- Feb 2, 2018
- 5
- Tinnitus Since
- 02/2015
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Wearing headphones too much
Hi,
I've had tinnitus for coming up to 3 years now. I believe I got it from wearing headphones too much. I'm really into music and when I developed tinnitus, I used to do all my mixing etc through headphones, as I thought this allowed me to hear all the detail best. Then one day after taking off my headphones I had a high pitched ringing in my ears, and it's never gone away. It was a massive struggle at first, I didn't know whether it was permanent, doctors couldn't give me any answers. I saw a hearing specialist. My hearing was fine, but nothing they could do for the ringing. I struggled at work, not being able to concentrate properly. It seemed so loud and overpowering. I don't that whether that was because it was new, and now for the most part it's quite just because I'm more accustomed to it?
For a few months I thought I'd have to give up music all together. I play drums too, but always worn earplugs when playing. I decided I needed to get on with life, albeit with precautions. I invested in monitors for my desk so I would mix through those. I always wear earplugs to concerts now. I started out wearing earplugs at work in louder areas, but I don't anymore. For the most part it's the same noise level as anywhere else. I barely go out to nightclubs and when I do it seems ok. If it gets too loud I go outside for a bit. There are times, say if it's been recording guitar for a day where the ringing seems to have gotten louder. I just give it a rest for a day. I'll have breaks in recording too, and the monitors themselves are at quite a low volume. One downside is sometimes I struggle to tell if something sounds too harsh sonically (like I need to cut high frequencies), is it because it needs eq or is it just my tinnitus getting in the way?
I was lucky that not long after I developed tinnitus that I found out that one of my friends has it too, and I never knew. It was so nice to have someone I knew who I could to talk to about it. I still have days/moments when it seems louder and gets me down, but overall I think I'm doing ok. I just hope it doesn't get any worse and get in the way of doing things I love.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
I've had tinnitus for coming up to 3 years now. I believe I got it from wearing headphones too much. I'm really into music and when I developed tinnitus, I used to do all my mixing etc through headphones, as I thought this allowed me to hear all the detail best. Then one day after taking off my headphones I had a high pitched ringing in my ears, and it's never gone away. It was a massive struggle at first, I didn't know whether it was permanent, doctors couldn't give me any answers. I saw a hearing specialist. My hearing was fine, but nothing they could do for the ringing. I struggled at work, not being able to concentrate properly. It seemed so loud and overpowering. I don't that whether that was because it was new, and now for the most part it's quite just because I'm more accustomed to it?
For a few months I thought I'd have to give up music all together. I play drums too, but always worn earplugs when playing. I decided I needed to get on with life, albeit with precautions. I invested in monitors for my desk so I would mix through those. I always wear earplugs to concerts now. I started out wearing earplugs at work in louder areas, but I don't anymore. For the most part it's the same noise level as anywhere else. I barely go out to nightclubs and when I do it seems ok. If it gets too loud I go outside for a bit. There are times, say if it's been recording guitar for a day where the ringing seems to have gotten louder. I just give it a rest for a day. I'll have breaks in recording too, and the monitors themselves are at quite a low volume. One downside is sometimes I struggle to tell if something sounds too harsh sonically (like I need to cut high frequencies), is it because it needs eq or is it just my tinnitus getting in the way?
I was lucky that not long after I developed tinnitus that I found out that one of my friends has it too, and I never knew. It was so nice to have someone I knew who I could to talk to about it. I still have days/moments when it seems louder and gets me down, but overall I think I'm doing ok. I just hope it doesn't get any worse and get in the way of doing things I love.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
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