Is tinnitus going to mess me up?

Hi, for as long as I can remember I've always had a ringing in my ears. Most of the time I don't even notice it, but if I'm in a quiet room or if I try to listen for it I can always hear it. I always thought this was completely normal and that everybody had it, but I recently decided I wanted to start making music and read some stuff online about tinnitus. Over the past days I've started to stress about it and I feel like its gotten worse, so maybe its partly mental. Will tinnitus make it hard for me to produce music? Does anyone else have ringing in their ears?

Also, I know people will tell me to go see a doctor, but is there anything a doctor can do about it?



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I've had it for years and unfortunately there's no cure.
I don't think it will upset your music though.

My tinnitus started sometime in 2009 I believe, went to the Drs in the first 2 weeks and she said it would go away on it's own.. it never did. Now I've learnt to deal with it. It gets louder randomly, or when I am stressed and will go back to its normal range of tone. Although, when I am listening to music or have earphones in I don't necessarily hear it then as the music will always be louder.

It shouldn't effect your ability to produce music I wouldn't have thought so, unless of course you can hear it whilst you're listening to music. I do think our ears are sensitive due to tinnitus. I got married in September and the DJ's speakers were so loud, for a week my ears were blocked.

No it won't stop you making music. Tinnitus is extremely common, even more so among musicians.

No it wont mess you up, and believe me when I say that, because I was in your position 5/6 years ago. When I first noticed it, in my left ear, I panicked and it stressed me out for weeks. I swear the noise was five times louder back then than it is now. But even these days it ‘flares’ up and gets louder for a few hours or days before settling back down.

Unfortunately being mainly a drummer, I probably abused my ears a lot when younger. I used to practice 2/3 hours daily with music blasting in my headphones. Then I went on to play live, and also do sound engineering in gigs.

So after noticing it, I began using ear protection, and its kept my ears from further damage. And at night I sleep with the radio on sometimes, so that helps.

So, dont stress about it, as that WILL make it worse. You will learn to live with it, I promise. And when making music, just learn to look after your ears if you feel you need to. I record sometimes, and play live - its fine. Remember, worrying will always worsen sensations and symptoms!