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High frequency drop off in your hearing?

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- Rated: 15 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 5:39 p.m. jameslynch:

I've been playing gigs every weekend (just about) non-stop for going on three years.

Lately I've been shopping for a new Fender amp... so today, lots of playing, comparing how different guitars sound through it and then back to my voxes and a line 6....lot's of LOUD guitar playing over the last two weeks and much today... been looking for a clean and VERY trebley tone..

Well I'll be damned if almost every guitar I try sounds (at best) all midrangey and box-y to me...no matter what amp or setting I use...

My ears are ringing (common for me after some time playing guitar) do you think my high frequecies dropped off from fatigue??

It's gotta be!! Anybody else ever experience this?

thanks, James
- Rated: 19 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 5:49 p.m. cielski:

That kind of "rings" true. I get my ears checked at work annually. I wear earplugs and avoid earphones whenever possible. At 59, my hearing still tests out great, just a little loss in my left ear, sevice related.

I don't doubt you're getting a ringing sound. Back off for awhile. It can't be fixed. You can turn it down, get out of the amp's hot spot, get some distance between you and the speaker.
- Rated: 13 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 5:56 p.m. Catdaddy1967:

Hey, careful with your hearing James! Normally, people are born with a range of 20Hz to 20kHz, and we lose about 1kHz from the top end of our hearing for every decade.

But when you stress your ears over a period of time, your hearing gets tired. And it's only gonna get worse if you're only listening to one type of sound. Also, loud sounds compress our hearing, so you won't get the full benefit of whatever sound the amps are throwing out.

When you say you have a ringing in your ears, it's not tinnitus, is it? (A high-pitched whistling) Give yourself a few days off from checking amps out and then go back to it - but not loud!
- Rated: 204 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 6:04 p.m. Proteus:

What??
- Rated: 30 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 6:19 p.m. JazzBoxJunky:

I recently had a full hearing check as part of a yearly physical exam. And get this, the doc tor tells me, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news, you are losing some of your high frequency hearing, the good news, it's in the range where women talk. True story.
- Rated: 41 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 6:23 p.m. dubkitty:

it sounds like there may be two separate issues here. one is long-term high-end loss, which could be a factor considering your description of your playing schedule; the other is what i call "ear fatigue," in which overexposure to excessive volume (e.g. mixing on headphones) causes a loss of detail and a flat sameness to recorded sound, such that everything sounds the same no matter how i tweak it. at the very least i think you're gonna want to give your hearing a few days off so you can see what's going on. but if you're playing loud enough to rattle your ears every weekend, they may never get the chance to recover fully, especially if you rehearse a couple times a week, so you may want to take a week off from rehearsal. having at least five days away from loud sounds is a start; when my ears get weird i also have to stop listening to music as well because it just reinforces the problem, especially if i'm listening in the car where ambient noise is worse.
- Rated: 15 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:01 p.m. jameslynch:

it makes good sense dubkitty...

and thanks to the others too...

We don't play too loud thankfully, but loud enough after a while...I think it's just all the relentless "tone searching" that everything just sounds like a mid-rangey mud to me...I'll let the ears rest till Saturday.
- Rated: 28 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:02 p.m. cyclopssam:

you really have to be exsposed for a LONG time for permant damage toacur,also theres the use it or lose factor.remember a couple of years ago they had this test. if your over 40,can tyou hear this? they posted a tone nobody heard it,i went online & found the tone& it was around 17k! WHO listens to anything at 17k?!,ha,ha, i dout my little am radio can even produce a 17k wave the kids can because the techlogy is such most earplugs now day covers 20mzh to 20kz gap

but really top end black outs are your first warning sign!.....hey knock it off!! ha! or ease up a little after a while your body just starts making an insane amount of ear wax¶ that screws with your hearing a bit,inless your in the habbit of cleaning yer ears out?
- Rated: 204 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:03 p.m. Proteus:

Sometimes I swar tew gawd it's the humidity, one way or the tother.
- Rated: 28 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:03 p.m. Danman:

It is a big misconception to think that your ears get better again. Every time your ears are ringing you basically have damaged or weakened them. If the ringing goes away you are still in a relative safe zone but if you will go on like this you suddenly will notice that the ringing hasn't gone away. That is the start of Tinnitus.

Inside your ears are little hairs that sway with soundwaves (like trees in a forest) and send that information to your brain. Of the sound is very loud the hairs get pushed back and forth very hard, they get tired and after a while they stay down for a while before they go up again, this I think is the ringing. If they have been flattened often enough their flexibilty has gone and they will stay flat or break off: Tinnitus. (Like a forest after a storm). This causes a constant ringing that never goes away. These hairs do not grow back!

I have had it for years already. Only it got very bad about a half a year ago when I had to do a gig on a very small stage right next to the drummers cymbals. I wore earplugs but during the second set I didn't notice that one earplug (right next to the cymbal) was coming out. After that gig the ringing doubled in volume and never went away.

Get earplugs: Exinore are great. They are cast to your ears and you can get inserts for 9, 15 and 25dB I think. I have 9 and 15dB. You will have to get used to using them, everything sounds different and eventhough they say that it has an even frequency cut off. I usually do the soundcheck without earplugs so I am sure the sound is ok and then gig with the plugs.

Pete Townsend, Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer etc. They all have tinnitus and this is the reason why you see many musicians wearing earplugs nowadays.
- Rated: 24 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:07 p.m. billydlight:

Huh? Speak up
- Rated: 28 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:16 p.m. cyclopssam:

somebody answer the phone
- Rated: 55 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:21 p.m. otterbean:

I thought that was the Batcave calling me. Are they calling you too?
- Rated: 28 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:24 p.m. Danman:

People are constantly calling me and then hanging up and then calling again, they are driving me crazy. Wish they would just write me an email instead.
- Rated: 28 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:31 p.m. cyclopssam:

i figure if i or my pal hellios creed haven't lost our hearing NOBODY gonna!,ha!
- Rated: 9 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 7:42 p.m. johnsonink:

I have some work related (printing) hearing loss in one ear. Hearing tests have been interesting: they show the frequency range where my hearing is less acute. My loss is in the upper mids (or low highs, I suppose), then goes back to normal in higher area. Like dubkitty said, the loss is in a bad zone for hearing speech, especially high-toned women. Consonants are muddy.

I think hearing tests are useful information. Good luck.
- Rated: 7 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 9:03 p.m. JW:

I don't have personal experience, here, but have read that some musicians in loud band situations go to in ear monitors, (with custom fitted ear pieces), because you can cut out outside noise and dial in a DBL level that will allow you to hear what you need to. (You can mic the house and dial in what you want/need of crowd noise for interaction.)

Protect your hearing; Plenty of old deaf rockers out there.
- Rated: 12 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 9:13 p.m. Rex:

Hear ya go! http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Clear-Audio-Ear-Filters-for-Musicia...
- Rated: 24 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 6:34 a.m. billydlight:

I wish I would lose some that only makes my wifes voice go away
- Rated: 19 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 7:45 a.m. cielski:

The deaf can hear my wife. It can cut thru anything. She's better than any alarm clock. I'd've lost my job if it weren't for her. Even better is when she calls, "Dinner!"

If the noise is loud enough, you can go deaf in seconds. Hearing loss HAS NO CURE. Once the cilia are damaged, there's nothing you can do. My left ear is less than 3dB lower than my right. It's due to some jet engine and explosion naise from the service, and probably the bigger culprit, ICOM headsets. They're in the 300Hz-3KHz range right where my loss is. I try to avoid headphones of any ilk when at all possible. When I do use them, I try to keep them back off of my ear directly. Never ever use earbuds. You're putting a speaker 1/2" away from your eardrum, and the sound pressure level never changes. Most floor monitors are more powerful than entire bands were in the '60s. My band at the time pushed 250-300 watts all told, and a Mackie is 450 watts.
Doubling your distance from a speaker cuts the level by 3dB, a factor of 10. Do any of you wear earplugs when you gig? I know it screws up the sound, but, they make a diaghram style that transfers full frequency range, at 6 or 12 dB or so. It's an alternative.

What's really damaging are crash cymbals and piccolo snares, but, that's me.
- Rated: 41 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 8:55 a.m. dubkitty:

the point about headphones is important...since you don't get the physical feeling of the air moving when the sound is confined to headphones, the natural tendency is to push the volume and bass. and when your ears start to get tired, the natural tendency is to push the volume up even more. everything i mix on headphones comes out bass-heavy to the extent that i have to totally re-EQ the bottom end. Pete Townshend says that other than the drum-kit detonation on the Smothers Brothers show, the major factor in his hearing loss was recording on headphones in his home studio

+1 on the crash cymbal...if you've got to be on that side of the drum kit, at least get in a position where the crash isn't aimed right at your head.
- Rated: 73 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 9:26 a.m. sassy:

I CAN'T HEAR YOU !!!
- Rated: 13 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 9:38 a.m. Catdaddy1967:

No need to shout, Sassy! Nobody here can hear you above the whistling anyway!
- Rated: 73 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 11:13 a.m. sassy:

Good one Catdaddy
- Rated: 15 ↑
Oct 7, 2008 11:21 a.m. jameslynch:

Scary stuff.... My ears still have a slight ring today... I have experimented with ear plugs could never get used to them. Maybe it's time to re-aquaint myself with them. I've been playing in loud ass bands/going to loud ass rock concerts for more than 15 years....always suffering some ringing after wards...my ears always seemed pretty resiliant...but lately I just feel as if I can't get my tones trebley enough....and that HAS to be something with my hearing or in my head! Thanks for all the insight guys!

James