Temporary (?) hearing loss at 24 - will update

first thing you should do is giving your ears a break to recover. also id visit a doctor on monday.

Might be serious, but also a flu or stiff muscles can cause that. I've had that before, because of rock hard neck muscles, and it came suddenly and to my left ear.

What do you mean by "loud live?"

There are many different causes for tinnitus not necessarily related to hearing loss from exposure. I once had tinnitus for an entire day after not being exposed to anything loud the days before. When visiting the doctor a couple of days later she said that it was most likely caused by drinking more than I normally do (I had drank about a glass of wine everyday that week as opposed to rarely drinking at all) and a lack of sleep. She said that as long as it went away and doesn't come back instantly, it's nothing serious and not a result of hearing loss.

Gerhard Westphalen said:

What do you mean by "loud live?"

There are many different causes for tinnitus not necessarily related to hearing loss from exposure. I once had tinnitus for an entire day after not being exposed to anything loud the days before. When visiting the doctor a couple of days later she said that it was most likely caused by drinking more than I normally do (I had drank about a glass of wine everyday that week as opposed to rarely drinking at all) and a lack of sleep. She said that as long as it went away and doesn't come back instantly, it's nothing serious and not a result of hearing loss.

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Rock/metal live. They were blasting those speakers good.

Nao Gam said:

Rock/metal live. They were blasting those speakers good.

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I guess the only cure for now is to let the ears rest. If the ringing doesn't go away in a couple of days, see a doctor. Did you use earplugs?

After working concert tours when I was younger and taking some hearing/ear courses in college I can tell you a few things. First, relax, hearing loss and ringing is common after a loud event. But hearing loss IS a factor of volume, frequencies, and TIME, so length of exposure is a factor, and time in quiet will help.

The official rule of thumb is if the ringing has lasted MORE than a month, then it may be perminent. But up to a month it can still go away. Yes, I too thought this was crazy until I mixed a loud concert and still had ringing a week later. I was freaked out (which prob added to my blood pressure and possibly extended my recovery time, so again, relax) but after almost 3 weeks, yes, 3 weeks, it went away. I was so releaved, but I never allowed myself to go through it again. A siren goes by? Cover your ears. Getting a short burst of a loud sound is no problem, but if you let it contiinue to pound your ears, that's where these problems occur.

Once you're beyond 3 weeks and still have ringing you can go see a doctor, but I doubt they can do much besides recommend suppliments to reduce the ringing. Meantime allow for plenty of rest and quiet. Mine was pretty consistent for 2 weeks or more, then started to decrease and in a few days later it was gone. So don't assume your screwed until you get to a month.

sekkosiki said:

I guess the only cure for now is to let the ears rest. If the ringing doesn't go away in a couple of days, see a doctor. Did you use earplugs?

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Nope. Will buy some next week and wear them on concerts religiously.

X-Bassist said:

After working concert tours when I was younger and taking some hearing/ear courses in college I can tell you a few things. First, relax, hearing loss and ringing is common after a loud event. But hearing loss IS a factor of volume, frequencies, and TIME, so length of exposure is a factor, and time in quiet will help.

The official rule of thumb is if the ringing has lasted MORE than a month, then it may be perminent. But up to a month it can still go away. Yes, I too thought this was crazy until I mixed a loud concert and still had ringing a week later. I was freaked out (which prob added to my blood pressure and possibly extended my recovery time, so again, relax) but after almost 3 weeks, yes, 3 weeks, it went away. I was so releaved, but I never allowed myself to go through it again. A siren goes by? Cover your ears. Getting a short burst of a loud sound is no problem, but if you let it contiinue to pound your ears, that's where these problems occur.

Once you're beyond 3 weeks and still have ringing you can go see a doctor, but I doubt they can do much besides recommend suppliments to reduce the ringing. Meantime allow for plenty of rest and quiet. Mine was pretty consistent for 2 weeks or more, then started to decrease and in a few days later it was gone. So don't assume your screwed until you get to a month.

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Thanks for this, I'll hold on, abstain from anything loud for a while and see what happens!

Normally the ear recovers a few hours after a loud concert as far as I know - if your ear still feels strange the next day, I'd go see a doctor as soon as possible to be safe.

In general if you feel something is wrong, I think it's always better to go to the doctor once too often than once too few (if that saying makes sense in English ), because sometimes (s)he might be able to prevent or reduce permanent damage, which might not be possible anymore in a few weeks, who knows...

I'll be honest: it's entirely possible that this is permanent. Your hearing will probably at least improve a little bit, and the ringing should subside a bit over the coming weeks, but...they may not. This may just be the new normal. No way to know until things change, if they do.

To give yourself the best chance, avoid speakers at all for the next week or two. Wear earplugs if you're doing anything even sort of loud, like walking down the street in a city. Go absolutely over the top. After a week, you can be a little more lax. A week after that, even more lax. At that point, if things haven't changed, then yes you're fucked.

I have a whole lot of experience with hearing loss and tinnitus, unfortunately.

Tastenklopfer said:

Normally the ear recovers a few hours after a loud concert as far as I know - if your ear still feels strange the next day, I'd go see a doctor as soon as possible to be safe.

In general if you feel something is wrong, I think it's always better to go to the doctor once too often than once too few (if that saying makes sense in English ), because sometimes (s)he might be able to prevent or reduce permanent damage, which might not be possible anymore in a few weeks, who knows...

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I’ve worked a lot of concerts, this is not always true. Yes, most of the time ringing stops in 24-48 hours. But there are times it can lasts for many days to weeks. This shocked me too, but look it up. This STILL does not mean it’s perminent. Only after a month does the likelyhood of it not deminishing decrease.

Perhaps there are new techniques or pills that will help, so maybe seeing a doctor will help, but unless there is a physical block (wax, water, other obstruction) they will normally tell you to go home and rest, keep from using headphones and put cell phones on speaker (nothing close to the ear) until it gets better. This is no joke, for me it was almost 3 WEEKS, but it went away, on it’s own, and at a month I was fine.

I hope all goes well for you. But if this is the first time this has happened to you, there is a good chance your ears will recover. Mine was a warning shot and I’ve been cautious ever since.

Nao Gam said:

I'm making a 2nd thread about this as I'm about to go chickensh*t.
Long story short loud live yesterday, been about 15 hours and my left ear is still ringing. I'm especially worried about frequency loss, as I'm getting into production but also because hearing things differently through each ear is so annoying.

I did a test with reaper, applied bandpass eq around the freq spectrum, I have a dip in my left ear at 3-4khz. There's a 20db difference between ears picking up the sound. I will test again once the ringing hopefully stops.

Am I f***ed?

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Recovery, then see an Audiologist, get some Silicon molds made after an audiograph.
If you’re playing live get some vented IEMs.

The best IEMs are from the guy who owns most of the patents already in use by manufacturers.
Ultimate Ears, Shure are using his patents, Dre, etc.
Jerry Harvey Audio.
Go with the guy who invented them.

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chimuelo said:

Recovery, then see an Audiologist, get some Silicon molds made after an audiograph.
If you’re playing live get some vented IEMs.

The best IEMs are from the guy who owns most of the patents already in use by manufacturers.
Ultimate Ears, Shure are using his patents, Dre, etc.
Jerry Harvey Audio.
Go with the guy who invented them.

View attachment 13380

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I don't play live, not yet anyway. I don't get why I'd use iem's plus I live in Europe & these may not be available.. I'm buying some alpine earplugs to carry around for loud venues from now on tho.

Ears protect themselves with wax, possible that one ear has a higher amount of wax.
It’s pretty hard to ruin your ears. But IEMs are great for everyday good use and eventually everybody will end up getting some if they care about their hearing.
You only get one pair.

sekkosiki said:

Might be serious, but also a flu or stiff muscles can cause that. I've had that before, because of rock hard neck muscles, and it came suddenly and to my left ear.

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I had this as well, it freaked me out as I was talking at the phone, heard the voice the person I was talking with like in a ring modulator, and I was sure of a cellphone thing. Then I changed ear and suddenly all became clear. I had also a serious bell ring in my ear for a few days, but after a while it just disappeared. Doctor said it was probably something viral as all the test were good after that.

If you're near London, these guys are good for professional ear plugs - they mould the plug to your ears and you have the option of either -5dB, -15dB or -25dB filter. I got the -25dB filter for live work and have to say the results are very good as the sound doesn't get muffled (most cheapo earplugs will muffle the sound too much).... In other words, I can still hear everything but reduced by -25dB

https://www.handheldaudio.co.uk/product-category/hearing-protection/custom-earplugs/

Don’t waste your money and time on doctors. There’s no cure for loudness induced hearing damage.
Even if it’s a “bad case” your body will still heal and your brain will equalise any differences between ears and 6 months later you will have forgotten about it.
If it’s an exceptionally “bad case” the above still applies except any future exposure to more than moderate levels for many hours will temporarily bring the ringing back, but after some goodnight sleep it’ll get back to normal. Whatever that normal was.

they are some messages which are not a good reply here to Nao issue and make me on nerves.. but i read
some good stuff here too.
Follow the first reply you got Nao, from Heroix ! give you ears a break immediatly, and go see an hearing doctor ! or even Emergency room (depending where you live and which city, it can be good or bad). try to find someone who know what an hearing traumatism is (i'm not kidding), and visit him immediatly ! don't wait !

the point is : nobody is equal because EACH body and hearing are different. so nobody can tell that "you suffered from this, so no worry, it will go away", or "yeah worry, it will stay", or "you're f***" or anything else. because all the "awful" options are possible.

let's me tell you MY STORY about getting a hearing traumatism which happened 23 years ago !

this is my personnal story, and can't apply to anybody else ! some have lived what i went through, some will not.
but if i can scary enough some of you, so that it will take conscious of the importance of your ears, not only as your job or musician tool, but as well, for your "life"... the normal one, the everyday one ! well, GOOD !
and that my Fightened story would have helped in some kind !!! because i'm tired to see the crazy amount of musician who still continue to have accident and hearing traumatism ! i'm SAD , not only for me ! i know what's happening in cinema theater, or in concert. in became insane !!

my story happened 23 years ago !! not yesterday !
23 years ago, i was starting to be a gig pianist, playing mainly jazz in gig and jazz rock / fusion and pop-rock stuff, doing singer comping, etc.. playing in hotel, bar, etc... the usual pro pianist stuff. at the same time i was studying in conservatory jazz piano, classical notation and harmonies, with some great musicians (like one of sting/chick corea's drummer... or one of michel legrand's session pianist, that's not bad as a jazz teacher !! i coud have much worst as a musician student !

one night i have been invited to do a jam session on a miles davis tune, the sound was too loud.way too loud , already in the audience. everybody was complaining, including me !
once on stage... it hurted me. a LOT. just a jam session. Not a full concert.
when the tune ended, i had absolutly no idea that this nigh, my life, not only my musician life, not only my eventually future musical "career", or whatever i was doing in music or in normal life too, just ENDED.

23 years later, i'm an hearing disabled person. i'm living with non stop tinnitus since 23 years. i had a 10 years healing between 1999 and 2009 because of a very strong medication which is not working anymore today that's how i had the chance to know some of you in the past, Hi Craig S, Robin H., Thomas J, Simon R, Thomas S etc ... if you remember me , and please, forgive me for some of my way to react badly during these years, my life was, and is still not easy ! because i lost EVERYTHING !

to the one who think that their tinnitus is a nightmare because "i hear a ring"... well, wait before you experience a cluster in both ears from high frequencies to medium and bass, all in tonal and dozen and dozen of frequencies, that you can play all of them on your piano with a so strong white noise in the front , that you can't make a difference between the tinnitus and an another sound around you !

but this is NOTHING ! i'm happy to have my tinnitus, because next to it, the real nightmare is that i got the next morning of the "accident", an oversensitive hearing syndrome called hyperacusis ! 23 years living in a 12m² of room with NO more life because your ears can't accept anymore any sound !

Music ? it was my life ! last time i listened to a john williams record for example ? it was in 2009 !

I didn't listened to the normal sound of a piano since 23 years. Spent thousand of dollars in piano technician to reduce the "noise" of it and still being able to play it few second in a month, or years... sometime life is good, and it can be week , or even days.

i didn't played in 23 years, my piano more than ten minutes per day at best. since 2009, this time didn't went more than 1 minute at a time !

since 23 years my life is a fighting to get my life back. a normal one, not just the musician one, because the traumatism is so big, and the symptoms so high, that's it's not just the musical life which ended, it's the normal one ! the social one, the ... a LIFE !

just being able to go outside in the street, giving a phone call, not having a brain killed by a electric gear which make a high frequency like a bad powersupply, or the backlight of a LCD / LED monitor ... that's just an example...
what about going out to buy food ? or see a doctor or a dentist ? wow...

of course, having no more life and no more music in your life is awful, but it would be not fun, if added to this, there will be no chronical headache everyday, 24 hour per day, since 23 years, with not a single CURE available !

23 years of all kind of diagnostic and therapy ! from the doctor who tell you "your life is over, stupid, why did you do music in your life ?" to the one who tell you that you'll be deaf in few months in 1996 (and i can tell you that in 2018, i'm NOT DEAF YET lol..) or the one who think that it's all in your head, and give you all kind of crazy medication, which will just make your life worst, at a point you'll fill a folder to be known as a disabled person and living of healtcare under poverty level in one of the most rich country in the world, and i'm feeling lucky ! it could be much worst !...

of course, life continue to run around you. so , when we feel bad, go to the doctor, wait 3 hours, in pure hearing pain and that "well you have an another issue you must go in surgery..."
"wow, and the anesthesia ? can it have a consequencies of my ears ?"
"well maybe, but you don't have choice anyway, if not you'll die"...

yeah... and here you are, spending 1 year to recovery from the anesthesia products which killed your ears again...

and then, it's funny, you get a stupid accident, and added to your ears, you have an hand accident, both of them.
but because of your ears, you can't go out anymore, and so , you can do the healing to get them better. and you're there, with your ears useless, and your hands too.

doctors... there is not one single of them which will tell the same as a second one..
from the one who tell you that you suffer from social phobia, to the one that you suffer from noise phobia, to the one who tell you that everything is in your head, to the one who tell (yes there is some !) that you suffer from an hearing traumatism, and it can't do nothing for you because it's "too late"...

i could fill the whole tread with my 23 years story of hearing traumatism
going from a full music life to ... nothing !!

so, hearing traumatism ? well, it's an emergency. a medical one, on DAY ONE. some stuff can be done at the beginning, and some of it can stop it and work !!

but more time spend to do nothing, and still hurting the ears, more additionnal traumatism are added because well, not everybody understand that the first time they got tinnitus, or oversentive hearing symtoms, is a very strong alert !! or a first hearing loss or other symtoms.. an alert to stop what make the symptoms appeared !!

it's not the end, never !
it's taking consciencious of what's happened so your life will not become a "NO" for the next 20 years and more.

i don't want to give advice, because they are common ones when we think about it, and anyway, there is not a single advice from someone experience which can apply to someone else, because we are ALL different.

but some stuff are common. 3 of them when we got an hearing traumatism,

1) it's a medical hearing emergency
2) REST !
3) don't add more traumatism to your ears !

I apologise in advance for the one who don't like my testimony here or if it's too long.

please, to everybody, take care of your ears ! and make some good music !! this is one of the most beautiful gift in this life. don't let it become a nightmare !

I agree with Martyprod that it is a medical emergency, though not every doctor will necessarily understand what you're going through. As I said in the other thread prednisolone can sometimes reverse the effects of noise induced trauma, but only when taken immediately. It's far from a sure thing, but it's a worthwhile gamble.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3102156/

SSHL (sudden sensorineural hearing loss - different from what you're describing - though you mentioned a pretty substantial 20dB drop) is an extremely serious medical emergency because it can lead to deafness. It's a loss of at least 30dB in one ear, but not due to noise trauma.

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/sudden-deafness

It wouldn't be a bad idea to see an AuD and ENT and get a baseline hearing test and guidance from a professional.

bjderganc said:

I agree with Martyprod that it is a medical emergency, though not every doctor will necessarily understand what you're going through. As I said in the other thread prednisolone can sometimes reverse the effects of noise induced trauma, but only when taken immediately. It's far from a sure thing, but it's a worthwhile gamble.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3102156/

SSHL (sudden sensorineural hearing loss - different from what you're describing - though you mentioned a pretty substantial 20dB drop) is an extremely serious medical emergency because it can lead to deafness. It's a loss of at least 30dB in one ear, but not due to noise trauma.

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/sudden-deafness

It wouldn't be a bad idea to see an AuD and ENT and get a baseline hearing test and guidance from a professional.

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You told Exactly the good answer and the right advice to follow ! nothing else to add !

1) this is a medical emergency
2) they are stuff which can reverse the issue but they must be done immediatly (that's why it's a medical emergency)
3) tinnitus and hearing loss are two different things. there are a crazy amount of reason about the fact they are there and which are not necessary related to an hearing accident. that's why seeing an hearing doctor is important, to put away the other factors and diagnostics.
4) the possibility you met a doctor (even an hearing one) who will understand what you're going through or not do the right stuff to do is high. that's what happened to me. but it's still a better solution than doing nothing and waiting it's going away.