine has been back to normal (noticable only in a quiet room) for the past week.

Edited December 19, 2006 by J Larsen

[Scott Dolan]

I have what I guess would be a very mild case of it. It's only noticeable in quieter situations.

It can be irritating as hell though.

[.:.impossible]

I've got it and I'm a vibes player. I've always heard something "extra" when playing block major 2nds, major 3rds and minor 3rds (sometimes perfect 4ths also) on the top end of the vibes. Even my tuner could not hear it and it never goes away. Very disturbing. Try not to play any of those intervals block style in my playing. At other times it is just an annoying ringing in my ears.

Bruce, because of your last sentence, I think you do have damage, but I hear all sorts of unexpected "extras" when I'm playing. To be honest, I think my bars need to be tuned, but those surprise overtones are amazing!

[.:.impossible]

Just read through the entire thread... what David said is exactly what I was getting at.

Man, Bruce, between your ears and your hands, the vibraphone has put you through the wringer.

[BruceW]

Just read through the entire thread... what David said is exactly what I was getting at.

Man, Bruce, between your ears and your hands, the vibraphone has put you through the wringer.

Yeah, well, I love the vibes and I refuse to give in on my hands. Soooo, through the wringer I must go...

Cannot live without the vibes. However, I made adjustments and am still making adjustments in my playing. I've always basically been a two mallet player (learning some four mallet so I can comp, but that is all, no extravagant four mallet soling and exhibitions). Try not to use the very top end of the vibes unless I am at a point of extreme intensity in the musical piece and it needs to be stressed. Mostly rolls on a single note foar emphasis and expression, prevents the very disturbing ringing I get in my ears (and it is quite satisfactory too). So I do what I got to do...

My hands have healed (four trigger finger operations and arthritis) and my vibe bars were retuned this year so I am okay. Need to improve my playing, that's all.

[.:.impossible]

I'm glad you're back in the saddle.

[Matthew]

Just read through the entire thread... what David said is exactly what I was getting at.

Man, Bruce, between your ears and your hands, the vibraphone has put you through the wringer.

Yeah, well, I love the vibes and I refuse to give in on my hands. Soooo, through the wringer I must go...

Cannot live without the vibes. However, I made adjustments and am still making adjustments in my playing. I've always basically been a two mallet player (learning some four mallet so I can comp, but that is all, no extravagant four mallet soling and exhibitions). Try not to use the very top end of the vibes unless I am at a point of extreme intensity in the musical piece and it needs to be stressed. Mostly rolls on a single note foar emphasis and expression, prevents the very disturbing ringing I get in my ears (and it is quite satisfactory too). So I do what I got to do...

My hands have healed (four trigger finger operations and arthritis) and my vibe bars were retuned this year so I am okay. Need to improve my playing, that's all.

Playing Eddie Costa style!

[Joe G]

I've been spending the day catching up on all things XTC through the internet, and I came across Andy Partridge's, (of XTC fame) experience with Tinnitus -- Yikes!

<snip>

Yikes indeed! That made me immediately stick in my hearing protection here at work.

[(BB)]

Has anyone here noticed that using headphones aggravates their tinnitus, even when not loud?

Allergies/sinus infection have my left ear at a constant ring. It sounds like when you rub your finger on a crystal glass, cept' it don't stop. It gets better and worse, but it does seem worse after using the head phones.

[J Larsen]

I recently learned that my tinnitus is due to an apparently untreatable Eustachian tube disorder. Sometimes it is barely there at all, and sometimes it's as loud as an alarm clock. When it is loud, then there are certain sounds that bother me, and certainly any very lound sounds bother me.

[Brad]

When it comes to Tinnitus, I try not to look at the web. Never found much helpful. I came across a forum once and reading the posts actually got me more stressed than I already was!

[Jim Alfredson]

Bruce, you should get some molded earplugs from your local audiologist. They are fantastic and attenuate all frequencies equally, so everything sounds natural, just softer.

I loved my pair but I lost them at the Detroit Jazz Festival last year. I need to get another pair myself. They are about $140 usually. Worth their weight in gold.

[J Larsen]

Bruce, you should get some molded earplugs from your local audiologist. They are fantastic and attenuate all frequencies equally, so everything sounds natural, just softer.

I loved my pair but I lost them at the Detroit Jazz Festival last year. I need to get another pair myself. They are about $140 usually. Worth their weight in gold.

I second that! Those things are awesome!

The first time I wore them was at a Zorn/Laswell show and I swore they weren't doing anything because everything sounded normal. So I took them out and was shocked at how loud the music was! It was still loud with them in, they just took the volume down enough that it wasn't brutal.

[Rooster_Ties]

Bruce, you should get some molded earplugs from your local audiologist. They are fantastic and attenuate all frequencies equally, so everything sounds natural, just softer.

I loved my pair but I lost them at the Detroit Jazz Festival last year. I need to get another pair myself. They are about $140 usually. Worth their weight in gold.

Worth their weight in gold, and then some. I've got a pair that I take to rock concerts (and certain jazz concerts that I know will be WAY over amplified). Hands down, probably the best $140 I ever spent (I think I paid $100 for mine back in the mid 90's).

If I lost mine, I'd replace 'em within 6 months or less -- and I'm not even a musician working in high volume contexts. (Well, I used to use them on stage when I still sang in the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, when I'd often sit 3 feet behind the French horn section -- on certain kinds of bombastic works. They were a godsend there too, which is why my audiologist mother insisted I get a pair when I joined the chorus in '95.)

Seriously, anybody who loves music and ever goes to rock concerts should get a pair without reservation.

[Tim McG]

Tinnitus?

I've got it, too.

But at least it's tuned to concert Bb

[Lush Life]

I have it, some days are real bad, others not so bad.

I got it from working in radio and wearing headphones a lot, volume too high. It seemed funny to me and my radio co-workers how loud I ran them 30 years ago, it's not funny now.

The tinnitus today isn't necessarily triggered by loud music or sounds. I notice that it gets triggered even by low-level music, apparently certain frequencies aggravate it with me.

[Tim McG]

I used to practice my trumpet in a small confined space...later it was loud music; both through a stereo speaker system at my house or in my car and attending loud concerts.

Seems worse when it's silent. Although, I have lost my ability to hear high pitched sound like birds, whispering and whistles.