farmer1

I have reached the age where you start going out in town for Friday/Saturday nights.

Fortunately I am sensible enough not to get completely pi$$ed and drink plenty of water to prevent having a hang over the morning after.

But the killer is the ringing in my ears when I go to bed, after a night out, it stops me getting to sleep for like 3 hours

So have any of you more experienced people got any tips so that I can actually get to sleep when i go to bed after a night out.

Ian (Feeling slightly worse for wear, after a night out celebrating the Pilgrims promotion)

jods

So - you're 15 then ?

beamer

take the ear rings out

farmer1

16 and never been asked for ID once

farmer1

Hey beamer, hows life in the Zone.

You guys missed me? may have to pop back, at somepoint.

beamer

yeah missed you like a hole in the head

StickyMicky

dunno
i always sleep and then wake up with the ringing lol

astraboy

Yes mate, I know exactly what you're saying. I used to get it too.
you going to clubs/raves or is it just down the pub?
If its the former then do what I do. Soon as you get in. Go to the bog and get two sheets of bog roll. Run em under the tap and scrunch em up tight, then push em into your ears. Make sure you leave enough to get your fingers into to dig em out at the end of the night. They do not block everything out, but they do take the edge off the sound. Take em out when you leave and your hearing is exactly the same as before.
I've been raving for every weekend since November 2000. Monster sound system at each and every one I've been to. According to a recent hearing test I had I have a slight drop in the midrange in my right ear and thats it. So they must do some good then.
Try it,
astraboy.

StickyMicky

or buy sum ear plugs?

farmer1

Usually go to a bars, but which play load music. Hence spend most of the night shouting into each others ears as it is to have a conversation.

Having said that, I will give it a go or something similar when I go into a club/rave.

Is it the sudden drop from load to almost silent which causes it, or is it the prolonged exposure to loud music?

StickyMicky

i belive its the higher frequencys that actualy do the damage?

ChrisB

Loads of stuff about Tinnitus here

It can become permanent.

eClaire

My mums got tinnitus Got it after being in a car crash.

She has to wear little hearing aids (or something similar) to stop it.

Poor Guy

I seem to have a permanent slight ringing in my ears. 9.30pm-2am in a night club for 2 years doesnt help.

Im only 17 and ive damaged my hearing

astraboy

Deffo the prolonged exposure. A lot of DJs in the hardcore scene have permanant tinnitus.
Look after your hearing, it doesnt grow back
astraboy.

hedgehog

This is a very technical area where all the parameters are not always fully understood. The fairly short term "ringing" type noises you are getting are quite common and, if only experienced once in a blue moon, may not indicate any serious or long term damage. They are usually associated with a temporary threshold shift in the sensitivity of your hearing. If this threshold shift isn't clearing up within about 24 - 36 hours then you have a serious problem.

The damage done depends upon the sound pressure level and also on the duration of the exposure. There are official guidelines as to how long you can expose a workforce to a given SPL. What I will say is that sound systems in many pubs and clubs are often very coloured and so may be causing damage that a good quality system wouldn't cause.

The problem isn't just confined to the noise in the pub or club but also to the fact that this forces others to have to shout in your ear to communicate with you. This is doing similar damage to having a gun discharged beside your ear.

It is possible to enjoy your music, and even to enjoy it loud, and also to keep your hearing but you need to be very sensible about it and, as others have pointed out, there are resources on the web to help you. What I would say, however, is that you need to address the matter real soon. Tinnitus is a very nasty affliction due to the huge psychological impact it has upon those who suffer from it. They can gain no escape from the noises in their heads and therefore lose sleep and quality of life. Many end up on a wide range of medication for psychological problems and sucicide rates are quite high among sufferers. As you have discovered yourself 3 hours of ringing in your ears isn't nice but one wrong move at this stage could condem you to a lifetime of it.

I'm not speaking from some ivory tower here, I love my music and in my teens and early 20s probably saw 100+ live bands per year. I am also an audio engineer and so balanced some of the bands and still spend some part of my working life in control rooms where sound pressure levels can be very high. I've made it to 36 without serious problems. So, if I can do it and enjoy myself so can you but you really need to get on the ball soon. The fact that you are asking the question indicates that you are doing this so you are already half way to the solution.

yoza

Ive got it in my left ear, from years of wearing a radio earpiece.
Like a high pitched whine.

When I was your age though, I wasnt too worried about the ringing after a night out.

I was much more worried about the bed spinning, that was fcukin horrible.

Hammy Hamster

You don't live at...
Flat 345, Top Floor
Notre Dame

...by any chance?

No wonder you've got the hump.

farmer1

Don't get the spinning, because I drink water between drinks and about a litre afterwards before I go to bed.

However the ringing does drive me nuts. I don't suffer from it all the time, just after a night out. However my ears also pic up the high pitch noise from TVs etc when they are on.

Will look into getting a discrete pair of ear plug type things for when I go to clubs and will try and find a quiter bar for before hand.

May seem a bit over the top, but I would rather go somewhere else and get to sleep when I get home and not also risk damaged hearing later in life.

Thanks for the advice guys.

yoza

Your not the fella who leans on the zillion watt speaker, with the lager vibrating out of his glass.

Are you ?

You will find that the club is chokka, yet there is always room to stand around the speakers, but there is good reason for this.

farmer1

Is that what it is then nahh I am the one who thinks I am gods gift to women and then turn around to see their boyfriends...

yoza

Thats OK its quite fashionable to be gay nowadays.

If you want to see their boyfriends, you go for it.

farmer1

FFS yoza, you wouldn't happen to be a laywer would you.

yoza

Ive met lots of them, maybe its rubbed off........

Freak

I have tinnitus- ive had it all my life-its horrible.Being a Dj, its my livelihood- so i look after my ears. I know too many musicians and djs that have severe hearing problems- and they are permanent.

Some of the sound pressure levels in clubs are madness (sometimes have to measure the dB level for health and safety reasons and ive seen what it can peak at)- i always use ear plugs- discreet ones- under my headphones.

I use ones that attenuate frequencies at the same amount as the ear does relative to frequency, so in other words, with my ear plugs in, i hear the same as normal- only 15dB quieter.
The foam ones you can buy just make everything boomy and muffled-not the best thing.
Plugs designed for industrial use are a good budget bet - as they are designed to attenuate, but not cut out the midrange as much as foam ones. (i presume for safety reasons with regards to voice/warning sounds)

For the ultimate tho, http://www.hearingprotection.co.uk/m...=productsMusic
Top ones (Er15s) are custom fit and moulded to your personal ears. They are the daddies and highly recommended-lots of professionals use these ones.
Also recommended are the ER 20s further down- not very expensive either(you can cut off the cord/protruding bit by the way, and make them more discreet)

astraboy

lol, you want to try listening to the Valve sound system. Its a DnB system and is owned by Lemon D and Dillinja. I went to a valve do at the Rex in Stratford a few years back. The bass was so intense that earplugs were available behind the bar FOC. the bass vibrated you to the core and I saw more than a few people throwing up when they walked past the stacks
astraboy.

eClaire

A bloke I used to work with DJs and is deaf in one ear

AllanB

Don't ever see Slayer live then. I swaer I got burns from my clothes vibrating against my skin and stack of people callapsed being unable to breathe it was that load. The only gig I've ever had to leave as it was painfull !!

I did go to one gig in a tiny venue, where the bass was so intense that it knackered my hearing for a full week. Since then I avoid anything really noisy for any length of time as I'm sure that damaged my hearing a bit


AllanB

ScoobyDoo555

yep - a most unpleasant and dangerous "phenomenon"

Here's a rough guide to what you are subjected to -



IIRC (should do, as I teach it!!! ) About 147dB is the threshold of pain.....

The only real deterrant is to not put yourself in high SPL (Sound Pressure Level) situations.

Bear in mind that the "little hairs" in your ear can become brittle, and snap off They do NOT grow back. This will result in a loss of higher frequency hearing - think about old people with their unique hearing It's through many years of the hairs becoming brittle that they've finally snapped.

What you can get after a "good night out" is what's called "temporary threshold shift" - a temporary loss. What's actually happening, is your brain "closing down" your hearing - a self-protection device. After a while, it opens back up.

HTH

Dan

Freak

Ive watched the dB meter in the dj booth sometimes.

One club in particular it peaks at 129dB, normally about between 108-120dB ish..
One gig with a major US house Dj, the dB meter said 'Max'- looked in the manual to see what that was, and it just said it had exceeded its capacity. It didnt say what its capacity was.
scary stuff-look after your ears kids