A couple of years ago now I started to notice a buzzing, pounding and whooshing in my ears. It felt like I was in a boxing match underwater. Sometimes I would also hear a high pitched noise, like a radio frequency out of tune. Mostly it only bothered me at night, which was annoying but I could cope.
Soon afterwards I got my hearing tested and was alarmed to discover I also had hearing loss in one ear. Afterwards I realised just how little I had ever thought about my hearing. I never once considered any potential impact of being a live music fan.
I knew DJ Steve Lamacq’s biography was called ‘Going Deaf for a Living’ but I had considered that title somewhat of a joke. Plus I’d read he went to multiple gigs a week of punky indie music rather than the more sedate, folky stuff I veered towards as an adult. I just never thought hearing loss could happen to me.
Interestingly musicians have a 57% greater risk of developing tinnitus than the general public. In researching for this post I discovered that the drummer from the Inspiral Carpets, Craig Gill, sadly took his own life after dealing with debilitating tinnitus. The band have become advocates for tinnitus awareness and promoting the use of hearing protection for artists and audiences alike.
The only time I’d ever worn earplugs at a gig was when I went to see My Bloody Valentine. They were proud of how loud the gigs were. Everyone I was with found it funny, a novelty, to have to wear the ear plugs. We didn’t realise we should have been doing that all along for every single live show we attended.
I have been going to one or two gigs a month all of my adult life, bar covid times. Mostly I see indie rock or acoustic Americana. Not heavy metal or anything extreme. Yet tinnitus had happened to me. Tinnitus is not only sound-induced and can also be caused by physical issues and illnesses or stress leading to the body/brain connection breaking down.
After my diagnosis and ongoing issues I educated myself on what tinnitus was and how best to deal with it. Realistically there isn’t much you can do. What has worked for me are breathing exercises to balance the pressure in my ears, white noise sleep casts and relaxation exercises.
I wanted to do all I could to prevent further hearing loss. Of course the main problem I faced was that my main leisure pursuit was going to see live music.
I didn’t know for certain that live music had damaged my hearing. All I knew was it could potentially make my tinnitus worse, which was frankly terrifying.
So I bought some tinnitus earplugs in the hope this would be enough. The first time I used them at a Hurray for the Riff Raff gig was interesting. To start with I found them strange. I felt kind of far away from the singer on stage. But when I took them out I realised the difference. The earplugs had dampened the edges of the sound in a good way. The sharpness, the feedback, the pounding of the drums was all smoothed out.
Listening with earplugs sounded way, way better. I also slept fine after using them. My tinnitus was still there but not noticeably worse.
I’ve since used them religiously for every gig. My only issue has been that you can’t hear yourself or the crowd singing along. But there’s an upside to that because you can’t hear the crowd chatting either which stops me getting irritated at idiots talking over the artist. Sometimes I take one earplug out of my ‘good’ ear if I want to hear myself or the crowd.
What is reassuring is that I’ve noticed that I don’t need them so much at acoustic gigs. Quiet gigs are just my preferred now. Admittedly I have anxiety about loud rock gigs. Even with earplugs I can feel the after effects for a couple of days. My ears only pound at night but if I’ve been to a loud gig I can hear it during the day. Good thing I’m middle aged and well past my rock era.
The worst experience I’ve had so far wasn’t even actually at a gig though. I’m now hyper aware of needing earplugs for those. It’s the stealth places you wouldn’t expect where I’ve been caught off guard: in a restaurant where they had a DJ, in the cinema, in a meeting where the audio of a video was played at such a high-pitched volume I immediately had to leave the room.
Writing this post has led me down some further research into earplugs, which suggests I probably should upgrade the ones I have. I am keen to raise awareness that everyone should wear hearing protection at concerts, regardless. We should be doing what we can to prevent problems now so we can all enjoy live music in the future.
If you’ve been affected at all by tinnitus or hearing issues then please share any advice / tips / experiences in the comments.
For further information please see:
https://www.ism.org/advice/advice-for-musicians-with-tinnitus/
Highway Queens 
Leave a comment