A few months ago I noticed some hearing loss on my right side. I have a history of impacted wax in that ear, so I thought, great, impacted ear wax again; I'll have it out at my next physical. Then at a recent jam session I noticed that in a room full of acoustic guitars I couldn't hear my own -- it was like there was nothing coming out of the soundhole. That scared me.
Yesterday I got the diagnosis: sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Treatment is less effective if delayed more than a few weeks. Presently I have an inner ear full of corticosteroids but not much hope of getting much hearing back. (I plan to get a second opinion, try acupuncture, etc., but I'm a realist.)
This is a bummer in terms of critical listening. Mixing down a tasty stereo spread is going to be a challenge. My biggest concern however is with acoustic guitar, and I plan to spend some time today walking around my house with a guitar, looking for places where reflective surfaces give my left ear a better picture of what's coming from my right-hand side. If that makes any sense.
I CAN do mics, pickups, headphones etc., but nothing beats strings vibrating in air. I will be grateful for any non-electronic tips on how to work around this.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
oh man, that's terrible. i hope it's not permanent.
Condolences man- any kind of hearing loss is rough.
A voice from the other side, though- regardless what the final damage is, there is life on the other side of hearing loss.
Nearly 16 years ago, I fractured my skull in a motorcycle accident, causing "trauma damage" to my left ear (meaning that it was clearly hurt, but the doc was never sure how) and extreme "conductive hearing loss" in the right (Meaning that those little bones they tell you about in biology class were pretty much destroyed.)
My left recovered. They say 95 percent normal now, which is about average for a nearly forty year old dude. Right ear never recovered much. They say 80% to 90% loss, last time I had a check up. This means that the stuff I can hear with my right ear, you don't want to be standing too close to.
Getting used to it took time- but it happened. I can hear what "normal" people can, it just sometimes takes me a little longer to work out how. In band rehearsals, I stand with the gutiars on my right (good side) and the drums on my left (Doesn't take much to hear a drummer. Hell, I can FEEL our drummer.)
Take a lot of time to figure out where to stand. Where to get the echo to your good ear, not your bad one.
Protect what's left- use ear protection if noises are loud.
And, since you don't here as well, when it comes to listening to music, you have to listen more mindfully. Focus, avoid distractions.
I also use my EQ a lot when listening for musical reasons- if you want to learn a bass part, jack the bass, flatten the treble...
There are lots of things you can do. Mostly, be patient, be careful with your ears, and take the TIME to figure out what works for you.
Hang in there,
Ande
PS- And wear a helmet if you ride motorbikes. I would be SO dead if I hadn't had good protection.
what an awful and frightening experience. how does this happen? is it from natural wear and tear?, our loud amps? or just a shake of the dice?
Just bumping this back up to ask- How are you, Crow?
Can be rough, so just wanted to let you know we're thinking of you-
Best,
Ande
Thanks, Ande. The right ear is a bit better, but it's hit-and-miss. I'll see my ear doctor this afternoon to see what happens next. Whatever happens, I'll be all right. The list of musicians with hearing loss is so long, and technology has come so far, so no worries.
Dogbite, the possible causes of sudden sensorineural hearing loss makes another long list. Yes, I've had big amps (and cymbals) bashing into that ear for decades -- but this could have been caused by a virus, or a tumor (we are waiting for results of an MRI), or inner-ear ruptures or bleeding, or an immune-system disorder like lupus. We may never know.
If you suddenly lose hearing in one ear, folks, it's an emergency. Treat it like an emergency.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Second that!
(Of course, when I lost my hearing suddenly, there was a clear relationship with banging my head against pavement at 55mph. So treating it as an emergency was obvious. ;-) )
Hang in there,
Ande
I was not reading the forums... and I hate this kind of news when I get back...
Crow, my best wishes. I hope you can recover part of the hearing or at least stop the loss.
Any update from doctors?
Thanks, Nuno. No updates at the moment (even about the MRI, which seems weird). I'll see the doc this Wednesday.
Presently the right ear is mostly severe distortion. I'm learning to make allowances for it when listening to music, but I'm definitely missing stuff. Some passages in symphonic music sound like they are being played on toy pianos. And headphones don't work anymore.
Still, my mood is pretty good. Thousands of great recordings were made in mono. 8)
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Still, my mood is pretty good.
That is very important! :D
Glad you are going ok Crow :D
I'm sorry to hear about this. Hmmm, poor choice of words. I'm sorry for your experience in reading this post.
I, too, hope things improve for you.
Good luck!!
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Update: Today, two weeks after a second shot of steroids in my inner ear, my right ear and left ear tested almost identical above 1kHz. Still considerable loss of lows on the right side, but the painful, frightening distortion is gone. We'll try to mop up some more of the inflammation with 10 days of oral steroids. Then I will probably try acupuncture, if insurance will help cover it.
I'm kinda stunned. Thanks to forum members for kind support and good counsel during this.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
I'm really pleased to see there has been some improvement, will keep my fingers crossed that the steroids and acupuncture do their bit too x
Acupuncture... Brave guy! I'm afraid of the needles! :lol:
I'm pleased, too. Any improvement is good and when the inflammation goes out, it will improve even more!
