I've sufered it on and off for years. My sympathies, hope this gives you more info and best wishes

http://www.nhs.uk/Search/Pages/Results.aspx?___JSSniffer=true&q=tinnitus

My sympathy is with you, too. I've never suffered it, so cannot possibly know how frustrating it must be. Does it make appreciating your own playing very difficult?

Currently no... i have a tv going in the background and can hear it over a loud tv whilst i type this, quite clearly.... at the mo, once i concentrate on playing i dont notice it... however it has grown in volume over the nine days. I dont know if it will overpower my concentration at some point... then i will probably get very grumpy. I am more than a little concerned.

I have it occasionally. Sometimes it heralds the vertigo of Meniere's.
It was a problem with the piano, but not in the last two years.

wouter79 I will have to take my Db metre next time I jump on the tube. I am just relaying what my TRT guy told me, though I did dig out this. (a slightly fear mongering article maybe but interesting none the less)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3895769.stm

The point I was trying to make though was that that you could play fortissimo for an hour (going on that chart you linked) with no problems, unless you insist on having your head 10cm from the sound board...

The thing is the tube is all low bass loud sounds so you don't tend to notice it as much when mixed in with everyday sounds.

Like the anti youth loitering device which sends out 120Db of annoying sounds to youths.

Although older people apparently can't hear it (I can and I'm 34) it can still be loud enough to cause hearing damage.

Fordsnack, I think you looked in the OSHA Daily Permissible Noise Level Exposure. I'm going with the NIOSH Daily Permissible Noise Level Exposure, and that makes a lot of difference. Check again. I'm not sure which one is the definite answer but I prefer to be on the safe side.

My husband had a sudden loss of hearing in his left ear a couple of years ago followed by almost unbearable vertigo and nausea. Gradually that subsided but the hearing loss is permanent. He describes the tinnitus as a soprano singing a high A ALL the time. He has gradually adapted and returned to work but when he's tired that soprano is working overtime. He calls her "Judy". The brain certainly adapts and learns to background the tinnitus but still a lifelong situation to deal with. I hope yours resolves and you return to optimal hearing. I imagine that concentrating on piano does help your brain put the tinnitus in the background. Best wishes to any of you who deal with this challenge.

Yea, it's interesting but my online research with Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss it is almost always the left ear. Without immidiate treatment the deafness can stay leaving only tinitus. I think had I known this 15 years ago I would not have lost so much hearing. That's why I'm on top of it this time.

For me the old familiar whine is not "Judy" but rather southern chicadas. But after years of it you really do adapt.

Wouter, with a bit of reading I found OSHA is the regulation noise limits, and NIOSH seems to be the recommended. So yes, to be on the safe side it might be best to go along with NIOSH. But one should still not worry about playing piano even then. As the piano fortissimo, according to that link is 84-103db, I would think it is unlikely that one would sustain fortissimo at its peak 103d. So that is according to NIOSH between 8 hours a day at its quietest fortissimo and somewhere under 25 minutes at its loudest fortissimo. If I remember to take my db metre into school on saturday I will have a look.

From my experience with tinnitus, worrying about how loud things are, and actively avoiding them leads to increased perception of tinnitus and the onset of hyperacusis. This knowledge teemed with a bit of common sense I was able to sustain a healthy relationship with the piano, and I believe others can too.

i have to report back that after two weeks of chinese herbs & acupuncture (1 treatment per week plus daily herb pills) my tinnitus is much better. still have a high pitched ringing but auditory instability & pain from high pitched sounds greatly diminished.

a friend had recommended i try it, since western medicine doesn't have any solutions for tinnitus. of course this approach is treating the whole, not just the symptom. your mileage may vary, but so far i'm very pleased with the progress.

NIOSH cites 85dBA as a danger level for long term exposure, 100dBA as dangerous if exposed for 15 minutes a day, and 94 dBA as dangerous at 1 hour a day.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

Interesting entheo.... hypersensetivity to sound is a real partner in crime with the constant ringing..... day twelve.... getting louder lol....

I am having quite a time with both tinnitus and hypersensitivity right now too. Some of mine comes from work; those dB charts never have a listing for "Kid with autism screaming right in your face" or "50 noisy kids in a small gym."

Practicing piano has been pretty uncomfortable for the last few days. I ordered some new ear plugs and some passive headphones. I need to contact my health insurance co. to see what audiologist they will pay for me to see.

I read recently that there are some new treatments for tinnitus--still experimental, but even the thought makes me hopeful!