Ear ringing

[MB_722]

sometimes I'll be in a room with dead silence, just the computer fan can be heard. I'll get this ringing in my ear is this a sign that I'm losing my hearing?

[SinCitysmallGUY]

I hope not if it is then I'm losing mine to.. can you not hear anything but the ringing??

[YoungBlood]

From what you've described, it very well could be tinnitus:

tin·ni·tus  (t-nts, tn-)
n. pl. tin·ni·tus·es
A sound in one ear or both ears, such as buzzing, ringing, or whistling, occurring without an external stimulus and usually caused by a specific condition, such as an ear infection, the use of certain drugs, a blocked auditory tube or canal, or a head injury.

Bunch of my musician friends have it, and some "no longer" have it, because they've progressed past that stage and are now hard of hearing/deaf to an extent.
I've always worn ear plugs in the last 10 years or so, at the moment I'm good and it's only the eyesight that is in danger

[SinCitysmallGUY]

From what you've described, it very well could be tinnitus:

tin·ni·tus  (t-nts, tn-)
n. pl. tin·ni·tus·es
A sound in one ear or both ears, such as buzzing, ringing, or whistling, occurring without an external stimulus and usually caused by a specific condition, such as an ear infection, the use of certain drugs, a blocked auditory tube or canal, or a head injury.

Bunch of my musician friends have it, and some "no longer" have it, because they've progressed past that stage and are now hard of hearing/deaf to an extent.
I've always worn ear plugs in the last 10 years or so, at the moment I'm good and it's only the eyesight that is in danger

Shot a lot of guns without plugs, loud cars, loud stereos, concerts, and being punched in the head lots. I am gonna have to guess it's from the second and it must be head injuries.

[Sexual Mustard]

I have ringing in my left ear, I know for a fact I'm "deafer" in that ear than in the right ear.  Used to listen to music impossibly loud in the car and would go to concerts without earplugs, but at 30 now I really don't need to be any worse of hearing.  I've been wearing earplugs to concerts for the last year.

SM

[windsor88]

I think this happens to everyone.

[Nordic Superman]

Used to listen to music impossibly loud in the car and would go to concerts without earplugs

Erm, is going to concerts wearing earplugs common where you're from?

Never come across that before.

[Butterbean]

Erm, is going to concerts wearing earplugs common where you're from?

Never come across that before.

I've heard of musicians performing w/earplugs but not concert goers?

[blinky]

after working in clubs for the last 15 years and the last 3 1/2 with live bands....i hear ringing all the time now. ive worn earplugs at work the last 3 years and its helped but i wish i would have started wearing them sooner

[MB_722]

its a brief ringing but I heard that the higher the ring tones in your ear get, the likelihood of hearing those sounds again become less and less as it progresses.

[Sexual Mustard]

Erm, is going to concerts wearing earplugs common where you're from?

Never come across that before.

I don't think it's really common in general, but I've seen them worn at metal concerts (the ones I usually go to) more these days than in my past.  Not many, just a few here and there.  And I don't go to many shows outside of hard rock/metal, so I don't know too much about those.  I just know that the ones I go to are LOUD.

The earplugs do not really affect what you can hear musically; you can hear just fine, but the deafening (pun intended) bass and the extra, unnecessarily high few decibels of loudness are toned down a bit so the eardrums don't take a brutal pounding.

SM

[YoungBlood]

I've heard of musicians performing w/earplugs but not concert goers?

The sound is there (profound statement, I know this! ), so you will go deaf if you're on stage or in the audience. If someone in the audience wears earplugs, then they are smart!
I remember this guy telling me one time that I needed to wear earplugs, and I brushed him off thinking "I don't need them, plus they look dorky!"
The reason I started to wear them, was because I was playing with the female singer. She was either an ego maniac (knowing her this is not a far stretch), deaf, or both! She would turn her monitors up so loud that I couldn't hear myself at all (not just faintly or "not as clear"....most musical newbies don't realize you WILL have to sacrifice SOME clarity once the whole "musical landscape" is painted). The worst part of this; I always stood within a few feet of her and her monitors would either be pointed directly at me (us) or I would have the sound bleed into my area.
The feeling was sharp, and painful. The only time I have ever had that experience with my hearing. The gigs were not fun to go to, and made playing the music worse, and my attitude began to show that. One day before a gig I was talking to my dad, and he suggested I get earplugs, to purchase them at the gun shop down the street. Best move I could ever do!!!
One night I forgot, or most likely lost one of the plugs on the drive to the gig. "Ah, I can test the ear plugs out!" So, for the first set, I played with the earplug in the left ear. My right ear is fine I thought-WRONG! Got off stage and when I pulled the plug out, the right ear was noticeably fuzzier and "compressed" sounding. The 2nd set, I put the plug in the right ear, and at the break the exact same thing happened to my left ear.
Moral of this long ass post...
No matter where you are at (audience, on stage, in the balcony etc...) you will be affected by the sound. Most don't realize it at the time, because both ears are affected. My little test I described above is what happens to all listeners at one time or another, but they don't notice the difference in their hearing due to both ears being affected.