From Loud Venues to Tinnitus: My Sound Engineer’s Tale

Introduction

Hi all,

I'm an electronic music musician (with modular synths and such) and live sound engineer. Both are hobbies of mine; I never formally studied them, which may explain some of my past carelessness. I'm 39, and I live in the Netherlands.

I'm also a semi-pathological overthinker, so this thread is for me to let go of things and to measure progress, if there is any.

The Accident

About five weeks ago, on the 23rd of May 2024, I was invited to play at a venue. Unfortunately, I had been losing one of my party earplugs, so I wasn't wearing them that evening. I arrived and found several bands doing soundchecks. It was very loud.

The sound engineer said he had to go somewhere else for about two hours and asked if I could handle the soundchecks. I said yes—a big mistake. I was there for the soundchecks and the first band as well, with all their demands of adjusting mics and such. This venue was so loud. I decided to listen to the band with the mixer headphones—another mistake. I was enjoying this band but didn’t realize that the outside decibels were combined with the headphone decibels.

For most of the rest of the evening, I tried to stay away from the main hall and stay in the backstage room. I was also very tired that day.

When the sound engineer returned, I made another stupid decision as I played the last act. For some reason, I asked him to put the monitors as high as possible. Why would I do that? I don't really know. Maybe since I didn't do my own soundcheck, I wanted to make sure that I could hear my music more clearly, as opposed to what was blasted from the P.A. speakers.

Then he asked me to put the main level from my own stage mixer down, as it was coming too hot into the venue's mixer (hence distorted, I guess). So, I put the master fader of my mixer down. On my mixer, I use low-impedance headphones so that they can be louder than the outside sound (I know, in hindsight, all this is messed up, but that was my reasoning).

Now, the problem. My mixer can switch between the sound from the master mix and soloing a channel to be monitored in the headphones so that I can be aware of what a channel is playing before putting it into the main mix. The problem now is that the master is very attenuated. When I switched to monitor a channel, my very loud, low-impedance headphones BLASTED the sound, even with a distorted crackling. This was because the solo is before being attenuated by the other faders!

Anyway, I played my set, and the evening ended. I got my gear and went to my studio, where I crashed on the couch. The morning afterward, I woke up to tinnitus.

Characteristics of the Tinnitus

There is a static sinewave of about 2460 Hz, and sometimes I can perceive one an octave lower at 1130 Hz and one at around 4700 Hz, all in the left ear. Then, there is a high-frequency hiss in both ears. Five weeks later, I can say that these sounds are usually not loud. I cannot hear them, for example, in the street, when there is rain outside, etc. But when I'm in a silent room or just awake, they are very loud.

I don't remember exactly if I could hear the tinnitus on the street at the onset. Moreover, many sounds seem to be resonating (like a whistle on top of sounds) at around 4030 Hz.

The Waiting

I thought this tinnitus would go away by itself, but it was still there after one week, on Friday, May 30th. Hence, I set up an appointment online with the GP for Tuesday. I didn't realize that the Tuesday I chose was actually not the following week but the one later, maybe because they didn't have any dates available before that. So I went to the GP on Tuesday, June 4th, and they told me my appointment was the week after. I begged them for an appointment, but they said there were no spots until a week later. So I had to wait. This is another stupid decision because I should have gone to a hospital's ER or something like that to get seen as soon as possible and get whatever medication was needed.

In the meantime, I could sense that my ears were getting clogged and a bit painful.

The General Practitioner

I told the entire story to the general practitioner. She basically looked at my ears, told me to put some oil in them, and come back three days later. I did so, and on Friday, June 14th, she performed an irrigation on the left ear to remove the wax, and there was a lot. She also told me that sometimes it takes three months for tinnitus to go away, but if it stays after three months, I have to learn to deal with it. Also, she said that if I went to an ENT doctor, he would tell me the same. After a few days, I became more aware of my hyperacusis and sent a new message to the doctor demanding to be referred to the ENT doctor.

The Audiologist

The GP referred me to an audiologist and an ENT, but when I called the clinic to set up an appointment, the first date available for both the audiogram and ENT visit was July 4th. I insisted on being seen sooner, so I scheduled the visit with the audiologist on Tuesday, June 25th, and with the ENT doctor on Friday, June 28th.

The audiogram ended up showing what I think is a considerable dip of -20 dB at 4 kHz, a sign of either considerable damage from that night or just the outcome of repeated exposure over time to clubs, concerts, production sessions, and jam sessions (I'm almost 40, after all).

Adding Damage to Damage

That same evening, I met a producer friend of mine and his friends. We talked about my issues. I was apprehensive, having spent one month anxious and depressed. We started talking about hearing frequency ranges. He told me that he could hear up to 15 kHz. That same night, I made yet another horrible, stupid mistake. I opened the frequency generator app because I wanted to check my high frequencies. I swept them and could not hear much after 13 kHz. So I cranked up the volume. Yep. That's what I did. I just wanted to hear those frequencies for some reason. Without thinking, I put the volume to the maximum, and I heard something and swept across the high frequencies. I didn't do this for long. Maybe 10 seconds? And just like Icarus chasing the sun, I got the bitter taste of my excessive curiosity.

Because now I think I added brand new hissing tones to my tinnitus. They are probably between 13 kHz and 15 kHz and seem to interchange with each other. I'm not going to test again to understand which frequencies they are. This has become the most regrettable thing that I did. Because now it is loud. I hear it when I walk in the street near the passing cars. It's always there, to the point of causing headaches. I was starting to accept the fact that I could not be in a silent room anymore, but I have a hard time accepting this. I recently checked the loudness of the headphones I used, Sennheiser Momentum 4, and I discovered that they go up to 106 dB! I don't know what I was thinking when I thought, "If I can't hear it, then I can put it louder." So stupid.

The ENT Doctor

So yesterday, Friday, June 29th, I had my visit with the ENT doctor. He looked at my ears, my eyes, and the audiogram. He listened to my story (including my very recent stupidity) and prescribed me a Triamcinolone acetonide spray once a day, twice in each nostril. I insisted on some anti-inflammatory medication, but he firmly told me he was not going to prescribe Prednisone to me as it had serious side effects. Also, he said that he doesn't think there is damage in the cochlea. As I insisted about my tinnitus, he also insisted, "I have 30 years of experience; it will go away. See you in 2 months after the treatment with the spray, and we will do a new audiogram."

Rushing to My Own Solution

Of course, I really want to fix this, at least the new hiss. I'm not sure I will manage to have a normal life with that constant 13-15 kHz noise. I recruited ChatGPT to figure out additional supplements to take. Besides the Triamcinolone acetonide spray, here’s my list of daily supplements:

• N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine
• Omega 3
• Ginkgo Biloba
• Curcumin
• Lion's Mane
• Vitamin D3
• Coenzymated Vitamin B-1
• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Coenzyme Q10
• Zinc Gluconate
• Alpha Lipoic Acid

Should I add any other supplement?

I also stopped drinking coffee. I already wasn't drinking alcohol anymore for a couple of years. I'm also not a smoker.

Please wish me luck. Any advice is welcome.

 

You're still pretty early in. Protect your ears, and there's a possibility yours can get better. My tinnitus was caused by a concert almost 10 months ago, and I am still slowly improving.

 

Thank you. I have an appointment on July 4th to get some professional flat-frequency-response -17 dB earplugs. I'm not sure if it's enough, considering the whole situation. I might even buy a -30 dB capsule, even if its curve is not flat.

 

Thank you for sharing. At the least, I hope it helped you sort your head a bit.

I agree that since it's new damage and you have never had tinnitus before, keeping away from excessively loud sounds should help you heal. I've had friends who have had tinnitus from fireworks, alarms, and live music, which completely resolved. This was within a few days, but I still figure many of those temporary cases have gone on longer. Of course, they don't use Tinnitus Talk. I hope you are a short case, but your hobby seems dangerous now.

Maybe another sound engineer will see this and give advice.

 

Thanks for sharing. I'm new here too with tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma. I hope yours improves over time.

 

Add vitamin A and Magnesium.

I wouldn't take Vitamin D unless you have been diagnosed with a deficiency.

 

Sometimes, nasal sprays can worsen things, so if you feel it's causing a spike in your symptoms, it's best to back off. My tinnitus started 9 years ago with a hiss, but after the first month, it lessened a bit, and I adjusted to it.

 

You've really been asking a lot of your hearing system. My story isn't that dissimilar. I, too, used Sennheiser Momentum headphones every day in the office at full volume for six months before the concert, which gave me permanent tinnitus. I was using earplugs underneath on some occasions, but I still attribute the weakening of my hearing system in large part to my headphones, which I have used for 40 years of concert-going and performing.

After getting hyperacusis from a subsequent concert (which is 1000x worse than having tinnitus for me) and further damaging my "good" ear at a soundcheck, I had to take a complete 3-month break from all forms of music. After 2-3 years, I was able to partake in some low-key acoustic gigs, but it still feels like the risks may be higher than any rewards from doing so.

 

You aren't alone... I'm an over thinker too...

My onset was in 2004 after a loud night at a club, which was usual for me. But the guy who drove me home had his car stereo turned up so bad that my one ear was completely muffled the next day.

A few days later, I had a hearing test, and when they said I had a high-frequency loss, I did the same thing as you: I used a test tone generator with the volume at max, put my ear to the speaker, and wondered why I couldn't hear anything. Minutes after that, my ears, including the "good ear," started to increase with new high-pitched tones as the hours went by.

We all screw up, try but to beat yourself up too hard. You try to do what is best, but sometimes, it is the opposite.

 

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement.

@frischky, have you ever recovered from these new high-pitched tones, or are they still present?

By the way, I added these to my supplement list:

• Niacin
• Magnesium Glycinate
• Vitamin A
• Melatonin

 

My tinnitus is definitely at the higher end of the spectrum in terms of tone, and when it rages hard, it seems my high-end hearing is super-sensitive (i.e., I can hear car brakes on TV when others cannot). It is maskable in the shower (thankfully).

In the 20 years I have had tinnitus, I have had times where it has disappeared for days on end. In the beginning, I used to have a few good days (super quiet) for every bad day, but with all the world traveling I have done, plus age... I think it has finally caught up to me. The last few years have been rough, with the tinnitus seemingly increasing by the month. A "good day" is rare and much quieter, but still there... in the early days, a good day meant virtually silent.

Perhaps part of the problem is that I haven't been going outside much (since the pandemic), so not enough sound exposure. I am moving to a less noisy area (right now, my house is a few miles from an airport and under the departure path), so hopefully, more outdoor sound exposure at the new place might calm it down a bit.