Music Producer Struggling to Find Hope

[nash13]

Hello,

First of all I want to say I love this community. I'm constantly impressed and inspired by the knowledge and empathy shared in these threads.

A bit about me...

I've been a full time music producer/composer for almost four years now.

I had a concussion last August that gave me temporary mild tinnitus in my left ear (the side I hit my head on). By November 2019 it was gone, I don't even remember thinking about it or noticing any ringing for months.

Fast forward to February 2020, a series of unfortunate events took place. I started taking Wellbutrin (what a mistake) for my chronic depression and a few weeks later I had a dentist cleaning.

When I was walking to my car to drive to my dentist appointment there were construction workers cutting down a tree right next to my car. I rushed to get in my car and attempted to plug my ears but the sound was so incredibly loud.

The dentist cleaning drill absolutely terrorized me that day. I've had cleanings my whole life and never had the drill bother me this much. It actually made my eyes water to the point the hygienist switched to manual tools (I wish I knew about this beforehand). I actually need to get a filling replaced, but I'm obviously terrified and have been avoiding going. I know they will need to use drill. I wish they could just put me under anesthesia.

My tinnitus is super high pitched ringing in the left ear mostly and is at it's peak in the afternoons and evenings.

It was traumatic month. I quit Wellbutrin immediately and switched to Trazodone for sleep.
I got my earwax cleaned out (no effect), saw an ENT and got my hearing checked (average results outside of some high frequency dips in left ear). ENT prescribed my betahistine but I noticed no improvement (only been 30 days of taking it but debating stopping).

I broke down and cried in the ENT office. All she did was tell me to get $4000 tinnitus masking hearing aids. I don't have the money for that and from browsing on here, it seems unclear if it's worth it.

I worry I'll never have a high quality of life, that I'll have to stop doing what I love, that I'll have to move somewhere else (LA is so loud).

Quitting coffee and THC/CBD has been tough, those were two big sources of joy in my life. I'm still holding out hope I can introduce coffee again down the road.

I've been ordering every supplement that may help. So far nothing really seems to be working. I've started online therapy to try CBT but it's been a slow process. I've slept with white noise machines for years already (I used to have loud roommates).

Like almost everyone, the pandemic has added so much stress to my life. I know it's amplifying my tinnitus. I've never been under such stress and anxiety in my life.

My usual clients are almost all on hiatus until the lockdown is over, so money stress is bad as well.

The few gigs I do get, I've had to turn down cause my tinnitus was too distracting and I didn't want to aggravate it.

The most painful part of this is feeling like I'm losing my career, I've worked so hard to get to where I am now that the thought of it being ripped away from me is devastating. Things were just starting to take off for me. My current goal is to try to start writing again cautiously, without headphones, at a low volume.

I have no plan B. I put everything into a music career.

I really want to be a story of hope and recovery, but right now I'm lost and alone.

I wish this pandemic would be over so I can at least go see my family.

I'd love to get some feedback on my story if anyone's up for it. Maybe there's positives I'm missing.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Contrast]

I've been ordering every supplement that may help. So far nothing really seems to be working.

They are all a waste of time.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

I have tried:
1) Zinc
2) Vitamin B12
3) Vitamin B Compounds
4) Potassium
5) Ginkgo Biloba
6) Echinacea
7) Lipoflavonoid
8) Cilantro
9) Tinnitivex
10) Magnesium Citrate
11) Magnesium Oxide
12) Turmeric
13) Vitamin A
14) Melatonin
15) Ring Relief (Or whatever that was)
16) CoQ10
17) Various Antihistamines
18) DHEA
19) Maxalt (Rizatriptan)
20) Gabapentin

And so many others that I cannot quite recall.

Contrast is entirely correct - these were all as useless as shining a flashlight on my head would have been.

 

[Moomoomooo]

My best advice is continue making music but try adding high pitches into it. I just listened to this YouTube video the other day and it seemed to really help/distract me. "Tinnitus Music Therapy, Best Tinnitus Sound Generator" and It really got me thinking that maybe more artist could incorporate these pitches/notes into more songs. I really enjoy chill/dubstep/electro music so I could really see it added to them and people without Tinnitus wouldnt even really notice/care.

Now to be honest this basically just started and my ringing isnt terrible. Its annoying but I can only imagine the amount of people who have it WAY worse than me. So maybe the video wont help people who have it worse than me or that have a different noise but that doesnt mean other videos/songs wont help those people.

Basically in my mind I feel that this noise should be able to be suppressed if the correct tune/tone is being played depending on the person(s).

 

[Backpacker]

What frequencies and what dips and have you had any other symptoms since you had a concussion?

 

[nash13]

What frequencies and what dips and have you had any other symptoms since you had a concussion?

I didn't get a copy of my chart but from memory it dipped in the 4000Hz range.

I believe my hearing was average, mostly in the 10db range with the dip being into 20db.

(apologies if I'm phrasing these terms wrong, I'm super new to this, hope that makes sense)

No other symptoms from the concussion that lasted more than a week or two (dizziness, blurry vision). Though I will say I've had some mild dizziness in the past few days in the evenings.

 

[vermillion]

Wellbutrin is a bitch. There are so many testimonies of tinnitus onsets by that drug.

The few gigs I do get, I've had to turn down cause my tinnitus was too distracting and I didn't want to aggravate it.

Smart move.
You have to give time.
There's a good chance that things will calm down and you can keep on writing music, maybe with a few adjustments and precautions. For the gigs, I can't tell.
Personally I cannot provide advice, because I am one of the bad cases here. "Lucky" me!
My point is that I read many people getting better. On top of that I have a few acquaintances in real life - musicians and a DJ - who they still do their thing. One is in the US btw.
I understand the frustration at this point. I would suggest to rest your ears now and take it slow. COVID-19 along with the confinement is giving you this "opportunity".
There's somewhere here a thread were various people post advice to people with recent onset. Can't recall the title. I'll see whether I can track it down.

 

[Bill Bauer]

It's disturbing that the hygienist hasn't offered manual tools to you earlier.

I worry I'll never have a high quality of life, that I'll have to stop doing what I love, that I'll have to move somewhere else (LA is so loud).

There is still a chance that it will begin fading and eventually you will have your life back. Is it the case that you haven't experienced any fading yet?

You might want to try being serious about protecting your ears from all of the sounds that don't feel right to you right now. I hope you will be able to try it for at least 6-8 weeks.

My best advice is continue making music but try adding high pitches into it.

Normally I wouldn't want to mention the horror stories below, but I feel that it is important to argue against the advice above. One has to take those innocent sounding sounds seriously.

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Unfortunately

Reality denied comes back to haunt.

I tried the 'laissez faire' approach for that first period, where I didn't let myself be bothered by most sounds, except for 80db+ (when I started plugging the ears) and still went out and did all my old activities, but that ended up costing me dearly. I had a 'spike' (if it can still be called that) that hasn't gone away.

Got a spike myself from seeing a movie with earplugs, and then I later even switched to safety earmuffs. It's yet to settle or fade. I won't be going to see one anytime soon again if ever, if that's all it'll take. If you do ever see one, I think it's best to go with earmuffs rather than earplugs, no matter how "silly" it may look to others.

I also got told no ear plugs during normal day sounds by my ENT. He said walking next to traffic and in trains is fine. So I followed his advice. My tinnitues spiked majorly and still hasnt gone down four months later. They then realised my ears were more sensitive then they realized and decided on a process to gradually ween me off them. They screwed big time and soon realized the damage they had done because i became more panicked, more anxious, protecting more and now its a harder time to ween me off them.

So after my last permanent worsening from an idiot cranking my car speaker to the maximum. I was walking around the city with my friend with no plugs in and a kid stomped on and popped an inflated bag approx 2m behind me, it caught me off guard but I remained calm and told myself it was nothing to worry about as I had no pain and felt not muffeling of my hearing. I woke up two days later and my tinnitus has permanently increased again. What is happening to me, why is it constantly worsening like this. I feel nothing anymore and Ive basically begin to disassociate as I just can't mentally comprehend what is happening, this is like living in a literal nightmare.

My T faded a lot suddenly almost 3 years ago. I had total remission of some trebly sounds in my head. It became only audible in quiet rooms.

Now its back in full force cause Im stupid. Some ENT told me ear plugs are safe. Wrong! T is with me again.

I didn't think listening to headphones would affect my ears since I never exceeded 25% of max volume (usually stayed between 10%-15%). I would use them at the gym to help mask my T and they offered some protection against loud noises at the gym. After about 3 months my T was so bothersome and I couldn't pinpoint the cause since I also work with kids and it can get loud at times. I stopped using the headphones and now use earplugs at the gym and the T did subside. I wouldn't recommend using headphones for more than 20 mins a day and no more than 3 times a week. I used to be at the gym for 2 hours 4-5 times a week so it took a toll on my ears.

I was told not to wear hearing protection for normal everyday situations but look where it's got me. I had my plugs in my pocket too. Getting on with a normal life hasn't helped for me.

I tried to wear some ear plugs while I was at the gym because I was afraid the clashing of the dumb bells was going to hurt my ears.

However, after working out twice I now have these two low frequency tones that feel like they are fighting over who should be playing every waking second. I can't quite figure out their pitches because they keep tag teaming, but it's much lower than my regular tinnitus.

I'm kind of distressed because I feel like I can never workout again for fear of making my tinnitus worse. What should I do?

While I agree some people here go overboard with hearing protection, this increase in noise sensitivity after wearing hearing protection is only a temporary one. It is not the same thing as the brain turning up the auditory gain when there is a permanent loss in hearing.

With regards to noise exposure that isn't dangerous to most people, I developed a new tone in my right ear after a noise exposure at work back in October. I spent about half an hour in an area that I would estimate was at most 90db, but it was probably less than that. I had deeply inserted large foam earplugs at the time, but apparently that was not enough protection. That tone has not gone away, and it's not some psychosomatic spike. Spikes in volume are somewhat relative in my opinion, they can be attributed to stress, lack of sleep, noise exposure, diet, etc., but completely new tones that do not go away are something different.

What is safe for you may not be safe for me. And the fact is there has been no good study done assessing the vulnerability of already damaged auditory systems. The gold standard for dangerous noise levels is based on old data from OSHA where they looked for permanent threshold shifts of 10db or more at 2000, 3000, or 4000 Hz. As we know now, you can have fairly significant auditory damage without having a permanent threshold shift in those three ranges. There is also a lot of industry push-back when OSHA tries to make safety guidelines more strict (I haven't seen this with noise levels, but I have seen it with chemical safety guidelines). Moreover, it's very likely that some people are more genetically predisposed to hearing damage than others.

What I'm getting at here is I agree with you that some people really do go overboard with hearing protection, and obsessing about noise is not healthy, but it irritates me when people adopt this attitude of "well it works for me therefore it must work for you" or "it's safe for me therefore it's safe for you". No one can say that.

the noise has actually got worse - a lot worse just lately as I've been exposed to a noisy office environment. Normal for everyone else but too noisy for my ears. I now have a noise like a jet engine, a rushing wind with a high-pitched whine in it.

Yeah. I am going through the same thing. Got my T to improve and go back to mild and went to a restaurant I have eaten safely at twice post T and have had the loudest spike that has, after a week, not improved at all. And my H got worse too.

When people speak of habituation, I'm pretty sure they refer to what I was experiencing when my T was a lot less louder. It was easy to tune out which is why I never took it seriously until it was too late. What I have now is impossible to ignore completely.

It lead to stress and anxiety which have destroyed my sleeping. Without any medication I get maybe an hour of unrefreshing sleep. I take ambien which gives me 4 at most which is my new normal now. Memory and cognitive abilities have fallen off a cliff. I suggest you drop concerts, headphones, and anything else involving loud sounds. You don't not want to reach this state ever. Take care.

Now situation is devastating and so strange: 12 days ago dishes near me crashed on the floor and a strange spike started. It wasn't noticeable during the day, during first hours. Then hearing became a bit muffled. Not a big deal anyway.

Problem is the evening and the night. An eletric sound from my ear, from my head... I can't sleep. If I try to cover my ears.. I don't hear the T! But when I put off my hands it starts again.

Was a difficult first few months, but i protected my hearing a lot (avoiding loud places, wearing custom -35 dB plugs outside and peltor muff when things got loud).

The tinnitus had slowly lowered o a slight "shhh" that was so low i was ok to sleep in a silent room (and i hardly heard the tinnitus even with the peltor on most days, or if i heard it it didn't bother me).
I had stopped all medication.

5 days ago, looking for work, i had a skype call. basically my PC messed up and the skype ringing tune was much higher than it usually is. Took me 20 seconds to stop it but apparently it may have been too long.

Now i'm back to a loud baseline tinnitus with new very high pitched sounds coming and going on top of it.
Very depressed and angry that one small mistake can mess my ears again when my life was finally going so well again.

I was sitting in my house and my next door neighbor decided to cut his entire lawn with a gas powered weed wacker. She did that for about little over an hour on and off, I guess stopping to refuel and moving around to different parts of the house and driveway. I was so deep into a movie with my girlfriend that I was just not paying attention, and did not notice the high pitched sound of the weed wacker outside at first.

But later that afternoon I got a very bad spike and my tinnitus went through the roof. You would think that a person is safe in his own home from something like this, but it seems that I was not. Even with all of my double pane windows and heavy cloth blinds closed I guess that high pitched noise from the weed wacker just went right through it and nailed my ears.

So I have been suffering the past 3 days with increased tinnitus. It started on sat after noon around 12, and here it is today Tues and I'm a little better, but not back to my baseline again yet.

It's really freaking me out. I'm very mad and frustrated at myself for not using in my ear plugs or gun muffs to protect myself, but who would have thought that their would be any danger inside of my own home ?

I did measure it on my dB meter on my phone and it seemed to be around 58 dB. I have no idea how accurate that a cell phone's dB meter is.

My neighbors house and driveway are about 30 to 50 feet away from my house and driveway depending where they are using the weed wacker or where I was in the house I happened to be in the front room. I did notice that I could hear the movie over the sound of the weed wacker it wasn't until I paid attention that I realized how loud the sound from the weed wacker was.

Yeah, that's how I ended up with severe tinnitus and it was mild in the beginning. I'm not saying people should stay at home all day but I do think that things like concerts can permanently worsen tinnitus even if that person wears hearing protection. Of course, not in every case and the thread is about a lawn mower not a concert but I don't think it's responsible to tell someone to just 'live their life' - go out with hearing protection but if your body is giving you signals that t is getting worse then listen to those. I had people with tinnitus tell me I'd be safe with ear plugs and if I noticed a spike it would just be due to me worrying about it... I know other people aren't as naive and stupid as I used to be but the severity of my tinnitus was honestly preventable and I wouldn't wish such a worsening on anyone else.

You see I've had tinnitus since May of 2006 and the first couple of years I was extremely cautious and used protection when ever I felt there was a chance that there could be loud sounds. This meant me using custom made earplugs at work, using heavy foam earplugs the extremely few times I went out to a pub or similar (after all I was 22 when I got this thing and couldn't as well isolate my self).

After a few years though I started using protections less and less. And by that I mean I didn't use earplugs at work anymore (I worked extra as a bus driver at the time while studying at a University). I still wouldn't dream of going out without plugs though. And between 2009-2015 I pretty much never used earplugs at all. I didn't go to clubs or concerts or anything like that so I even stopped bringing plugs with me. I actually didn't even have a set of plugs in my pocket for years.

My tinnitus was stable for all this time with a few milder spikes that never lasted more than a day. But to be honest I probably wouldn't even know because I didn't even think about my tinnitus for years. I was "cured". I didn't hear it unless I listened for it. If tinnitus came up in a conversation I would listen for it and go "yep there it is" and then it would go back to the oblivion.

Then in January 2015 I had a major spike that became permanent. After that my tinnitus is not as stable anymore. Recently I went to a wedding reception and even though I wore SNR:35db earplugs the whole time I am having a pretty bad spike at the moment that has been lasting a good couple of weeks that I'm praying is not going to become permanent. This would never have happened only a few years ago!

So what I'm trying to say is that it's not as clear cut as you might think. Your tinnitus might be stable for now but there can come a time, like it seems to have for me, where something that shouldn't be harmful according to all of the sound level charts just for some reason is. I am going to have to come to terms with the fact that I can never ever go to a loud venue again, even with the heaviest protection, and that is sadly the fact for many others. It's not unreasonable fear. It's simply common sense.

I have made some mistakes in my past by going to loud places with earplugs and made my progress bad, and now sometimes I think it's permanent, but I am happy that I am somewhat habituated and don't have any panic attacks.

Even if you get completely recovered don't expose yourself to any loud environment anymore even with earplugs.

About 3 weeks ago I started to feel better but I went out one day and I wasn't wearing my earplugs for only ten minutes. It was a restaurant with music playing but it wasn't loud. Still I came home with a loud spike and thought it would go away in the morning but it stayed the same until now. I also have this feeling of fullness mostly in my right ear which has nonstop ringing.

My tinnitus was severe initially, but it went away completely but then it returned, slowly at first, as I continued to enjoy a few concerts and clubs (with earplugs and in moderation). I only continued to do these activities after an ENT told me that I should continue to do all the things I usually did, just wear protection - I first and foremost blame her for the situation I am now in (horrendously loud tinnitus and hyperacusis) from bad advice. I should have trusted my gut instinct and never went to another rock concert again, but no I trusted her advice... perhaps because I wanted to.

I gave up concerts in 2016 when I got my first very noticeable increase - the time it went from being a "only at night" sound to a 24/7 sound, though very low in the day, I could tune it out easily. I was quite happy, learning to sleep normally with the new volume, and it didn't bother me too much. I still went to social nights with friends, bars and restaurants that weren't playing loud music were ok for me with earplugs.

Fast forward to April 2018 and I decided to accept an invitation from a friend to play electric guitar with him at his house. Big mistake! We played on small amps and for an hour and a half and that is what left me with catastrophic tinnitus and hyperacusis.... I'd say from this point onwards, the impact on my life has been absolutely life-changing and devastating. I'm to blame for that, I should have known better, but I stupidly thought with ear protection I'd be ok because I am usually ok playing my amp even without earplugs. I should have worn ear defenders not just ear plugs. As I hadn't taken in the extra volume from his amp and plus he turned his up a bit louder than mine. I became full of regret and started to hate myself and my decision that changed my life.

My life since has been very difficult. I cannot sleep without meds each night, the ringing is so loud. I cannot drive, shop or walk near busy roads without earplugs. I cannot go to restaurants or bars anymore or do most social activities that my friends do which has left me feeling isolated and depressed. I've tried to vacation as usual... which was partially successful. However on flights I have to wear ear defenders otherwise my tinnitus spikes like crazy. The last time I flew in May this year, part of my trip involved a boat trip....the boat was 87 dB! I wore earplugs but again, 87 dB on a small boat 47 minutes each way? It caused another increase in my tinnitus. The same thing goes for driving my car... if I drive on a highway for more than 30 mins, normal earplugs don't protect me, I have to wear ear defenders to stop tinnitus spiking. I'm not sure what kind of tinnitus I have but it's very reactive to low level noise and it really gets me down as it seems to increase in volume each time. I don't want to live like a hermit but it's becoming that way... and I hate it. The spikes from little mistakes are loud and go on for weeks. Usually when they fade I'm left with louder ringing generally.

I wish I could understand how I have a spike after using a 70 decibel lawn mower with ear muffs on for like 20 minutes. It has been 10 days now. Ever since I've did that damn MRI two years ago, not only did I get x3 tinnitus increase, the noise threshold required to get worse is much lower. I used to use gas powered lawn mowers before the MRI with no problems, with hearing protection on of course.

Just more proof to the concept that the more damage you have the more it easy it can get worse at least for me.

Two weeks ago I went to a karaoke night and used earplugs. It really wasn't all that loud except for a few of the bass noises.

However, since then, I have gotten a spike in tinnitus (before this I had been habituated fully for a year and a half!)

It appears injured ears are very similar to concussions. If a person sufferes a concussion, and then has another one before the first one is done healing, the 2nd concussion can be several times worse. It makes sense, as an injured brain trying to heal doesn't have the resilience of a healthy brain to withstand a new trauma.

Oh go you'll be fine they said. Wear earplugs they said.

So I went to the event with ear plugs. Was there for only a few minutes. Big mistake. Gave me low drone/hum that's worst than the high pitch hiss/eeeee, tea kettle sounds. Never went away. sigh
3 1/2 years ago.

Everyone is different. Every situation is different.
You have to make a decision and live with it.

I can't take it anymore. I don't want to die but at this stage the urge to stop suffering is stronger. Ps. To all members in this forum advising against so called "overprotection". I never exposed myself to sounds even remotely considered as being potentially harmful to healthy people but because of your advice I was exposed to sounds uncomfortable for me which eventually proved to be damaging.

At initial stages i was very weary about sound levels around me and used protection everytime I felt uncomfortable.

Only by reading TRT literature or some posts here I started to expose my self to sounds loud but never louder than 75-80 dB.

Whenever I was feeling like something is not right I was stupid enough to believe you these changes were part of "the natural process of healing".

Is this your healing? Every time you feel like giving this sort of advice have my case in mind.

I came here to give you an advice. Your tinnitus CAN get a lot better (not habituation, real a lot better in volume reduction), but dont ruin your recovery going to loud places, EVEN with "protection".

...

2017 I was living free finasteride and "free" Tinnitus, only audible in quiet rooms. 3 years with low T so I was feeling less paranoid about it. These forums, the ENTS, all things from the dark past for me.

24 october 2017: The worst decision I took in my life. I wanted a night of fun. Bought Ear Peace HD ear plugs and went to a Gene Simmons Show in a small nightclub. The volume was loud, but I thought "I am wearing ear plugs, I am protected". 24 hs after the show, T came back and worse than ever. I hear it 24/7. Bad days are severe, good days are torelable...but now 50 days after the show I am feeling hopeless about real improvements. Maybe I lost my chance to have a low T life.

...

Tomorrow I have and appointment with a psychologist to treat this awful feeling.

Don't ruin your life going to shows or noisy events. Ear plugs are not safe. You can not escape from vibrations that sound produces in small places.

Remember. If you get better you need to FEAR tinnitus. Never forget.

A new article in the New York Times dated 21 May 2020 on the importance of duration of noise for risks of hearing damage and developments of auditory conditions such as hyperacusis.

A few excerpts:

Treating 85 decibels as a safe level makes no sense at all," said Rick Neitzel, Ph.D., an associate professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan.

"Exposure is not just intensity — it is also how long it lasts and how frequently it occurs," he said. "Ignoring the time is missing the point. This 85-decibel number has achieved mythical status not because it is safe but because it is one of the few ways that occupational noise is regulated."

An unknown factor is individual susceptibility. It's impossible to predict whose ears are tough and whose are tender.
"The same noise dose has no apparent impact on some and a life-altering impact on others," said Bryan Pollard, president of the nonprofit Hyperacusis Research, which funds research about noise-induced pain.


Link to full article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/parenting/children-headphones-hearing-loss.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/joycecohen/noise-kills-when-everyday-sound-becomes-torture
More useful quotes from that buzzfeed article

Recognition of the dangers of noise — which are often mischaracterized and more far-reaching than previously assumed — is "dawning a little bit but doesn't go beyond the research community so far," says Jos Eggermont, a professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. He was stunned when his research showed that exposure to low-level noise, in amounts not generally considered harmful, caused extensive damage in the auditory cortex.

My not-yet husband emailed me because I was getting better and he was getting worse. He wanted to know my strategy. Time and silence, I told him.

Regarding a person who had committed suicide as a result of T and H:

A concert he couldn't resist. His audiologist told him earplugs were enough. They weren't. "I want to emphasize that this is entirely my own fault," Hectors wrote. "I have never been aware of the dangers."
...
The final, fatal dose of noise came during a friend's bachelor party; he wore earplugs during dinner and fled after a brief stop at the karaoke bar. His ears burned with a white-hot pain.

 

[JT2020]

Hey Nash13,

I'm brand new to Tinnitus-Talk- joined last month. I live in Los Angeles too and just wanted to say hello and let you know you are not alone!

My tinnitus started during the George Floyd Riots weekend. My 1st 3 weeks were extremely tough, the last 3 have gotten better but still hard and with LA shutting down again makes things even tougher.

I posted 2 messages in "Introduce Yourself" section. For my case (complicated) I may have surgery to repair structural problems to my ear which may/may not help tinnitus.

Anyway, details in my other posts. I just wanted to reach out.

I am not the best person to ask for advice since I'm a newbie but I can always listen and give you any suggestions that turn out to help my case of T.

All the best!

 

[Gerard M]

Hey @nash13 and @JT2020

I am sorry to hear that! I also got tinnitus in May. It has been one of the most challenging experiences i have ever had to deal with. I am also a producer/Sound Engineer/ DJ I just finished my TAFE last year and jumped to continue with the degree this year. I had to change classes this semester because i didn´t want to do anything with sound. i really want to give my ears a good rest. I am also having some hyperacusis and what some people call Dyplacusis which is distortion of sound.

From what i can tell many get better and some other habituate. It is hard to be positive in the early stages, I have been having up and downs, being on my own doesn´t help, corona virus doesn´t help, i guess just time helps and trying to be calm even if the sound from our ears doesn´t stop, this is my first post here, i have been reading the sucessful stories and watching Julian Cowan Hill on youtube. It is not much we can do but just hope we can get our life back and go back to music maybe just doing small changes.

It helps to know we are not alone, I have told some friends and weirdly enought they have said yeah i have that as well, Mostly some of my friends that work in sound they all have a sort of tinnitus, it is so common and yet we are so unaware of the dangers of exposing our selves to loud noises.

feel free to reach out, also it helps to have a T warrior buddy, I have been speaking to a woman that has it for several years and just having that assurance that the beginning is the hardest and that everything gets easier is really comforting in time of despair.