Purple Noise

[Peter Egan]

I have had tinnitus for around 5 years.
I cant say that mine is as bad as others but it is still a nuisance.
It is continuous in my left ear and is close to what is described as purple noise.
I play keyboard in a band and I also sing.
I feel certain that my tinnitus is due the the volume level of my amp which always sat to my left hand side.

I had an MRI scan to rule out anything horrible growing in my head but it returned clear.
Basically, I was told that the only solution is to manage it by drowning the phantom noise with music.
The volume of the tinnitus does vary without any obvious reason.
So I just decided to live with it.
Air travel makes no difference at all to the condition.

I am now a retired electronics engineer.
I still dabble in electronics and continue to play in my band.
It is the combination of these hobbies that has led me to see if there is anything that I can do to:
(a) alleviate the condition and (b) prevent it getting worse.

In my bit of research I installed an app on my mobile phone that allows me to measure SPL (sound pressure level - didn't cost anything, and I cant afford a proper SPL meter).
Being on a mobile phone is not ideal but it does give me a reading that I can compare to comfortable sounds.
It also gives me the SPL for sounds at a variety of frequencies that maybe damaging to my ears but that are lost in the spectrum.

Bit of techy stuff now:-

I have found that :
a) a reasonably quite room will give around 5db of noise - in my house anyway.
b) with my telly up to 30 the reading is about 20db at about 10 feet.
c) at my club (live bands) give around 50db for a quieter band to 60+ for a rock band. both at 30 feet.
d) in my band with monitors at about 5 feet I get a reading of about 60 db.

None of this is truly accurate on a mobile phone but I find that 50db+ aggregates my tinnitus and so I need to suppress the sound levels.

I have investigated noise cancelling headphones and in general they do reduce the sound significantly.
The ones I have are Samsung LEVEL ANC. I reckon they give me about 30db reduction in volume without significant changes to the spectrum - so the load rock bands sound quite good and not too load now.
The phone aren't plugged in to anything so I just use the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) feature (there is a rechargeable battery in them).

A problem arises when I'm singing in my band.

Yes, the phones cancel out the band volume to a comfortable level.
But my voice is echoing around in my head so I cant then hear what the rest of the band are playing!

Has anybody else suffered this singing with headphones issue?

 

[Michael Leigh]

HI @Peter Egan

Your tinnitus was originally caused by loud noise. In my opinion, if you want to stop it from becoming worse then you need to be careful of exposing your auditory system to further loud noise. Although you may not be aware and probably think you are safe, playing in a band and using headphones, even noise cancelling you risk making your tinnitus worse. I understand your interest in playing music but the simple fact is this. When tinnitus gets worse especially when the original cause was due to "loud noise", the usual cause for it getting worse, is further exposure to sounds that the ears and auditory system are not comfortable with. Please remember sound can reach the inner ear by bone conduction. So even if you wear noise reducing earplugs or moulded types, sound can pass through your head/skull and be transferred to your inner ear.

Try to be careful.
All the best
Michael

PS: I advise that you do not listen to audio through headphones even at low volume.

 

[Peter Egan]

but surely the sound will be attenuated if it travels through bone!. The key problem is sound
passing directly to the ear drum via the canal. By using either ANC or mechanical defenders the sound will be significantly reduced. So ears are better protected. with ANC headphones (not connected to a sound source) they act like mechanical defenders. except that the graphic profile is much better and music will sound better too. Am i wrong?