When I'm exposed to live guitar sounds, whether it's super loud or not, and especially when I'm playing guitar, I get distortion in my right ear. If I plug it up with a good ear plug, it's fine, unless I don't plug the other ear, in which case the distortion seems to happen in the right ear. Other than that, my hearing is exceptional. I had a hearing test about 2 years ago, when this was an issue, and I still have young ears in comparison to my age.

I remember distinctly what happened. A few years ago, I was playing a show in the basement of a record store. I didn't bother wearing earplugs (dumb) and it was really loud. We were essentially in a corner with stone walls. After we played, for about an hour or so, sound was distorted in my right ear. It went away and never bothered me again until a few years later, when I started playing guitar. I think it might even happen easier if I'm looking down in the fret board. It kinda feels like the pressure of keeping my head down feeds into it.

If I use earplugs, this isn't a problem and listening to music has never been an issue. It's only when I'm playing guitar and my amp is louder than 2 or 3 on the dial. Probably something to do with the saturation of high end frequency, coupled with the pressure going on in my head, and whatever damage happened from that basement show.

Other than that, I've had tinnitus my entire life. I always thought it was normal to hear a ring in your ear when things were silent. It's never really bothered me.

andyman wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:41 am

cakes wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:45 pm When I'm exposed to live guitar sounds, whether it's super loud or not, and especially when I'm playing guitar, I get distortion in my right ear.

I think it might even happen easier if I'm looking down in the fret board. It kinda feels like the pressure of keeping my head down feeds into it.

I have the same thing in my left ear. It happens in noisy environments in general (loud pubs, ambulances going by). I suspect it's tied to a misaligned jaw (the muscles around the ear are connected), which I'm trying to get looked at.

What makes you think that and who do you talk to about something like that?

cakes wrote:

andyman wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:41 am

cakes wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:45 pm When I'm exposed to live guitar sounds, whether it's super loud or not, and especially when I'm playing guitar, I get distortion in my right ear.

I think it might even happen easier if I'm looking down in the fret board. It kinda feels like the pressure of keeping my head down feeds into it.

I have the same thing in my left ear. It happens in noisy environments in general (loud pubs, ambulances going by). I suspect it's tied to a misaligned jaw (the muscles around the ear are connected), which I'm trying to get looked at.

What makes you think that and who do you talk to about something like that?

hmm yeah both these things sound closer to what I have. I suspect my thing might be a 'physical' response (perhaps a spasm) happening around the eardrum (whether jaw or sinus cavity I don't know yet) and not hearing loss. Inserting a plastic/silicone ear plug seems to bring it out worse, even if there's no music and I'm just talking with it in.

penningtron wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:18 am

cakes wrote:

andyman wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:41 am

I have the same thing in my left ear. It happens in noisy environments in general (loud pubs, ambulances going by). I suspect it's tied to a misaligned jaw (the muscles around the ear are connected), which I'm trying to get looked at.

What makes you think that and who do you talk to about something like that?

hmm yeah both these things sound closer to what I have. I suspect my thing might be a 'physical' response (perhaps a spasm) happening around the eardrum (whether jaw or sinus cavity I don't know yet) and not hearing loss. Inserting a plastic/silicone ear plug seems to bring it out worse, even if there's no music and I'm just talking with it in.

For me, the silicon earplug is a must.

cakes wrote: For me, the silicon earplug is a must.

Drumming at home I prefer to wear the gun muffs, which attenuate more of the high end. Maybe the ear plugs just don't cut as much high end as the muffs and that's why I notice it more, but I suspect it has more to do with the added pressure inside the ear further aggravating whatever's going on. (ie. hearing the cracking even when I'm just talking)

I'd still rather deal with this than not use ear protection at all. I've always been pretty good about ear protection, which makes this issue even more bizarre to me.

I bought a pair of Hearos before practice tonight, and my ears are ringing more than usual. I generally don’t mind the post-practice or show ear ringing, but tonight, it’s extraordinarily loud. What the hell?

I’m in a band that requires me to sing and play bass. I have a baritone voice. Earplugs usually muddle my voice and my bass geetar, and the result is total disaster.

My apologies if there’s something about this on the gear thread. I’m not a gear dude, and I rarely go there. Talking about gear makes me feel like a douche. Maybe it’s imposter syndrome.

*edit…turns out this thread is in the gear thread! Sorry fellas. I say fellas because I’m pretty sure girls don’t come here (except for maybe Josie. Please prove me wrong.)

Anyhoo…any earplug recommendations for a guy who plays bass, sings bass, but needs to hear himself?

Dave N. wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:09 pm I bought a pair of Hearos before practice tonight, and my ears are ringing more than usual. I generally don’t mind the post-practice or show ear ringing, but tonight, it’s extraordinarily loud. What the hell?

Which ones? You'll need something with more dB attenuation if your ears are still ringing. Hearos is a brand that makes many styles of earplugs. Guessing you got the the Hi-Fi ones with 12dB reduction. You'll likely want 17dB reduction or greater.

I don't have a recommendation. But here are the 3 most common ones (that aren't monitors or custom) that I hear musicians liking in order of most feeback:

Eargasm
Earpeace
Earos One

I have the Earpeace ones and while they are the best ones I've had, they still kill guitar too much for me. Curious if the Eargasm ones are any better. Previously I was using the Etymotic ER-20 style (haven't tried ER-20XS), which a lot of people like, but cut out even more guitar than the Earpeace ones. Bass doesn't suffer as much. I feel like all ear plugs are going to muffle your own voice (you'll hear it more through your head) unless you are using ones that are monitors.

tommy wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:39 am

Dave N. wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:09 pm I bought a pair of Hearos before practice tonight, and my ears are ringing more than usual. I generally don’t mind the post-practice or show ear ringing, but tonight, it’s extraordinarily loud. What the hell?

Which ones? You'll need something with more dB attenuation if your ears are still ringing. Hearos is a brand that makes many styles of earplugs. Guessing you got the the Hi-Fi ones with 12dB reduction. You'll likely want 17dB reduction or greater.

I don't have a recommendation. But here are the 3 most common ones (that aren't monitors or custom) that I hear musicians liking in order of most feeback:

Eargasm
Earpeace
Earos One

I have the Earpeace ones and while they are the best ones I've had, they still kill guitar too much for me. Curious if the Eargasm ones are any better. Previously I was using the Etymotic ER-20 style (haven't tried ER-20XS), which a lot of people like, but cut out even more guitar than the Earpeace ones. Bass doesn't suffer as much. I feel like all ear plugs are going to muffle your own voice (you'll hear it more through your head) unless you are using ones that are monitors.

I got the -12db. Maybe it’s high time I get the kind with monitors. I’ll try Eargasm next.

-12 seems a little weak for a loud band. I use -20 something db Earpeaces just for playing drums alone.

I think an inevitability of playing loud music is that you're always kind of guessing how your voice will come through, so you might as well not ruin your ears at the same time.

I have perpetual, constant tinnitus, typical high-frequency hash. Bilateral. Almost all from close-range cymbals/snare, I believe--both onstage and in the basements of my life.

Gets worse with stress--big factor. Also lack of sleep, caffeine, nicotine. Noise can aggravate but not terrifically if it's short duration.

Doesn't really affect my hearing, which has always confused me.

Dealing is mental. Getting bummed out about it is a spiral and also pointless because there's no real remedy.

I like the Sensaphonics plugs, have all the different filters...-9dB, -15dB, -25dB. Plus solid, full-shell silicone ones for Sunn.

Predictably, the less they block, the better music sounds with 'em in. Whatever you can keep in your ears is better than having higher-attenuation earplugs in your pocket. I don't wear plugs onstage outside of Sunn, usually wear at practice, always at anything else loud.

Note that in Chicago, Sensaphonics will test your ears to the upper limit of 20kHz. Most places stop at 8kHz because they're testing for speech.

Other than Sensaphonics, I like this guy Jordan Teitelbaum on the North Shore. He is musician-sympathetic.

Very recently, I had the unwelcome introduction of unilateral tinnitus in my left ear...down in the regular audio range. It's the middle F# and G# on a piano, alternating like something from a Terry Riley composition, erratic lengths.

It's very intermittent/infrequent, and it's not unpleasant tonally, so I don't actually mind it so much. But its onset was troubling, so I got it checked out. Teitelbaum said it's probably related to blockage/pressure, and if it's intermittent, not to sweat it unless it gets worse.

Aaaaand a few months ago, I had some Eustachian tube dysfunction that was genuinely bumming me out, with everything getting all muffled and shitty sounding. THAT sucked. Teitelbaum diagnosed and helped me figure out how to fix, just by using a Neti pot on the reg and holding my nose and blowing air gently up into the tubes to clear 'em out. So psyched when it cleared up.

Oh: I am trying these Soundbites supplements that are supposed to help protect your ears etc. etc. I have no idea at all if they work. I have a few bottles of them, and once I get through them I'll see what happens when I stop taking them. Probably they do nothing and I won't notice any change--that's my prediction.

----

tl;dr:

I've mostly made friends with my tinnitus and have come to regard it as the price I pay for having enjoyed much of my experience playing music to the maximum extent. It's not an unbearable price at this point, fortunately. But if I could flip a switch and turn it off, I certainly would.

I guess I would recommend wearing earplugs, but rocking is a lot more fun without them. Better plugs are less of a buzzkill. I'll never not have filtered earplugs for the rest of my life.