Sounds like very wise advice, Drummer21! My keyboardist was recently diagnosed with a 15% hearing loss which is noticeable, but not drastic. I am also beginning to question my own hearing and will soon need to make a doctor's appointment I'm afraid. Years of loud rock'n'roll takes a toll.

Brian

I can't hear a thing you guys just said.

Noise induced hearing loss here, too.....In the old days, I would put on my pair of Stanton headphones (you know the ones...the huge, blue ones that completely covered your ears) and I would turn the volume up to 11 and practice to bands like Uriah Heep for hours at a time....every day. We would also put Coppertone oil on our skin, in the summer, to magnify the UV rays we were getting. Now we know better about these things, of course...*cough*....but, yeah, loud noises and hearing loss seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. On the bright side...shooting my guns now doesn't make my hearing any worse! heh heh

Once you loose that hearing. That is it . Yes better just protect them ears best way that you can. Lucky I haven't lost my mine yet. I was on the road with big bands as well. Music bands that you grew up listening to on the radio . Did that for over 35 years . Since I was in early Jr year through out high school and Finished by 1995 .

Sort of related:

If you are a Costco member, they do hearing tests free. Did mine just before the pandemic hit. You’ll walk away with a graph showing your hearing loss issues. Mine is still surprisingly good, considering all the times I say “What?” to my wife.

Josh

My tinnitus can be traced back to a single night. Practicing in a basement the harmonica player stood in front of the speaker. INCREDIBLY LOUD feedback,enough to blow both horn drivers. $150 worth of JBL horn drivers and tinnitus."Sorry,man..."

Tinnitus that comes and goes, ebbs and flows, disappears and reappears............something tells me has nothing "to do" with ears.. It's

imo something else. I think..there's more to it, than entirely/solely/ "ears"..

The ears are picking up a disturbance or weakness elsewhere ; )

Two of my drumming friends suffer from tennitus. Great studio drummer Roger Hawkins had to quit playing because of it. Another friend and high school drum line brother, James Blair who is Shania Twain's drummer and also was with Victor Wooten is suffering from it now. I have a feeling in ear monitors and studio headphone's turned up to loud can also be a culprit. I have so far been fortunately spared from any damage I know of.

Reminds me of this incident where Pete claims he damaged his hearing big time after Moonie blew up his drums..

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdvN23EXCco"]The Who-My Generation Infamous Explosion - YouTube[/ame]

I have it in my left ear only...It is a monotone "hum" that I hear...It doesn`t really bother me through the daytime, but, night time is a different story...I am used to it now, but, it took awhile to learn how to deal with it...

Protect your hearing as much as you can!!

Cheers