Heavy Metal has made me deaf
I'm only 21-years-old. Metal is one of the genres I listen to, I also dance to Clare Bowditch and Bjork. I thought that would offset the ringing in my ears after a good Slayer blasting. Apparently not.
I've met tens of people more passionate about metal, making it their lives, gigging, eating and shitting the genre, and I get landed with the wrecked ear drums. It's something to brag about only amongst other metal fans, often it's a point of sadness. Could be worse. I could be one Lindsay Lohan.
My lover bugged me to go to a hearing test because I can't communicate that effectively on the phone. I went to appease him and found there was actually a grain of truth in his accusation.
The hearing test consisted of an ancient headset that had a range of beeps that started on the left ear and finished on the right ear. Every time you heard a beep, which varied in pitch, you had to press the button. I thought I was spamming the keys like a 13-year-old playing Mortal Kombat but apparently that wasn't enough.
You know the test you just did was bad when the person performing it doesn't give you feedback straight away. I got a scary "Take you results to the doctor" as opposed to a "You're gonna be just fine".
The average score for someone is a 10, mine was a 30 and the highest in deafness was a 50. Yay.
Ear damage due to loud music was the official cause.
When I told Doc "it was meant to be played that loud" he gave me a mini-lecture on my young age etc. Guess he hadn't seen the bumper sticker.
He also told me that metal music was the worst kind to pump into your ears at high volume. What about Jazz? Again, I got the "I am not amused" look.
The good thing is that my ears could heal by themselves.
The distraughtly bad thing is that I can't listen to anything on headphones for the next month.
I catch public transport for hours at a time, so do a lot of loud weirdos. I need my music as a barrier between said loud weirdos and myself. I need my music to keep my brain ticking. I need my music, period. Take it away from me and you get a zombie-child.
So, in the name of healing, it looks like I'll be walking with a limp and eating brains for the next four weeks. Any tips on how to survive life without constant music flow would be greatly appreciated.
I've met tens of people more passionate about metal, making it their lives, gigging, eating and shitting the genre, and I get landed with the wrecked ear drums. It's something to brag about only amongst other metal fans, often it's a point of sadness. Could be worse. I could be one Lindsay Lohan.
My lover bugged me to go to a hearing test because I can't communicate that effectively on the phone. I went to appease him and found there was actually a grain of truth in his accusation.
The hearing test consisted of an ancient headset that had a range of beeps that started on the left ear and finished on the right ear. Every time you heard a beep, which varied in pitch, you had to press the button. I thought I was spamming the keys like a 13-year-old playing Mortal Kombat but apparently that wasn't enough.
You know the test you just did was bad when the person performing it doesn't give you feedback straight away. I got a scary "Take you results to the doctor" as opposed to a "You're gonna be just fine".
The average score for someone is a 10, mine was a 30 and the highest in deafness was a 50. Yay.
Ear damage due to loud music was the official cause.
When I told Doc "it was meant to be played that loud" he gave me a mini-lecture on my young age etc. Guess he hadn't seen the bumper sticker.
The good thing is that my ears could heal by themselves.
The distraughtly bad thing is that I can't listen to anything on headphones for the next month.
I catch public transport for hours at a time, so do a lot of loud weirdos. I need my music as a barrier between said loud weirdos and myself. I need my music to keep my brain ticking. I need my music, period. Take it away from me and you get a zombie-child.
So, in the name of healing, it looks like I'll be walking with a limp and eating brains for the next four weeks. Any tips on how to survive life without constant music flow would be greatly appreciated.
