LOUDEST Concert and Tinnitus


This is a two part question.

1. What is the loudest concert (or event) that you have attended?

2. How long have you had tinnitus, is it getting better or worse and how are you dealing with it?

Personally, the loudest concert was UB40 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver. Loudest event was drag racing at SIR (Seattle International Raceway) which was like sticking your head in a jet engine.

Regarding tinnitus. Over the past year or so I have noticed a constant high pitched "sound" in my ears. Mostly the left ear. At this point I don't actually know if it is constant or whether I just forget about it sometimes. I know use a white noise box when I go to sleep. Otherwise I tend to fixate on the ringing.

128x128tony1954

The Raveonettes at Mercury Lounge NYC spring 2005???

Small room, low ceiling - band cranked up to 11 or 12!!!  I think they wanted to hurt us.

Ears were ringing for 2 days.

I was a DJ at The Peppermint Lounge way back when BUT we never hand any band play nearly as loud as them. Of course it was a gigantic venue compared to Mercury - but Jeez!!

As far as tinnitus, I notice in the winter ( dryer air?) that I get some background noise almost like tape hiss or test tones that comes and goes.

Luckily nothing that normal listening levels can't override BUT I'm no spring chicken and I have spent many years working in clubs, arenas, recording studios, mixing /editing rooms, etc. I'm surprised how good my hearing still is.

I don't know how long my luck will last....

I use a dB app on my phone now if I doing "critical" listening at home to help monitor the enjoyment  

Tower of Power at Westbury Music Fair; so loud and painful that we had to leave. I have no tinnitus even here in my 70's, but then I was always more of a folkie than a rocker...

1971 Steve Miller Band Milwaukee

1990's ish Robert Palmer this was the killer. We were there with another couple, and no one had the sense to walk out, including me. At the Orpheum in Minneapolis when Dylan owned the theater. Not his fault.

2005ish drive-By Truckers in St Paul. I had the sense to walk out of this one. Arena's are mostly terrible for sound.

Had a terrible onslaught of tinnitus in 2007-8. Learned I had hearing loss and started wearing hearing aids. I used an expensive treatment repped by my audiologist. Whether it helped or my symptoms lessoned over time, not sure. But I listened to the program every night for years and it gave me a sense of being in control.

 

 

I can always tell when I sit down to listen to music and have forgotten to put them in. It's a volume issue, but mostly a quality of sound benefit for me.

Led Zeppelin at the Fabulous Forum in LA 1975 tour. We had second row center VIP seats courtesy of my friend Scott of Casablanca Records. He provided me with ear plugs. I used them, but my ears still rang for two days. Great concert!

Jam sessions at my buddy's home studio in the mid 1970's. Ear sufferin' succotash!