Young people, stage and loud noise

[paulears]

I've started to suffer from tinnitus. The horrible thing is that it's exactly the same noise, a high frequency whistle, that I used to use when I was young to tell me I'd had a good night! I'm talking AC/DC, Split Enz, Quo, Genesis and that kind of stuff. Even up until only a couple of years ago, despite all those warnings, I'd thought myself quite lucky. I then started taking a lot more care (still didn't have it at this point) - earplugs, and sometimes even just not being in the loud room. The tinnitus has come on slowly, and I'm pretty sure that I've not been anywhere truly loud. What have I done to start it? I'm laying the blame firmly on in-ears. I started to use them a couple of years ago - about the time the tinnitus started. So I'm using them to blot out the room noise, and replace it with comms, PFL, that kind of stuff, and maybe a bit of continuous audio mixed in. I reckon that even though it doesn't feel loud, it probably is - so although I can't be certain, I'm not sure personal monitoring really works. Certainly it isn't loud enough to sound loud - playing a guitar isn't loud enough - but it seems to have triggered the tinnitus.

 

Could just be coincidence? I'm not sure!

[jodat2]

I've used bamboo sticks when playing the drums and it certainly brings down the sound level, however it may not be suitable depending on the genre of music and the drummers playing style.

 

We use electronic drums for practices often to help keep down sound levels, however we still prefer the sound of an acoustic kit, expecially when it comes to gigs.

 

With smaller spaced gigs using acoustic drums, there is not really much that can be done other than to use earplugs/ in ear monitors or to get the drummer to play quieter.

 

There are some cheap and good quality ear plugs on the market however, remembering to bring them to a gig is the problem :D

 

 

From past experience with in ear monitoring, I agree with getting someone who knows how to work them properly to operate them. Otherwise, any high levels outputs, pops or bangs or other unwanted noises coming through them could easily damage hearing.