Safe to sing and play acoustic guitar with Tinnitus?

[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!

[perttime]

Just from discussing tinnitus with people who have it: you cannot know for sure unless you try it.

[Jeremy]

I've had tinnitus for about 17 years and haven't had any major problems doing this. The only guitar I've played that has exacerbated the ringing is a McPherson - likely because of the offset sound hole pushing the sound out closer to my head.

[rllink]

It is if you don't live in California.

[CASD57]

I do it daily.... My ears ring constantly, al those years standing next to my Fender Twin Reverb

[MBee]

I have had chronic tinnitus for 30+ years: jackhammers, railway locomotives and sawmills, I suppose. I play and sing every day and my tinnitus does not seem to be affected by this one way or the other. But because the underlying physiology of tinnitus is largely unknown and may in fact not have a single underlying cause, I agree that you'll have to do your own experimentation.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, I have chronic tinnitus, and I play acoustic guitar. I cannot stand over amplified music now and before the lockdowns walked out of at least two concerts which were way over amplified.

I don't see any reasons why you shouldn't play acoustic guitars.

[Methos1979]

Long time tinnitus sufferer from military service. No issues with plain 'ole acoustic guitar playing and singing... Unless your playing and singing is really awful. But that's a different kettle of fish!

[bufflehead]

I have a bit of Tinnitus as a result of thousands of scuba dives. I'm fine if I stay away from earphones and amplifiers. More to the point, when I practice I'm ofter playing on a concert-size, cedar-top guitar with custom light strings. I save the dreadnought for when I need to cut through while playing with others, and I try to situate myself away from the noisy instruments. If you're sitting right in front of the banjo, your early will be ringing by the end of a jam.

[FOG01]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi, I have chronic tinnitus, and I play acoustic guitar. I cannot stand over amplified music now and before the lockdowns walked out of at least two concerts which were way over amplified.

I don't see any reasons why you shouldn't play acoustic guitars.

Over amplified music is a trigger for my tinnitus as well. Playing acoustic guitar on the contrary seems to mitigate it, thankfully.

[tbeltrans]

Having had tinnitus since Vietnam, I don't seem to have trouble playing guitar. I don't sing and do always play quietly.

However, I am not a medical practitioner and therefore don't have the training to tell the OP or anybody else what they should or shouldn't do. I can only relate my own experience and the conditions giving that experience some context, as I have done here.

Tony

[GHowdy]

You may want to consider going to an audiologist and see if a programmable hearing aid will help you. It certainly did for me.
Any good audiologist will have the latest technology offering.
I hardly notice my tinnitus while wearing and I have 2 settings...standard and music for when I'm playing.

[jjbigfly]

50 YEARS later playing and singing (getting SO close to actual music at last) with tinnitus and it has not changed that I am aware of…..

[LakewoodM32Fan]

The issue here is we don't know of the cause of your tinnitus. Is it hearing loss induced due to trauma (i.e. prolonged exposure to loud noise)? Is it from some other cause? I have very good hearing (confirmed fairly regularly via medical hearing tests and test tones to see how high I can hear) but for a period of 8 weeks in my 30s I had a bad bout of tinnitus. I went to a doctor and they said to ease up on sodium and lets see if it self resolves. I thought it would never go away and then one morning I woke up and it was gone. Has never come back (knock on wood). But reading up on tinnitus when I had it, I realized it can be symptomatic of many, many causes.

So before any of us can reasonably say "it will be safe for you", I would advise you to get a medical professional's advice over ours.

[Rudy4]

I have tinnitus and also hyperacusis, which is more problematic and often not diagnosed because it isn't very well understood.

Hyperacusis is basically a reaction to certain sounds that causes an unpleasant reaction to hearing them.

I use a masking program with headphones that seems to help with the tinnitus and try to avoid the sounds that produce hyperacusis. These are often not particularly loud sounds, and something as common as dishes or silverware bumping together can cause a very unpleasant reaction.

I always describe it to others as feeling like someone is rubbing a cheese grater on my eardrum.

Although it isn't diagnosed often, you'll know it if you have it.

Tinnitus often occurs without any particular cause, although it's definitely linked to exposure to high levels of sound. It's also been linked to use of antibiotics, sodium intake, and a raft of other possible causes. In many cases it just happens and we learn to live with it.