>>17186665
of course you should go to the doctor for your hearing. They will most likely send you to an audiologist.

On a side note, do you play music? Or go to a lot of shows without any protective hearing? Invest in some ear plugs. And I don't mean the dinky little foam plugs. I mean the one $40-$100 ones. The ones that cut out decibels but still give you the sound.

>>17186678
I don't know how to explain to the doctor mind. "I tried to address my tinnitus using an audio device and now my hearing is noticeably worse recently". Any way to spin that in a less embarrassing way?

I have played music but my hearing was always fine as I kept my Ipod on 50% max handicap threshold. I never went to loud concerts with the exception of a handful (I can count on one hand) discos and such when growing up.

This only became an issue when I got my tinnitus after my friend brought me to a club abroad where the Music was insanely loud and he was screaming in my ear throughout the night a few months ago. Then the buzzing ensued but my hearing recovered after being muffled for a few days.

I tried to address it or check the internet and went to the doctor before but they didn't send me to the Audiologist (but the second did say come back if tinnitus didn't go). I did some research and found there was no cure so I felt I would be wasting my money. Then like an idiot I followed a guys suggestion I found on a video which worked for him.

Again, temporarily it did but now my hearing is a bit finicky. Should I go anyway even though there is, to my understanding, little the audiologist could do? Would hate to wear hearing aids at my age.

>>17186693
The fuck do you mean less embarrassing? You discovered your hearing is more fucked up than normal and you're concerned. There's nothing embarrassing about that at all. That's on you if you feel that way. It's their job to give a shit about your hearing as well.

I mean, technically, no matter what, anytime you are around loud noises, you should be. Everybody should be doing something for their ears. I'm not going to lie to you. I rarely meet people, even musicians I play with or watch that wear protective hearing. Hands down that is the most overlooked thing people don't take care of..I don't mean to lecture on that either. it's just a handy observation I've always noticed.

You won't be wasting your money at all man. In fact, visiting the audiologist could actually be beneficial in some small ways. They could even make an ear mold for you and you can order specialty earbuds, headphones, plugs, and in ear monitors that conform to your canals..if you wanted to I mean. Pricey but 100% worth it!

Don't feel like an idiot following some one elses advice. At least your concerned and trying to get some help. Addressing it is the first step!

You probably won't ever have to wear hearing aids or at least not until you get super old. No need to fret about that. Have you ever had an earwax cleaning? I don't mean with qtips but with a suction cup and water? Try some ear cleaning techniques.

And I won't lie to you OP, if you have tinnitus, there's no going back, you can only prevent and take care of it now. I know that almost sounds scary and a little unnerving but it's no need to worry about right now in your position. Some people have a constant hum or high pitch as it gets worse. The best thing you can do is buy some ear plugs, clean your ears, and yeah get them checked just to see if they are inflamed or if there's a shitton of wax buildup waiting to come out (by the way, if you get a bunch of wax out, you will be more sensitive to sounds for a few hours after

>>17186693
>I don't know how to explain to the doctor mind. "I tried to address my tinnitus using an audio device and now my hearing is noticeably worse recently". Any way to spin that in a less embarrassing way?

that's a well known way of treating tinnitus, usually by locating the exact frequency and matching it at an even level with an external sound source. don't be so worried.

you might also want to develop a taste for noise music like merzbow. i have a totally unsubstantiated theory that masami akita (merzbow) got tinnitus from early concerts he attended and hence found it necessary to blast noise for the rest of his life to avoid the constant incessant ringing. i suppose that when it blends into an overall noise it's not so bad.

anyway, your friend is a stupid jerk for doing that, but i guess he was ignorant of the dangers. i used to play music in a band, am a few years older than you, and i listen almost exclusively to noise music, but not at extreme volumes. i've only ever had hearing issues from seeing other bands live and from temporary damages from certain drugs.

hearing is important, avoid those loud clubs in future or it WILL get worse. you still have a chance for it to heal. what you should do to maximize that possibility is 1) refrain from using headphones 2) avoid loud music, loud traffic, loud sounds like the high pitched phone ringers etc and keep to a healthy diet. good luck.

>>17186729
That's fine and thanks for the extensive reply. Yeah I'll book an appointment for next week once I get my studies out of the way, I'll say that "my hearing has gotten worse after listening to music over my Ibuds" which is still true.

Hopefully the Audiologist will at least say "Least your hearing isn't completely ruined". Yeah I have looked towards ear wax removal tools, in fact I am hoping to buy it this weekend just to make sure. Would be great if that is the case.

No worries, I know tinnitus is 90% permanent but I am happy at least that the tone is ridiculously low, as in I got 0 issue falling asleep or that. Still hopeful it will recede over time.

Thanks for your help anon, I really appreciate it.

>>17186733
I am aware and thought it would be cheaper than throwing 2k smackers at an experimental device when I could reproduce the sound for free. The stupid thing was I overlooked his comment of the guy having "played in a band for many years" which by default would mean his hearing was already poor so he probably didn't notice his method may have been hurting his already likely poor hearing further.

He was stupid but it wasn't malice and he had not one iota it was threatening my hearing, he's a good friend who I've known since a child. We're both rather airheaded when around one another but only cause we're so comfortable and yeah, I should have just turned around and said "Sorry anon, I'm feeling sick" but alas.

As I said I'll get that appointment sorted and see if I can head to the audiologist but till then I'll try to see if there is any improvement before and after by simply waiting it out. Hopefully the ear damage isn't significant enough that it can't "slightly" bounce back.