There is this tapping on your head trick[0] that legitimately works for many people (me included) to clear up your tinitius but only for a few seconds after it. If you are curious what silence sounds you can try it.
I used to play in bands and go to a lot of concerts without earplugs (mistakes of youth). I’ve had tinnitus for almost 20 years, and I am so used to it now that it’s a non issue. That said, it drove me crazy in the beginning.
I used to play in bands and go to concerts without earplugs too, and one of my favorite pastimes is listening to music on loud volumes. Yet I've never developed tinnitus.
I guess I'm just lucky, or my hearing is just so sensitive that what I consider "loud" is actually fairly quiet. I know that I've had problems actually hearing sounds in band practice without using earplugs - I'd just hear a bunch of noise, and often lose the beat because of the inability to hear other musicians clearly.
30+ years of midwest raves did me in. One sound system had 1MW bass bins - have been to some with ~40ft x ~15ft of bass bins. Only one ruptured ear drum in all of that time (Regis - didn't even seem that loud) - that's the ear that is the worst. Doesn't bother me, other than anxiety about potential neurological effects.
Wait 30+ years of raves? In my mind’s eye you’re now a mulleted 45 yo Java dev at MedLab International creeping out the twenty something hotties, offering them glow sticks and Molly and telling them how you went to see Chemical Brothers before it was hip.
Have you ever been in one? I visited the one that Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) had at Marienlyst in Oslo. This is before I knew anything about anechoic chambers and the sort.
It was called The Dead Room...
The first thing I noticed is that I had to speak a lot louder to be heard. But the most unnerving thing happened when we finally stood still in there.
I could hear my blood run through my own veins.......... So out of sheer panic I started moving and talking again lol.
This room was in the basement, and was secluded from all the other rooms in the building. The control room was even two stories up from the studio. They used it to record special samples that had to be completely "dead," as in no echo or reverberation on it outside the instrument itself. By they looks of it they also used it for Foley recordings, because there was some surfaces in there and some pans of powders and sand.
i worked for a company once with a large (10’ sided cube) and very high-quality anechoic chamber and would go in there on lunch breaks to mediate, was fantastic. (never had audio hallucinations.) i was young and had no hearing issues which probably helped.
