It seems like Tinnitus is way more common as we get older than I thought!

I used to think it was only me.

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    DavecUK I’m 42, have been to an awful lot of concerts (rock, metal, doom) and have tinnitus. You are definitely not alone!

      Mine is sorta constant, a bit like a high-pitched wheezy whistle but it …. pulses. Literally, I think. It’s a bit less than once per second, which is about right for my resting heartbeat. I’m convinced, though never had it medically confirmed, that the pulsing, a slight and very brief dip in frequency due to blood pressure dropping. I rationaise it, because itt’s what it sounds like, as dipping in frequency in the brief moment between heartbeats when the heart is at rest.

      It has it’s advantages …. at least I know my heart is still going. 😉

      It is also, as a friend would say, a right nucking fuisance.

      I’ve always been pretty careful with listening volumes, though there was that Black Sabbath concert at Hammersmith Odeon about 40 years ago. Not that it was loud, but I nearly got flattened by a double-decker bus when I came out, ’cos I didn’t hear the dratted thing coming.

      Most listening these days is either on Sennheiser Momentum cordless headphones, or my trusty old Stax Electrostatics. Oh, and Cambridge Audio earbuds, from the phone. Mostly, I listen to digitised versions of my LPs and CDs, stored locally, on a NAS in the house. But I like a really clear sound, not loud sound. Frankly, too much of the time I have a headache to want head-banging. And sadly, my rock concert days are long over.

      Boy, as a music lover I cannot imagine anything worse than having tinitus. Like many of us oldies in my heyday I went to plenty of rock concerts and there is only one I actually walked out on because it was too loud. It was a Motorhead concert and Lemmy took great pleasure in exhalting how loud they were going to be. True to his word it was loud but not so much it hurt the ears just so loud the ‘music’ was an unintelligable blurr of noise as were any of Lemmy’s vocals.

      I can’t wait for the building work to be finished (this week) then the decorating and setting up my hi-fi including my Linn record deck which hasn’t spun for a few years.

        Pompeyexile and setting up my hi-fi including my Linn record deck which hasn’t spun for a few years.

        I know that feeling, too. The LP12 was on my very short list but I ended up with a Mitchell Electronic Reference … very similar to the classic “Hydraulic” in Clockwork Orange, but with electronic speed control, not the ‘weather vane in oil bath’ of the Hydraulic. Interestingly (I think) Mitchell Engineering still support those 70s decks to this day (even after the sad loss of John Mitchell) - I re-furb’d mine a few months ago, including replacing the felt pads on the gold-plated record supports. Add an SME arm an a small collection of now defunct cartridges (Stanton, Ortofon, Satin, etc) and that’s my LP end …. which also didn’t get used for a while, prior to refusb.

          I saw Motorhead when I was still a young idiot (as opposed to the old idiot I am now). Edinburgh Playhouse in 1982. Me and my mate right down the front sticking are head into the PA cabinet bass bins and then being deaf for days after. Gigs were so much louder than they are now. PA equipment is now much more advanced so engineers can get decent sound throughout a massive arena without it being deafening at the front.

          I’ve been to hundreds of gigs over the last 40 years - still going albeit less frequently. Most people I want to see are dead now! Unsurprisingly I too have tinnitus although I can usually zone it out.

          There are three rock groups I regret not getting to see, Lynyrd Skynyrd before their ill fated plane crash, AC/DC and the first incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow with Dio singing. My tastes have changed and I’ve mellowed out more and listen to the blues with the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, Larry McCray, Joanne Shaw-Taylor etc.

          I didn’t go to many gigs for the simple reason that I couldn’t afford to damage my hearing for my career. (Film sound)
          The ones I regret not seeing live are Jimi Hendrix, Traffic and Pink Floyd. Despite my caution, I still have Tinnitus.