This is a serious question, especially for those in bands: how's your hearing holding up?

I'm finding that mine is going down the shitter, and this is even with always wearing earplugs. Granted, I'm an old man (35) and I'm wondering if I'm the only one. I practice with the band maybe two times a week... don't even see too many shows that I'm not involved in otherwise, maybe once a month for those.

None of the bandmates seem to have a problem... do my genes suck?

what?

i have the constant ringing thing going on..

I've got ringing too. I hear it at night when I am going to sleep. It has increased over the years.

lately my left ear has been completely blocked up.

My problems is that my ears produce an unnecessarily high amount of ear wax. When I use ear plugs it just pushes the shit in and I get impactions. So that sucks, but when I don't have an impaction the ringing has been gone ever since I started using plugs.

Enough abuse, even with plugs, will still do damage. I don't think your genes necessarily suck.

I use earplugs but I still worry about my hearing lately. Rob from Teratism was telling me about his hearing issues. He was told by a doctor that earplugs still don't block out all the frequencies that can damage your hearing. They recommended those $300 custom made musician's earplugs.

I wonder how good those thing's sound. It might be worth it if they sound good. Plus they're custom made to fit your ear, might be worth the price considering you'd have them for life.

I have a hard time hearing people talk if there's alot of background noise. For instance, if you speak to me at a show and I just kind of nod with a blank stare, it's not just because I'm probably stoned, but I really can't hear what the fuck you are saying. Noisy restaurants are another problem area. I find that ear plugs fuck me all up -- I really can't hear what the hell I'm playing. I'd be interested in the custom ones as long as I knew they would work for me. I wouldn't want to get stuck with $300 of useless plastic.

I hate trying to have conversations with people while bands are playing.

i've been thinking about the $300 plugs for a while now. I've been thinking of checking with my insurance. they might be covered or something.

I actually find my hearing getting terribly worse. I'm always telling people to speak up, hearing buzzing constantly in silence, and there's nothing I can do especially when I wear ear plugs.

largefreakatzero said:

Yeah, I'm the same way. Usually I'll stop people in the middle of what they're saying and either say "I can't hear a goddamn thing your saying" or tell them to talk to me later when a band isn't on.

My hearing has always sucked. A lot of times I'll hear something completely different from what someone was trying to say to me.

Granny_Monster said:

I know what you mean. A lot of times when my coworkers say "my daughter is doing great in school" All I hear is "I want you to fuck me and my kids".

i'm only 22 and i've already ruined my eardrums. i need to find some earplugs that dont change the consistency of sounds when lowering the volume.

I hate when people want to talk to me during a band, not because it's too loud but because they always have gross beer breath or worse.

haha I hate that. They might as well be saying to me "hey, would you like me blow something that smells like piss and bile all over your ear and face?" because that's all I'm thinking about.

I've had an ear infection for weeks, so at the moment I can't hear out of my right ear. (I'm actually at the ear doctor now.)

The good news? They checked my hearing, and my uninfected ear has perfect hearing. I do wear earplugs when shows are wicked loun, and I'm not in a band.

menstrual_sweatpants_disco said:

I just bought the musicains ear plug for 125$ i havent jammed yet with them but they sound so much clearer then foam ear plugs...

I have been diagnosed with tinnitus and hypercusis..constant ringing in my ear and extreme pain to loud noise. There is no cure for it. I got it from all the years of playing metal. That the reason i havent been playing or at many local shows. but with these new ear plugs im gonna get back out there...

dont fuck with your ears ..protect them if you can...you dont want tinnitus trust me! sounds like many of you have the begining signs of tinnitus. It will continue to get worse if you don't wear ear plugs.

That's good news. I hope to see you at more shows now, too!

So these new earplugs are clearer? Do they still block out a lot of the noise (so it isn't loud anymore)? I assume that they would if a doctor prescribed them.

Also.. is there a name for these things? I'd like to look into them.

www.westone.com is the company. I went to an ENT in brockton. The made a cast of my ear canal and in a week i got them. Still havent jammed with them but I went into my car...put them in and blasted the radio. It sounds great.....

Hopefully they will sound killer at practice, i wanna get back to going to shows. I get alot of shit from people..."your not at shows anymore..your not metal". Fuck them...lets see if someone with as serious hearing loss and tinnitus as i have say ignorant crap like that..i can hear the ringing over a car engine sometimes...in complete silence its loud as hell. I don't know what silence is anymore.

i've noticed changes in my hearing, not a whole lot, but sometimes i just cant hear whats going on. i blame the Mayhem/Exhumed show upstairs at the Palladium in like 01 or so. never have i heard something so loud.

brian_dc said:

that's the probably the most disgusting thing i've heard in a long time

Yeti said:

i remember a nile show years back that was so loud, my ears were fucked for weeks....

Then when my band started jamming in this garage instead of a rehersal studio my ears got alot worse.... No sound board/corkboard to absorb the sound like in some rehearsal studios.

I used to never wear them and now I always do. I refused to be at a show with out them. usually earplugs cut out the frequencies that aren't human speech. That means I can usually hear people perfectly at shows and just the music is squashed.

as for tinnitus, look at the singer of Mission of Burma (carina doesn't have a good shot of it so here's some's crappy shot)

the guitarist has a plastic wall between the drummer and himself and has headphone style ear plugs with earplugs under is and his cabs are infront of him.

what?
what?
what?!
WHAT?! I CAN"T HEAR YOU!!!

I laugh at this thread.

Nuclear Winter said:

I was waiting for you to reply!

I love playing music, I just hate the feeling like my hearing is doomed. I guess I'm not alone... I do have recent tinnitus too, but it's mild- I'll hear it a couple times a day, but it only lasts for 10 seconds or so. Of course I didn't have it until I started playing again, so nothing like a nice sign that you're losing it :(

Granny_Monster said:

I was doing my Aggrostructuralarchobotany homework.

i find myself not able to make out what people are saying unless I listen intently, if i'm not paying full attention to the person who is talking the words just sound muffled and jumbled
i wear Earplugs like 100% more now than i used to

I have really good hearing. Unless I don't want to, then I can tune out a parade coming through my living room.

I also have an insanely good sense of smell, which blows when you have a smelly dog. Eyesight, however...not so much. :(

DaveFromTheGrave said:

Oh, you.

menstrual_sweatpants_disco said:

Any rocker worth his salt would get drunk and lose them within a week.

that's been my fear.

shatteredliz in brooklyn said:

I bet Liz is the only person who's ear doctor asks her to remove her shirt.

i dont think i'd lose them...i keep the earplugs i've been using for like two weeks in my cymbal bag and havent lost them yet
i figure if i can keep those ones that someone gave to me for that long, i can keep a pair that i paid 300 bucks for

I never wear earplugs...I should...but I usually don't. When I was in STR, I couldn't play with them in, I couldn't hear shit including myself. Although I suppose if I had fancy ones it would be different but I would fall under Josh's theory and lose them.

i always wear earplugs for band practice, but never when we play a show. i also hate wearing them at shows in general because they muffle everything and i want to clearly hear the bands i'm paying good money to see.

Josh_Martin said:

Not I, sir.

I actually did have a set of non-foam ear plugs that I really liked. They were comfortable, too. Unfortunately, my dog ate one of them.

ew

my dog only eats homework

My dog ate Zoe's homework a few times...man did I feel stupid writing that note to the teacher.

I hear voices, sometimes. seriously.

i'm worried about my hearing, but not from shows or practicing. i work in a large hub with lots of machinery that produces very painful noises and i usually don't wear earplugs in the operation. i've got a physical coming up anyway and i'm going to get it checked out.

i got my hearing checked when i was 16 and i had 10% hearing loss in my left ear... i didnt notice anything back then.. now i notice hearing loss... so im not gonna get it checked.

My hearing is pretty fucking fantastic. Thanks for asking.

WHAT?

That joke gets funnier every time I hear it! Except that I... can't... oh.

the other thing to look into is getting your ears cleaned out...i heard that does wonders for your hearing. for me personally i have a lot of the same problems, cant hear people when there is background noise and have a pretty much constant hum going on. but i also played in a basement with 7 foot ceilings for 3 years with no ear plugs. only within the past year have i started using them regularly. i still cant use them at shows, its hard to get used to new rooms and it freaks me out when i dont know what it really sounds like.