Safe to sing and play acoustic guitar with Tinnitus?

[DBW]

I have tinnitus and mild hearing loss from my years as a Combat Engineer and Artilleryman. I do just fine with playing. My tinnitus really flares up when I take my hearing aids off- but no problems with playing the guitar.

[ChrisN]

Originally Posted by waveform

Unfortunately my tinnitus took a spike and Im reactive to sounds.
Singing and playing guitar is not that loud but somewhat. I was wondering if anyone knew if its safe to sing (mostly being right next to your ear) and play acoustic guitar in a quite room say. Thanks all!

Hyper-reactivity to sounds is hyperacusis, while tinnitus is a constant phantom sound/tone. You can have both at the same time, or one or the other, independently.

I can't speak to safety, but I wouldn't think it'd be a good idea to feed higher decibel sounds into a hypersensitized ear canal/drum (might lead to hearing loss from overstimulation??), so I'd use some form of ear plug in the affected ear/ears, to cut down the input, without eliminating it altogether.

[zcregle1]

I have chronic tinnitus as well like so many of us. Mine is from a combination of touring in a punk band as a teenager with no regard for my hearing and military service. I struggle with amplified guitars over bedroom volume. Slamming away on an acoustic, even a dread, does not seem to both me or make things worse. But as many have said, tinnitus is a mystery in terms of root cause speaking physiologically so yours might react differently from mine or others. The real way to know is to just try it and see how it goes. Definitely worth seeking medical opinion to truly know how to handle.

[waveform]

Yea the playing can be loud too. But the singing is whats scaring me. I dont always know until sometimes after when I have a spike what did it.
Iv been singing softly and it may help. But I could never play out or even see a concert. I cant drive even. Electric guitar strings will help.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by waveform

Yea the playing can be loud too. But the singing is whats scaring me. I dont always know until sometimes after when I have a spike what did it.
Iv been singing softly and it may help. But I could never play out or even see a concert. I cant drive even. Electric guitar strings will help.

Perhaps you might feel better if I share something explained to me recently : tinitusd is not, actually a "hearing" dis function but the way the brain interprets signals, or lack thereof from the ears.

Damage by high volume trauma , infections, and/or advancing age reduced the delicate hairs in the cochlea.

This reduces the efficiency of our hearing mechanics, which confuses the brain's reception of hearing reception. Basically it interprets silence as noise.

I have not heard of anyone damaging their or anyone elses hearing by singing or playing an acoustic guitar.

I wear hearing aids more and more, but not when I'm playing/singing and my guitars still sounfd great to me, tinnitus or no.

I say enjoy it for as long as you can.

[waveform]

Thanks so much that was incredible inspiring. I would die if I couldnt play guitar. Should one wear earplugs with acoustic? Occlusion effects makes it hard to sing. A fire truck parked idling 300 feet from the house and I have a spike that hasnt gone down and am afraid its permanent. Sound is about energy so I have like 1/6 horse power and that fire truck has way way more.

Im just a small fish, maybe Ill be ok singing and playing.

[Milgateb]

Great information!
I appreciate this thread very much. I have had tinnitus for a number of years, but I noticed about 5 years ago that I was beginning to have trouble with sharp sounds - cymbals - dishes rattling together - hammer on steel etc. (Hyperacusis)
I had been a worship leader at church for a number of years as well as a frequent gigger, but found that playing inside a building with live drums was becoming almost unbearable. I dropped out of the worship team and quit playing out. I gravitated to strictly playing my acoustic guitars, writing, singing and recording music in my studio where I could completely control the environment.
When Covid hit - long story short - I began playing on a boardwalk outside the condominiums that I manage, for the residents. (Bored captive audience with nowhere to go and nothing else to do!) I found that I can play in the open air - drum machine is manageable - and have since, put together a small ensemble. We are are even taking a limited number of gigs! I have had a few instances where the tinnitus - hyperacusis was very problematic during the gig, but it was still fun to do. I never want to quit...My advice to you is do as much as you can comfortably.
Thanks again for this thread!!

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by waveform

Safe to sing and play acoustic guitar with Tinnitus?

What did your doctor say when you asked the same question?

[tsmith28]

My tinnitus and mild hyperacusis (which is worse than the tinnitus) both get worse if I play electric guitar with any gain, even at very low volumes. However, playing my acoustic guitars unplugged and singing don't seem to exacerbate it. 🤞

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Perhaps you might feel better if I share something explained to me recently : tinitusd is not, actually a "hearing" dis function but the way the brain interprets signals, or lack thereof from the ears.

Damage by high volume trauma , infections, and/or advancing age reduced the delicate hairs in the cochlea.

This reduces the efficiency of our hearing mechanics, which confuses the brain's reception of hearing reception. Basically it interprets silence as noise.

I have not heard of anyone damaging their or anyone elses hearing by singing or playing an acoustic guitar.

I wear hearing aids more and more, but not when I'm playing/singing and my guitars still sounfd great to me, tinnitus or no.

I say enjoy it for as long as you can.

Yeah, if you're a primarily-electric player in your sixties (like I am) it's natural to attribute tinnitus to loud nasty guitar. In fact, it's at least equally likely to just be a function of some loss of hearing (especially in the higher registers) which creates a now-empty space that your brain feels compelled to fill. This is just a natural consequence of getting older for many of us.

In my case it's quite mild, and I only really notice it for more than a minute or two at a time when (1) I use earphones or earbuds at any volume for any length of time (no IEMs for me on stage) or (2) I kick in my "metal" pedal and, to a lesser degree, a fuzz pedal (I guess it's the frequency) or (3) if I play too loud through an amp.

My acoustic never bothers me in the slightest.

[papat]

I have had tinnitus for about 15yrs now. You learn to live with it. As for hyperacusis, I was taking calcium supplements and found the dose way to high and it took me about 1 1/2 years to figure out that is what is a big contributor to it. That and chocolate as well. I found it difficult to play guitar and any crowd noise would have me putting in earplugs. I cut the calcium and it diminished it by 85%. The amount of calcium was way to high. Don't know if this would effect anyone else. Just thought I'd add my little bit. The calcium also gave me headaches and it felt like someone hit the back of my neck with a baseball bat.

[Zandit75]

My Tinnitus has been getting worse over the last couple of years, and I finally went and saw a specialist. She confirmed hearing loss in my right ear over certain frequencies, and that it was irreversible.
Since my Tinnitus is also concentrated in the same side, I now wear a hearing aid on that side that has bluetooth capabilities. I can answer the phone with it remotely, and also stream music through it. This is especially helpful at nighttime, when the tinnitus is at it's worst in quiet conditions. The hearing aid is thin enough that I don't notice it at night time, even when that ear is flat against the pillow. I have music playing, and it distracts me away from concentrating on the ringing, and I'm normally asleep within minutes.

I'm a solo singer/guitarist most of the time, and don't have any issues with performing both with and without my hearing aid, and unless I'm cranking my gear stupidly loud, I don't have any issues with additional ringing.
On the flip side, I'm also the lead male singer and rhythm guitarist in a 7-piece hard hitting country rock band. For both rehearsals and performances I need to wear "musicians plugs" which are ear plugs that have special filters in them. Tone is unaffected like it is when wearing standard foam plugs like you see on worksites, but decibel levels are reduced by either 10, 15 or 25dB depending on which ones I use. When I forget to wear them, my ears are ringing like crazy for several days after rehearsal.

[waveform]

Thanks guys. Yea so I sang and played today and really through my voice through the octaves and my ears are ringing. It might actually be my voice so close to my ear signing. Or I took mushrooms, legal, cordyceps although I dont see how that could do it.

Oh yea your supposed to avoid dairy and thats helped a lot of people. So right on on the calcium thing. I cant avoid a latte and icecream, Im from new england, cheese cheese everywhere.

I thought I was singing low today but to kick up into a higher range Iv got this raspy way of doing it putting a lot of air into the tone Im looking for. And its true who knows where this comes from, all I know is I did something today that made it worse.