The Steel Guitar Forum

Pat,,does your husband have any other noises in his ear besides the ringing or high pitched squeal..? Ask him if he hears any other sounds such as a chirp or a roar,,and does he have a fullness in his ear that feels like there is something in there,,but there really isn't...Another thing,,does he get frustrated around crowds where there is a lot of noise... Also,,does he have any dizzyness,,and is there any pain in the ear,,such as short stabbing pains in the inner ear or around the ear drum area.....Feel free to email me..Carson

I've been dealing with tinnitus (in my right ear) as well. Hissing, ringing, varying volume levels. I can mostly ignore it but sometimes it nearly drives me crazy. I was tested and found to have moderate loss of high tones in my right ear, and fortunately an MRI came out normal. You know, I was fine today until I read this post! Carson's right about what aggravates tinnitus... mostly things I do not plan on giving up .

I had it for years from working on a flight deck of a carrier, with ear protection. I went to a chiropractor for an unrelated reason but the ringing stopped immediately afterwards. That was about 4 years ago and it has not returned. I went to the bone cracker for vertigo and that was taken care of as well. Henry

I have it 24-7. I've learned to ignore it most of the time but sometimes wonder what it would be like to hear without it always being there.

My brother is an ENT physician and I've talked to him about it. The condition does originate in the brain and not in the ear. There is no cure, as others have mentioned, although its presence can be lessened to varying degrees, i.e. cut out caffeine, loud sounds, etc. For some those things help, for other they don't.

I've had it for years. I play in a loud band, so I protect my ears now. I paid a lot for some custom ear plugs and I'm really glad it did. I really love them.

It's interesting that several have mentioned the concert or gig that did it. For me, it was Robert Randolph. My right ear never recovered. I've pretty much adapted to it, but sounds in a certain frequency range really tweak that ear. It doesn't even have to be loud. Unfortunately, it's the range where the steel guitar is most prominent.

I wear earplugs when driving on the freeway, or riding a motorcycle, but I could never get comfortable with plugs while playing, even with the custom made attenuators. I've had to limit my playing to low volume situations, and try to set up stage right, so I don't have anything loud in my right ear.

If anyone has come up with an effective fix for the constant ringing, I'd sure love to know about it. I know the things that aggravate it, but they can't always be avoided.

I have a constant high-pitched hiss in both ears, have had it for years. Sometimes it's lessened but never gone. I'm not gonna give up alcohol or caffeine, too much a part of my lifestyle. I have tried homeopathic remedies but not long enough for them to work. I live with it. I may investigate the chiropractic solution.

My plumber was a Master Machinist's Mate in the Navy, working on a battleship. He has it. My father-in-law was a Captain in the Army in Korea, an artillery spotter. He had it.

Forumite and friend Emmett Roch told me he got it from being a policeman and firing weapons.

My ENT and my audiologist said that machinery and traffic noise are the primary environmental contributors to tinnitus.

Although I mentioned a Zappa concert, and shooting, I think it was made much, much worse by sitting stage right, or left, of the drummer, and always having cymbals very close by. My bands always had excellent sound systems, so we didn't play that loudly. Only loud enough to be heard , with the drums, of course, being the "instrument" that seems to determine stage volume. Small club stages cramps everybody up in close proximity, and the bottom sides of those cymbals were always aimed towards my ears!

My tinnitus was caused by chemotherapy drugs, which affected the nerves to the brain, not the ears.

For the first few years it was very noticeable, but then the brain learns to ignore it, and it only comes into my conciousness when I have too much salt, alcohol, or read threads about tinnitus, which reminds me about it

I agree with you Richard,,which leads me to something else..I believe that we don't hear things exactly the same..One would think that an ear is an ear, and they are all the same..I think there are some subtle differences in everyone's ears..I do believe that a lot of us hear things very similar though,, (I'm drifting here for a moment),,because if it were not the case,,we wouldn't agree on certain sounds...Most of us can agree that BE gets a great tone as does PF and a lot more of the great players...Our ears pick up the sound,,transfer that sound the brain, where it's processed, and our brain tells us whether or not we like it..It's our brain that doesn't like the sound of equal temperment,,because that's where the decision is made...

Tinnitus can be caused by other things besides noise..Some of these being allergies,,ear infections, high blood pressure,,certain foods,,and sometimes come right out of nowhere...Our ears should be protected and given just as much care as our eyes,,because they are just as important,,espcially if you are a musician...Regards,,,,Carson

Herb Steiner wrote:I have a constant high-pitched hiss in both ears,

It almost goes with out saying as we age we’r going to have some noise in our ears from this , what is a surprise is when you notice the area of pitch you hear , is a blank spot in your hearing . the first time I noticed this was a video of an old western swing band where one member whistled his part of the tune - to my hearing it was gone -- I could not hear his ride -- It took a while for me to figure out what was going on --

You cant be a sissy & get old
Hick

I've had it in both ears since 1973. It is most likely caused from my years in the artillary, no hearing protection for the most part, except when I tore strips from my handkerchief and stuffed them in my ears or when the gun commander remembered to get some cotton batting, which was seldom.
The VA did classify it 'service connected' and provided me with some good digital hearing aids. With them, I can hear bells, whistles, the birds singing and my steel above the 14th fret
It does get wearisome hearing the hissing/whistling 24-7, don't it..........
Fred

I am trying to determine the note that my ears ring. If I can isolate it, I won't need a tuner to tune my steel. I could then just tune to my ears. It seems to be a very high A but maybe an Ab.

Just checked mine; it's D#
Fred

I have it. It stinks. I try to be thankful that I can hear.
Sometimes when I am chewing food, if I bite down a certain way the ringing stops for a while. Eating more doesn't seem to be the answer.

I've had it ever since I could walk!! I'm in my fifties now and still have normal hearing but it's getting a little louder as I get older. I always wear ear protection at home or work!! Even when I was playing out I wore them. If I didn't, the volume would drive me nuts!! Loren.

I think it was sirens that did it for me. No ear protection at the time and some gun fire. Just saw this on TV. Dont anything about it yet. http://www.tinnitusandhearing.com/ Regards Dale.

If you're having ear pain and dizziness along with your tinnitus you might be having allergies or chronic ear infections, it could also be a sign of a more serious ear disease. I suspect allergies are the main culprit of mine. I slept in a bedroom that had a mold problem that I was unaware of in a wall for six months or so maybe even longer, and that's when mine got the worst. Apparently something like that can hyper sensitize you to allergens. I never had allergies before that. The tinnitus was so bad, well, I don't talk about it. It was much worse than anything anyone described in here. I found the mold, cleaned it, moved out, it got much better. Now it seems to fluctuate with the allergy seasons or what I'm around. Sorry for the long post!

I had tinnitus for years...luckily the voices have started to drown it out...

There has been one study which shows that a tricyclic has given some patients help, but the relief was not sustained. Keep in touch with your ENT.

Dr. Hugh, would you know how much, if any, that a good set of hearing aids would be effective in lessening the hum?

Bent - The problem with most (or all) hearing aids is BACKGROUND NOISE. I think that BG noise would turn out to be greater than the ringing sound. Also, my brother aid almost 4K for his double unit.

I hope if I ever have to deal with something like that, it'll be aluminnitus. My head won't be as heavy.

Or tuneitus. That might actually help.

Thanks Hugh. I will live with the "crickets". Main thing will be that I can hear my steel. Don't need hearing aids for that

Just a note regarding tinnitus and the use of the homeopathic product called "Quietus":

Certain drugs can induce tinnitus. Among these are NSAIDS (Motrin, naproxen, etc.); Lasix (a diuretic); some "mycin" antibiotics; chemotherapy; and two others, quinine and salicylates (asprin).

Upon looking into "Quietus", I discovered the ingredients include quinine sulfate and salicylate!! Also, as of 2006, the FDA has banned the use of quinine sulfate, except for the treatment of malaria because it has possible toxic effects to the body which include cardiac arrhythmia, disorientations, and allergic reactions. See this link for all the serious issues with quinine:
http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/06-9713.htm

The reason "Quietus" can include quinine sulfate is, homeopathic remedies can stay on the market until proven unsafe.

As they say, buyer beware.


This reminds me of the big scam of a few years ago when DHMO was being sold as a miracle cure. As you may know, DHMO stands for dihydrogen-monoxide, or H2O, or water. There are still plenty of hoax pages on the web:
http://descy.50megs.com/descy/webcred/webcred/dhmo.html
http://www.dhmo.org/


Keep on pickin!
Glenn