Tinnitus: The Musicians Demon (and mine)

A very important post, Rick. I've got tinnitus, and hearing loss, as do many of my contemporaries from the 60's and 70's. Sting has it, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Hughie Lewis, the list is endless. If you're a youngster reading this and are not yet afflicted, do yourself a favor and protect your hearing by whatever means necessary.

As a drummer, I thank my lucky stars every day that one of my earliest teachers told me, day one, as one of their first bits of advice, told me, "Get good hearing protection." They literally refused to teach me any drumming until I put hearing protection on. I am grateful every single day that they were so adamant.

I got tinnitus 4 months ago from a medication. Complete silence for 52 years, then suddenly 80db of torture, pure hell. You literally can't think. I lost 20 pounds I was so miserable. For the first time in my life I wanted to be run over by a car, or die of a sudden heart attack. But finally in the last 3 weeks the volume has gone down to about 45db. I'm starting to be able to accept it. I've been to so many ENT's and AUDs. I've tried all the crazy stuff out there. I would go to a witch doctor if I thought it would help. But really, the best thing has just been acceptance. For anyone just having this. I feel for you. If I could recommend anything, stay off the tinnitus forums, stay off the internet aside from positive success stories. It can be a dark rabbit hole if you're not careful. Also I recommend the book The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science for some positive stories. Best of luck.

Rick, I’m a Dentist and I can tell you that Tinnitus has multiple causes. One of them is Bruxism, that happens while sleeping. You said that after sleeping you were well, and after other night you were not. The Jaw (Mandible) has bilateral structures called condyles, where muscles are inserted and are extremely near the ear canal (internally). So, if any lack of balance or disajustment happens on the condyles, there are chances to affect the ears and cause noises...Tinnitus. Bruxism is mainly related to emotional stress that causes unconscious muscular contractions, resulting in teeth grinding and damage to the mandible balance. In these cases, specific night guard should be worn for 2-3 months and other therapies could be necessary to confirm or not the diagnosis. The objective is to relax the muscles and balance the mandible (the TMJ: Temporomandibular joint) to prevent those events. If it doesn’t work, other factors must be considered. In the U.S, Dr. Jeffrey P. Okeson may help you. That’s my suggestion.

I’m sure I’m not the only Tinnitus sufferer whose eyes lit-up when you said yours goes away and you have periods of silence.
I think I’d cry with joy if that ever happened to me.

I'm a sound designer for movies / tv and a few years ago was working on a scene with an elevator that was screetching and scraping.. The episode was a dreamy stylized one with many flashbacks to the elevator screetching, falling, scraping. I woke up the next morning, walked into the restroom and heard this high pitched tone.. I knew immediately what it was.. my heart sank. I've had it non-stop ever since. Some days are better than others but it's always there.

I've had tinnitus for over 10 years now.
I I played in a cover band for about 30 years and always stood to the left of the Drummer so my right ear really took a beating from the cymbals. When I got tinnitus I was very scared but after 10 years I just accept that it's a part of me and honestly it doesn't scare me anymore. Maybe it bothers me a little bit in a very quiet room or when I'm stressed out but for the most part it's OK. I guess my point is that it's not a matter of accepting it over time it's a matter of understanding that it's just a part of you and it's not going to hurt you and the more you accept the more unnoticeable it becomes. I go through many days now not noticing it at all and suddenly I go into a quiet room and I realize how loud it is. Best thing you can do is get on with your life and enjoy the support and love and friendship of people around you. It's a beautiful world out there and a bit of ringing in your ears shouldn't ruin your life.

You described it perfectly. I have severe Tinnitus, and sometimes I cry because it drives me absolutely insane.

I’ve had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. I’ve been a construction worker my entire adult life. Loud grinders and other machines back in the day almost no one wore ear protection. It makes depression worse to the point that I’ve considered opting out. Tinnitus is terrible.

I’ve suffered from tinnitus for about 15 years now. It’s sucks and like you said the severity comes and goes. Hopefully one day we’ll get a real solution to the problem 🤞

Watching this and other tinnitus videos, I realize how lucky I am. I have been playing drums and listening to music very loudly since I was 15. I have had ringing in my ears my whole life and it has never bothered me. I would say that more than 50% of the time I forget that I have it. When it "comes back" -- that is, when I suddenly notice it again, it, I just ignore it. I am not trying to say that other people "should just ignore it" because everyone is different. This is just one way in which I am blessed. Prayers and best wishes for all those who find it a trial. Hang in there, and keep doing what you love.

Rick, the most humiliating day of my life was when I agreed to go to an audiologist my husband insisted I see. I took the hearing tests and failed them. Defeated, I continued to do as I was told, so I inserted the demonstration hearing aid my husband had researched and decided would be right for me. I put in the left device and realized a minor miracle had occurred. I inserted the right ear device and closed my eyes. SILENCE. I had not heard silence in over 40 years. I took them out and the cicada noise was back. So I reinserted them to find a silent haven. I began laughing, when only a minute ago I was on the brink of tears. “It’s GONE!” I declared. “These things make it go away!” Tinnitus is the reason I couldn’t hear my husband and all the rest of the reasons I was there to begin with. BUT the Signia hearing aids, for some reason are able to diminish the sounds that have haunted me for four decades. I almost dread taking them out to go to sleep at night. But they do need to charge and get cleaned while I sleep, so I have agreed to that, but I wear them ALL the time… for the peace and quiet I’ve come to love again. My audiologist said this happens to some people, but not everyone. I’m one of the fortunate ones! Maybe you are, too! Carol Keene in Illinois

I’ve lived with tinnitus for almost 10 years now and I have to admit when I first noticed it I was extremely stressed about it. I thought it would be the end of my career as a music producer and live sound engineer. if it’s any help for you to hear this, I never let tinnitus take over my life and make me give up my dreams, and now I do music for a living full time.
Like you, I also went through the process of reaching out for help and seeing numerous doctors to try and find a cure, all to no avail.
I can honestly admit my tinnitus doesn’t bother me at all nowadays , as I have accepted it’s a part of who I am. I actually learnt that when I become conscious to the tinnitus it is amplified in my head, but when I don’t ever think about it, I can go for months now forgetting I even have it. Watching this video is actually the first time in weeks that I have heard my own tinnitus, because it’s a reminder I have it. But because I’m so relaxed and accepting about it now, it doesn’t haunt me like it used to.
My number 1 tip for anyone suffering is to try their best to relax knowing it will always be there, however you don’t need to always be aware of it. Focus on other things in your life, avoid any stress and you will surprise yourself at how little the tinnitus will affect you.
I can still work as a live sound engineer and make music without my tinnitus ever getting worse or being a problem because I am relaxed about it now.
To be stressed over tinnitus is a self perpetuating experience because you are hyper focussed on the sound, which gets you stressed, which amplifies the sound in your head, which then makes you more stressed etc etc.
To start becoming less conscious of your tinnitus, start listening to rain noise or podcasts / music / radio whilst you sleep. And throughout your day, just try your hardest to relax and not even think about the ringing. Keep yourself occupied and always have background noise around you. before you know it you will forget it’s even there.
I hope reading this helps anyone suffering. Trust me, through my own experience it only gets easier the longer you live with it.

I've dealt with tinnitus for so long I don't remember what silence sounds like. But, since mine is just a constant high-pitched ringing, I've adapted to it and toned it out and most of the time don't think about it. But, I would definitely encourage all musicians ESPECIALLY young kids just starting out not to neglect your hearing. It may not seem like a big deal now, but if you develop tinnitus, you'll regret not being more responsible when you had the chance.

I've had it since I was a kid so I thought that's the way ears work and everybody had it. I think I will go crazy If I ever met silence. Take care.

Rick, you're really lucky to have days of silence. I've had loud cicadas 24 hours a day, every day, for maybe 30 years. I'm not a musician, but experienced a lot of loud rock music in the 60s and 70s, especially. You generally come to ignore it, but it does limit your hearing.

Wishing for days of silence, Rick, I am so sorry. This is totally heartbreaking and so important to talk about. Thank you for telling your story. x

My tinnitus started from playing in a garage band without hearing protection. I haven't had silence in years, sleep is as close as it gets. Because of the struggle, I decided to go to school to study audiology and hopefully lend a hand to others who struggle with tinnitus and hearing loss.

I can't imagine not having it. At least it's not severe for me - it's not nearly as loud as described in this video - but still it's always there and never stops. I got it from playing loud headphone music in high-school and it's never gone away.

Hey Rick I spent 26 yrs in the Military , I was always around jets and weapons. I retired in 2004 and I have had ringing 24 / 7 for more than 20 yrs. I compared to 9.5 decibels like you but it has never let up. If it weren't for my wife and daughter I probably wouldn't be here. It is a struggle to cope with, good luck my friend.

I've had Tinnitus in both my ears my entire life, as young as I can remember. I've literally never "heard" silence. It get's to the point it threatens your sanity. So I feel for anyone that struggles with it. Hopefully we get a cure in the near future!

I went to an ENT who gave me an explanation that actually makes sense. If he's right, everybody has ringing all the time, but it's so quiet that it's imperceptible. As your ears start to lose sensitivity to high frequencies, your brain tries to compensate, doing the equivalent of cranking the sliders for the missing frequencies as high as they will go on the EQ. This changes the signal/noise ratio for the part of your brain responsible for interpreting those frequencies, and the noise floor which is normally unnoticeable is all of a sudden very noticeable.
I played professionally for decades, and I have now had tinnitus for about 5 years. Some days are better than others, and it sometimes goes away for a bit like yours - other times, it's almost conversation loud. Fortunately, it rarely bothers me even though it's almost always there - I've gotten very good at ignoring it.

I have tinnitus in both ears. it started in only the right. went to an ENT doctor. He just looked into my ears and told me I have wax buildup and he performed a wax removal procedure with a water pump. It was paniful as he did it and the very second he was finished I noticed loud ringing in both ears. It has lasted so far for a whole year. It did improve a little bit after a while but its still there. Somedays its worse than others. Honeslty the only thing keeping me going is my faith in Jesus Christ. And in a weird way this condition is a blessing because it does remind me that this life is short and I should think about the next life and try my best to get into Heaven since there life is perfect forever.

My Tinnitus is severe. Both ears, many tones, loud. Many years as a musician with tinnitus. In the past year a whistling sound has developed in my left ear triggered by outside sounds & even my own voice. Every single sound has an accompanying whistle, that increases in volume as the outside sound is louder. Have you ever heard of this? 2 ENT's, Mri & cat scan show nothing physically abnormal, so they have nothing to offer! It's making life difficult. I don't know what to do!!! I'm a songwriter with a home studio & I can barely do anything! Isolation is the new norm, but the ringing never stops. Rick, I thank you for bringing this up & wish you well & quiet.

"You just learn to deal with it, but you never really learn to deal with it." This is so accurate.

I'm 5 minutes into this as a 50 year old ex musician and I'm crying. I played in bands until I was 30 and have severe tinnitus from this many loud gig's and raves in the 90's uk. I'm dealing with it, but it really suck's at time's. I wouldn't wish this on anybody.

I've had tinnitus since I can remember and I didn't know it was not normal until I turned 18.
I have literally never experienced silence in my life. It used to be easily overpowered by sound but now I can hear it all the time even as I watch this wearing headphones I can hear it.

Tinnitus here..since 2014 (I´m 50 now)...after a few months where everything looks dark, slowly I learned to deal with it...and then..you discover that you can get almost full days forgetting about it. Now it bothers me any time I remember that I have it..or on silent moments..but no anxiety anymore.

Solidarity to everyone with tinnitus. I learned to live with it but stress and lack of sleep make it a double penalty: you're stressed and tired AND the tinnitus gets even louder.

It’s not only a musician’s curse - it’s also common with those who spend years around loud or continuously droning equipment. In my case it was chainsaws, snowmobiles, and motorbikes. Unfortunately, my tinnitus never stops, although I will occasionally .have very brief periods where my brain tends to tune it out when focused on other things. It’s a horrible and all too common affliction.

I've had tinnitus for a decade now and it originated with a cold virus/sinus infection - thank you for bringing up this topic

I just discovered this video. I've had tinnitus since I was in 3rd grade (I'm 52). I remember when my elementary/grammar school did hearing tests for all the students, and I was put in a room with a set of earphones where I had to indicate when I heard tones. I started to indicate that I was hearing tones, but the person giving the test told me we hadn't started yet. So.....after growing up some, I decided to do the best thing for my ears and become a rock guitarist in a band. I absolutely cannot sleep unless I have a white noise generator of some type (usually a box fan, or an app on my phone). Other than that, I wouldn't say I am doing any suffering. I've had the condition for so long that I think total silence would be more bothersome than actually having tinnitus - but hey, I'd be willing to give it a go!

I have tinnitus in my right ear, I just had a cholesteatoma removed and my ear drum replaced, I’ve learned to tune it out by listening to different types of tinnitus therapy, my favorite is violet noise.
Some days are worse than others but, I’ll tell you one thing, I take ear protection very seriously now.

Rick I am Orofacial Pain specialist and as such I have to tell you that of all my patients with TMJ problems around 50% to 60% of them complain of Tinnitus. Just as you did most of them go to see the ENT first and once the ear related problems are ruled out the most common cause is TMJ related problems.
If you wake up with tense masticatory muscles or have any sleep related problems such as snoring which goes along with night clenching and bruxism then a great solution is a night guard. Not a soft one as it was mentioned before on another reply but a hard one that brings your mandible forward and only allows clenching on the front part of your mouth and limits biting on the posterior teeth. Some people also need a night sleeping appliance. If you have any sleep related issues a sleep study would be in order. Hope this helps.

30+ years here. Thank you for bringing this up Rick. I, too, dream of silence instead of tolerance. I've found that alcohol exacerbates mine as well. Hoping for some medical progress on this front!

I've been a drummer since my mid teens, I've had Tinnitus since my late teens. I'm 54, I'm used to it now. But I really really miss the silence. Protect your hearing. That's it.

I just wanted to say, for those who recently developed tinnitus, and find themselves "in a nightmare": I have been where you are. I went through the darkness and got out the other side. It's been 13 years. Nowadays I am COMPLETELY FINE WITH IT.
My main lesson: everything started to go much better AS SOON AS I GAVE UP ON "CURING IT".
After trying everything and getting disappointed all the time, I finally accepted it, and quite fast things turned around.
I would advice everyone to watch the movie "Sound Of Metal". I found relief the same way.
Be at peace.

Hi Rick. I’m in school to become a doctor of Audiology and have a very thorough understanding of tinnitus’ causes and treatments. The most common cause of tinnitus is that it is actually a secondary side effect of having a hearing loss (it can also be cause by many other conditions, Ménière’s disease, cancer therapy drugs). When hair cells in the inner ear are damaged by a high SPL the neurons sending signals to the brain don’t know when to shut off because of a chemical imbalance those hair cells control. The best treatment option, as bad as it sounds, is a hearing aid to boost the signal above your hearing loss, this stimulates the auditory nerve to levels that were previously achieved before your hearing was damaged and if you have a good audiologist it will prevent your hearing from being damaged any further (of course you still wear hearing protection in the presence of any loud sounds.) I’d be happy to talk more with anyone interested in the subject.

One thing that helps me is listening to notched pink noise for the frequencies where my ears ring. It doesn't make it go away, but it contextualizes it so that it feels quieter, at least for me.
But the best help was giving up on wanting silence. There are things in life I would love to have, but I will never have them. Even so, life is good. Pure silence is just another thing on that list. Plus, my actual hearing is still good overall, so yin and yang a bit. Either way, giving that desire up as much as I can helps a lot. I find reading stories with folks saying, "I will never hear a quiet day again," doesn't really help. No point in stirring up nostalgia for something I cannot change now.
No, you probably won't have a purely quiet day (unless you're lucky like Rick). And you can be OK with that.
Beyond all of that, I find stress really amps up my perception of how loud it is, which in turn can trigger a new round of panic. Tinnitus is somehow connected with the limbic system, which is in turn associate with things like your "fight or flight" sense. It's been speculated that it can trigger that urge a bit, particularly when it is particularly noticeable (maybe that's why it's noticeable). I wouldn't claim to be a neuroscientist, but I suspect it isn't an unreasonable hypothesis that increased stress and increased perception of tinnitus would be linked for that reason. I find trying to calm down and trying as best I can to concentrate on managing my stress instead of worrying about my ears has the side benefit of returning me to a more peaceful state of coexisting with the condition.

I had a near drowning when I was 3 years old, so tinnitus has been with me my whole life. Funny thing, always thought it was perfectly normal until an audiologist picked it up in my teens. I hear it all the time, constantly, never ever goes away, but it doesn't bug me at all, hardly notice it unless everything is dead quiet. I still hear higher frequencies just fine, all the way to 18k, but have a sensitivity to certain frequencies in the 12-14k range. The squealing of old tube TV's would drive me totally nuts, felt like an ice pick going through my brain.

Mine began in 2010, its gotten a little louder every couple years. At this point its scary loud, yet I still gig (with plugs). Protect your ears young musicians!

As a kid in the early 70's I used to listen to entire albums using headphones and the volume on 10. My folks had no idea of the damage I was doing. Today my ears ring constantly 24/7. I've made it a top priority to teach my own kids to look after their ears.

thank you for talking about . i got tinnitus , i think about 15 years ago . i can stand it ,it is always with me but i suppose not so strong , as many others . a kind of hissing . doctor could not help me at all. a fried gave me advice to trynot to listen and not to concentrate on it. after some time i became able to fade it out somehow till today. i am 72 now. if i am nervous or upset i think it becomes stronger. anyway, it is my friend always with me , but i am able to forget him and give him no meaning . but i shall never forget the first fourteen days , i thought i would become crazy. all the best wishes for all who are suffering from that evil.

I’ve had it for thirty five years. Ever since I was In the military. Very severe. Three tones of varying volume. Sometimes it will wake me from a dead sleep. I’ve heard it’s comparable to phantom pain. It’s an indication of hearing loss. Btw, if it comes and goes it’s probably Meniere’s Disease as opposed to pure hearing damage.

It's been 3 years now with tinnitus... no silence ever. I'm almost 42 and had a history of tons of 'walkman' music plus working several years at a print workshop (very loud machines).
Thank you for speaking out about this. Doctors told me 'just have some background music'... not much support in there.
I noticed when you are tired, it gets stronger. It requires constant mental power to get it under control. Right now, while typing, is super high. I really hope science can find a cure to this!!

I've had it for over 20 years. There was one day about five years ago that I absolutely broke down and cried harder than I've cried for anything I can remember. I just wanted to remember what "nothing" sounded like. After that break down, I think I reached a calm understanding that it was never going to change and although I'd rather NOT have tinnitus, it doesn't wear on my mental state anymore.
I think I pin it down to a Slipknot concert back in like 1999 at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach. Opening acts were fine but when they started their set, my ears just rang and rang and rang and I was too young and stupid to remove myself from the situation. PLEASE take care of your ears. Permanent damage is permanent.

Thank you for sharing this, Rick. If nothing else it is reassuring to know that so many other musicians are going through the same thing.

Glad you got into this topic. Loving your channel Rick.

Its always there for me, sometimes louder than other days, but I've gone for at least a month without ever thinking about it. Its just there, and if I think about it, I can hear it, but on "quiet" days I can just tune it out without thinking and be aware of other things going on. I think that's key, accepting it, and living with it, and if you're lucky you can forget about it. Sometimes anyway.

I started playing guitar at a young age around 1970. By the 80's I was gigging, working in a recording studio and doing live sound for various bands. After a way-too-loud NYE gig of 1987 in Austin I was jarred awake at 3AM about a week later with very loud tinnitus. A subsequent hearing test revealed a bilateral loss of about 50db in the 4k-6k range. Several weeks later hyperacusis set in (severe sensitivity to any sound whatsoever). I remember being in a quiet library and just the sound of turning the pages of a book caused physical nerve pain. Took about 18 months for the hyperacusis to settle down but the tinnitus remains to this day.
Not ever using hearing protection really cost me. It knocked me out of the music biz... I couldn't go on anymore and it was the end of my life as I knew it. Imagine building your entire life around music then having to give it all up... depression anyone?
Today it's fairly loud but I have habituated and am able to almost completely ignore this 24/7 assault of my brain's audio processing center. Attempts over the years to re-ignite playing in a band again with industrial strength hearing protection just exacerbated the tinnitus seemingly tenfold and it would take about a year to get back to bearable levels after just putting the guitar down and walking away. It becomes a brain thing where it's no longer the loudness that makes it worse (although that must be avoided at all costs), but with noise induced hearing loss, just lighting those areas of the brain up again seems to kick it into overdrive... playing, performing and the emotional high it produces. It's like an op-amp turning up the gain in an attempt to ferret out nuance and compensate for a shitty signal to noise ratio.
I have learned the hard way that it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie.
I would recommend anyone with tinnitus from noise induced hearing loss to invest in properly tuned hearing aids with tinnitus masking capabilities (a.k.a white noise generation). Although I don't need hearing aids as I still have very functional hearing, they do an amazing job of calming down a jump in intensity after wearing them for a week or two.
Also get some custom fit 'Musicians Ear Plugs from an audiologist if you perform or go to concerts. They have 9db, 15db and 25db attenuators. I wish they had them back in my day. This whole thing could have likely been avoided and I would have become famous. Probably dead from an overdose by the late 90s however. Just looking at the bright side here.
Tinnitus doesn't ever go away once you get it and it can really change in intensity at times. When it gets louder, your brain latches on to it and won't let go making things even worse and it can take months or years to habituate to a louder baseline. Having hearing aids with a tinnitus masker really seems to solve this problem. It's a great comfort to know they are there if needed and can bring the ringing back down to tolerable levels in a matter of days/weeks vs. months/years.
Just talking about it makes it seem much louder. Time to go think about something else.

I’m pleased you get some relief. I’ve had it for 10+ years without a day of relief. Your respite from the ringing gives us some hope. Love your work Rick!

Thank you Rick Beato! Thank you for talking about this! We need more awareness about tinnitus!

Periods of silence: What's THAT like? I've had tinnitis as long as I can remember (probably since I was a kid), but it seems to have gotten louder the last few years. I remember walking into an anechoic chamber once, and to me it was deafening tinnitus. Same when, once wandering a movie studio and walking into an empty soundstage. I"m glad I'm not a musician. You don't notice tinnitus much in a data center full of roaring servers.

MIT study demonstrates hearing loss reversal. Take a look at the article “Reversing hearing loss with regenerative therapy”. The article states that within 10 years reversing hearing loss through ear cilia regeneration will be similar to a Lasix surgery procedure for vision. I’ve had tinnitus for 20 years. It’s a pain, but I’ve adapted. Looks like there’s hope for all of us diagnosed with tinnitus.

I'm sorry that you have to endure this now Rick. Very nice of you to show this to the world.

Thank you for this. Mine has been bad the past few days. More than usual and it's just nice to know I'm not alone.

I’ll be 53 this year and I feel so blessed to have avoided this. I’ve always thought of my ears as “I only get the one set, better make ‘em last!” Sometimes it can be embarrassing to plug your ears or stop working to put in ear plugs when you’re younger and others are being “tough guys“ about it. Or going to a concert and just getting right in front of the speakers to show you can take it. I’ve always taken care of my ears through many years of playing in bands, etc. To any younger people reading this, it really pays off to take care of your ears. You will never regret doing it, but you may regret not doing it.

About a decade I've suffered now. But you can train the brain to just not hear it. Maddening at points.

I appreciate you making this video Rick. It's been about 12 years for me now and I can't imagine experiencing total silence. Very normal in the veteran community.

Thank you for sharing this, Rick! My mom suffers from Tinnitus. But, hearing your testimony really gives us hope! We've been praying for healing and won't give up. People battling this are not alone!

I've been a musician since I was a kid, was always very careful about volume levels (something my parents made a rule in the house), protected my ears at concerts and stuff, and I got tinnitus about 4 or 5 years ago. My husband blares his music so loud we can hear it in the opposite side of the house even when his office door is closed, likes to sit right near speakers at concerts, doesn't have tinnitus. Sometimes, the things ordained for us just aren't fair. If you ever do find a treatment that works, I'd love to hear about it. I hope you continue to have more silent days!

I've had it since I was a kid, no causal incident that I can remember. Had my hearing tested recently, it's perfect but everything is filtered through the high pitched tone. The real tragedy is the lack of treatment and care, or sympathy from others including many doctors who just assume it's untreatable and you have to live with it.

Wow that's a hell of a scary story! It reminded me of the first time I tipped my ears over the edge. I ended up in a very dangerous emotional state where life became meaningless. The more I focused on it, the louder it got.I was fortunate to discover a tinnitus support group as well as meditation. The salvation with me was being taught to accept the sound and ignore it by exposing myself to distractive sounds such as white noise. Easier said than done! I had considered this to be absolutely ridiculous at the time but quickly realised I had no other option. Long long story short, working on accepting and ignoring the noise eventually paid off. These days I hardly NOTICE it's there. In my case the ringing is ALWAYS there. It's a case of whether I notice it. Tinnitus is also a measurement of how stressed you are. Also, things like red wine can trigger it. A lot of things beside loud sounds can bring it on.

Rick, thank you for opening up about this on video. I'm sure this is very helpful to people who feel alone struggling with tinnitus. I wish more musicians would open up about it.

I'm only 20, and I've always remembered having this sort of ringing in my ears ever since I was a child. It was only around 2 years ago when I was around 18 is when I actually got diagnosed with Tinnitus and minor hearing loss. All these years when I find myself lying in bed not being able to sleep, I always doubted myself if I were going crazy. I did not know at all that Tinnitus was normal. I literally thought it was the "sound of silence." I couldn't bear it and I had so many days where the ringing was absolutely killing me. Doubted myself and everything.
Now, I think I've learned to live with it. It doesn't really bother me as much as it did before. It rarely leaves and if it does, it only does for a short while.
I really long for days of silence, and I hope to all who have Tinnitus right now, I'm with ya. Peace.

I feel ya Rick. Years of loud band rehearsals, mixing in headphones, loud concerts in small clubs, cranking the stereo with no ear protection . Paying for it all now .

Finally, a "coming out"! Thank you Rick! No genre of music should require you sacrificing your inner peace with an affliction like tinnitus. The ear is a supersofisticated, yet superfragile "apparatus", and the damage to it is irreversible. As it has been a generational thing probably not to talk about it, so we must get educational about it. It takes lots of years to learn to handle it, and this might be very confronting for yourself and your family/environment.

I am so sorry you are suffering from this. You have brought me such joy and knowledge . Well, I have had it for years, decades , thank goodness not as loud as you have mentioned, its just a constant background ring that is part of my existence at this point I thought everyone was hearing it, but no go, its me. Causes insomnia as well. Slight high end loss in my left ear as well. For many decades, cymbals, feedback and bad guitarists are to blame. I am sure, slamming my head against the wall during the first marriage didn't help either. Wishing you the best.

I’ve had tinnitus for over 20 years. For me it was being in large data centers for years where the background noise is over 90 db constantly, so it’s not only musicians who suffer with this. Mine never goes away, I’m in my late 60’s and I am a musician and amateur audio engineer. I have had hearing aids for the last 15 or so years which help, because the good aids are programmable where a hearing test can determine the frequencies that you are having trouble with, and they can use EQ and program the aids to compensate. I’ve tried all the home remedies under the Sun, and nothing has worked. You get used to it, and you work around it, the hearing aids help a lot, but don’t go cheap on the aids as the cheap ones are crap! All I can say to everyone, take care of your hearing, and mitigate any very loud, very sudden noises and prolonged moderately loud noises!

As a blind musician, I’ve been dealing with this for over 20 years. It got to the point that it was masking the natural gas flow in our gas fireplace, and I couldn’t tell the difference between the gas flow and the ringing in my ears. Now anytime I’m playing on the platform at church, I have earplugs in. We still do it old-school, therefore the amps are loud and miked. My earplugs bring things down about 32 DB or so. I found it changes in blood pressure, barometric pressure, and other environmental things can raise or lower the decibel level of the ringing. Mine fluctuates throughout the day.

Good one for sharing that Rick. I have suffered from tinnitus for quite some time - probably due to listening to and playing music at number 11 in the sixties and seventies. It is brilliant that people have responded with anecdotes and insights. Hopefully, young musicians (and others) will learn how to lessen the chances of acquiring this pernicious condition.
Cheers,
Keith

Thank you for sharing Rick. I'm kind of desperate at the moment. I'm a musician and I have to admit I have not protected my ears in my young days as good as I do now. I never had problems though until I turned 40. A couple of years ago I developed tinnitus in my left ear that gradually became more noticeable. I sort of got used to it and thought I will just have to learn to live with it. But then I woke up one night and my tinnitus ear had 3 frequencies blasting and somewhere from 4k up I had a significant hearing loss. I went to the doctor and got the cortizone treatment. The condition disappeared in a couple of days. Scared but relieved I thought I dodged a bullet. 6 months went by and it happened again. Back to consuming cortizone and it magically went away again like the first time. I got pretty worried this time but I was relieved it "normalized". 7 days ago it started again. This time it has not gone away and I'm seriously worried. I have a great band that is actively releasing music and playing live and I'm afraid this might end it all. I really hope something will be discovered to help.

G'day Rick, I'm an audiologist, I got tinnitus after playing and watching shows 20-25 years ago. It got me into audiology. I use a neurophysiological model to explain and treat tinnitus in the auditory pathway with patients. I don't know if there'll ever be an injection or pill to cure it as it is probably random cochlea hair cell movement getting through to the auditory cortex instead of being filtered out by the brainstem (this "glitch" is triggered by noise events or hearing loss, temporary or permanent). The best tool in my toolkit for patients is counselling (information) and a close second is hearing aids (if there's any hearing loss however mild). The increase input from hearing aids helps in my mind to lower the above mentioned reflex to hopefully reduce tinnitus perception.

My tinnitus started off from 30 years DJing using headphone amplifiers, finally driven over the edge by an air bomb firework exploding right next to my head, which resulted, in the short term, in a week’s worth of almost complete deafness, combined with a loud hissing and whining in my head, absolutely THE most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to deal with!
Thankfully my hearing slowly came back, but it brought a passenger back with it, permanent tinnitus! And the top end of my hearing destroyed.
It’s taken me about 7 years to learn to deal with it, most of the time I don’t notice it…your brain learns to “forget” it, until I’m asked about it, and then I hear it!
I wish I’d known about hearing protection back in the 90’s, it would’ve saved me a lot of anxiety.
So…any musicians/DJ’s/ out there with good hearing, NOW is the time to invest in decent hearing protection. Don’t wait until you notice a problem, because once the damage is done, it won’t get undone, and you’ll just have to learn to deal with it, and that is a pain in the backside.

Rick I absolutely love your videos and your talent. Thank you for what you do and do so well. This particular one really hits home. I been suffering with this for about 16 years. Hearing loss is usually attached to this condition. When you mentioned being in sessions dealing with it and mixing engineers trying to mask it to not alarm their clients I can so relate. It
creates so much anxiety and anxiety makes the conditions worse. A vicious cycle. Blessings to you!

Thank you for sharing this Rick. I have not experienced silence for over 10 years. The hardest part is trying to sleep at night.

I had a similar situation and stumbled upon a weird cure, after 3 doctors told me there was no solution: The fourth doctor (a neuro-audiologist) figured out that I was pinching my trigeminal nerve due to stress, combined with the fact that I have a slightly asymmetrical jaw (if you close your jaw a bit too tight, you might hear a taste of what I was hearing constantly).
So my problem is mostly fixed now because I wear a soft mouth guard during night and day. Amazing that my orthodontist had to construct the cure for an ear problem. Most of the ringing is gone, but it does ebb and flow if I forget to wear the mouth guard, and I have very slight tinnitus when it's quiet in both ears. That part I've made my peace with. Hope this comment helps anyone out there with a similar cause to this horrible problem!

It's one of my worst fears. I always wear ear plugs, I bought even the expensive ones. I hope genetics won't betray me, and I hope someday there will be a solution for this problem. I wish you the best

I understand your frustration, I am a tinniteon too. Mine is accompanied with ear aches most of the time. Thank you for sharing. I love your channel. I love music theory. You have opened my world to the science of musical sound. You are a gift. Thank you.

Hey Rick. I have huge sympathy. For a guy dedicated to sound, it’s got to be tough. And for those who put themselves out there for our entertainment, well, my heart goes out to them all. If we poured as much money into medical research as we do our military organisations, I’m fairly sure we would have a treatment.
LOVE your content by the way. Always insightful, educational and passionate. Thank you for the time and energy you put in. It’s not lost on me. Cheers. Rich.

My tinnitus is extremely intense. I also lost all my high end so I wear hearing aids. And even with those, I constantly say “what” to people. For many years I played bar gigs without ear plugs. And before that, starting on drums at age 7, no ear plugs. Growing up and going to many many concerts with no ear plugs. Playing super loud showcase gigs with no earplugs. Until one night when I came home from a gig, and the ringing was much louder, almost unbearable. That’s when I finally got musician’s ear plugs with the frequency filters. But of course that was way too late. Then a few years ago I went in for hearing aids, because my wife and colleagues made me go. Now in my mixes, the high hats aren’t too loud. I could go on and on, but I’ll end here. To you young musicians, don’t be an idiot like me, just because you want to hear your guitar tone-wear earplugs!

This truly terrifies me. I've always tried to take care of my hearing since my early 20s when I came out of a band practice with it sounding like I had pillows in my ears. Since then, I've always used hearing protection at band practice/gigs. Every once in a while, I'll be sitting watching a video or listening to music and suddenly a tone will enter from out of nowhere. So far, I've been able to just relax and breathe for a minute and it goes away, but I'm concerned that will not be the case one day. For all of you who suffer, you have my sympathy. I just can't even imagine ...

I have it since at least 20 years now. Luckily only in one ear but unfortunately it is also joined with hearing loss since a few years - wearing a hearing aid helped quite a lot. It also always helps me to hear other people experiencing similar situations as it makes me realize that I am not alone. So thank you Rick for this video. It is hard for those who don't suffer from it what we really have to go through since - as you said - you can't see it from the outside. You look complelety normal but you don't feel normal. Inside your head there's a battle going on in which you just fight to enjoy your life and not letting the Tinnitus ruin you everything. Glad to hear that it is not present for you everyday and I'll keep my fingers crossed that one day you will wake up without it coming back.

Thank you so much Rick!!!

Rick, I'm glad to hear someone talk about this. I've had it for about 40 years. It is bad enough that I have thought that being completely deaf would be better than the noise that is in my head. I wear hearing aids that put white noise into my ears and make my life more bearable. Last year at my appointment with my audiologist, she could mimic the noise that I hear all of the time with the sound booth, she had my wife sit in the room for about 2 minutes listening to what I hear, she came out in tears. "I had no idea what it is that you are experiencing" was her comment. She still gets frustrated with my inability to hear, but there is a little more grace now.

My tinnitus almost disappeared during a MDMA Trip, I was blown away and started reading a few articles about tinnitus and seritonin levels, apparently there is a connection, Tinnitus came back but I can really notice that my tinnitus gets worse during anxious periods of my life

Thank you for bringing this up.

Thankyou for sharing. Been a working musician since I was 25. Now I'm 50 and one day the tinitus just became really noticeable. I think it was always there a bit, but once I noticed it it's hard to ignore. Quite depressing, but good to know others have learnt to live with it.

I've had tinnitus all of my life. As a child I remember "listening" to it after I went to bed and all was quiet. I thought all people heard that way. Thankfully for me it's a high pitched ringing with different tones in each ear and the tones aren't dissonant (which could drive a musician crazy). Now that I'm in my 50s, I've added hearing loss to the problem (industry related). Then add to that masks during covid and I was completely out of the conversation in a crowded public place. I bit the bullet and went to a hearing specialist and bought hearing aides. When I put them in it was like the room "opened up" to me. What a releief. If anyone is suffering from tinnitus, I'd reccomend a hearing test. it may be that hearing aides could help. They don't take away the tinnitus, but they help you with the real sounds that are happening around you.

As an on-stage musician for about 40 years I’ve started developing tinnitus about seven years ago and it was very scary. I will have flareups. I tried a technique where you put your hands over your ears and your snap your fingers onto the back of your head repeatedly and I thought it had to be a joke but it actually has made improvements when I’m getting a big flare up. There may be a lot of reasons for this something to do with the vibration jarring the nerves or The inner ear but whatever it is it seems to Create a noticeable improvement. It didn’t work as much at first but more I did it the more I noticed an improvement. Hell when you’re having tinnitus even a placebo effect is welcome.

Love the thumbnail! It's really eye catching

Yes, like many, I live with the demon. I try to ignore it. It is a huge problem, but what to do except keep making the music as best I can. Thank you for sharing.

You're a lucky man, Rick. You have periods of silence. I still remember the exact moment my tinnitus started, about twenty years ago. I believe it may have been due to medication and well as loud music when I was young. I discussed it with my doctor, he said there's not a lot medically that can be done, at least not right now. What I wouldn't give for just five minutes of normal hearing.

Constant low volume high pitched tone in both ears every day for the last 20-odd years. Not from loud music though. Spent 12 years in the military. Gunfire, explosions, loud engines, all the usual suspects. Used hearing protection religiously but it still happened. I don't even remember what silence sounds like any more. Sorry to hear you're dealing with this as well.

Thank you for sharing, I've always had a fear of losing one of my major senses and it good to know that I wouldn't be alone if I did.

Thank you for sharing, really important video.

Having spent most of my teen years around musicians who all suffered from tinnitus, I wore protection to every practice & performance. I avoided areas of loud noise (workshops, vacuum cleaners etc.) . Then one day, 20+ years into the industry, working in the silence that is 4am, I yawned and stretched. Bang. Tinnitus. So much for being careful. Depressed me for a while, but now I make my own ambient recordings, centered mostly around synth strings and it tends to tame the beast on bad days. Would give almost anything for a day of silence :)

I've had tinnitus since 1985. AC/DC at the Meadowlands. Angus and the boys were so loud, you could FEEL the sound on your eardrums. The pressure was insane (and I was in the back of the stadium.) It was crazy loud in the beginning but after a few weeks it lessened. Now I only hear it when it's really quiet, but it's been decades.

I've had this my entire life. I have vivid memories of laying on my bed staring at the ceiling when I was 5 or 6 years old wondering what this sound was. I've never had a day without it and I am now about to turn 47.

Jave had it 30 years. It doesn't stop and those who don't have it will never understand what we go through. I agree, i would give anything for just one quiet day. Love the channel and thank you.