Since we all know metal can be quite loud does anyone have any hearing issues? when you all listen to headphones do you hear it slightly panned to one side, like you have a dominant ear?
I have chronic tinnitus, and lately I've found that all music (especially the vocals) feel very panned to the left slightly, like my right ear can't hear as well even though I have perfectly normal hearing.
Makes it very hard to enjoy music now actually, so its pretty shitty.

Wondering if anyone else knows how i feel?

I have tinnitus, but have never had sounds sound different in one ear than they do in the other. Up until my early 20's I never used any sort of ear plugs at shows but now do so religiously. Trying to keep the damage I've already done from progressing any further as listening to music is too much a part of my life for me to lose it.

As someone who listens to everything loud, be it harsh noise or tiny tim, I have some mild tinnitus (which will no doubt worsen with time).

The way it manifests itself is that I will sort of go deaf in one ear... it happens in both, but I think it is typically the left. It's a lot like listening to a mixer with headphones and slowly panning to one side. the sound fades out, and it replaced by a high pitched tone and a sort of feeling of vertigo before fading out and back into normal hearing.

I also do a lot of mastering on the computer, and I often find that one channel (it varies as to which) seems to be peaking louder than the other, despite seeming not nearly as loud. I always chalked this up to amateur recording/not knowing how to reign in the frequencies, though. Still, I find it pretty maddening to master a pleasantly full, dynamic, stereoscopic mix that doesn't seem to be over-loud, or to have too much of one freq. range in one channel vs. the other. But, again, other recordings sound fine, so I think it's probably my inexperience with recording/mixing, or being hyper-critical of my own work more than anything.

I don't really have any discernible hearing loss, but I find that I have a really hard time hearing music once my ears are "tired", not from listening to loud music, but just from being used all day. Any time I put on music to listen to before sleep, I seem to need it really loud to hear everything clearly, but when I doze off, I always wake up because it's so damn loud. It always seems five times louder than it was before I fell asleep.

All this said, my car speakers blew out on the right side ages ago, and so most of the sound goes into my left ear, which leads me to believe that's where I have the majority of damage.

You know that high pitched noise old tv's make? That's what I have in my left ear. It's not that loud, it doesn't stop me from doing anything, but it sure was annoying for the first couple of months. I'm now in my second year of having mild tinnitus in my left ear, and as far as I know it hasn't really screwed with my hearing in any other ways than adding a constant sound. It also hasn't gotten any worse. If anything it made me more aware of my body and how to take care of it. The doctor said that there is a chance of it going away eventually, but after a year? Anyone knows of tinnitus cases that resolved itself after such a extended period of time?

Tinnitus ain't got nothin to do with heavy metal music. It's all a side effect of CIA mind-control experiments designed to kerp the citizenry docile. PS don't bother with tin foul helmets. All they do is make my scalp sweaty.

While I can't say mine resolved itself, it has gotten noticeably better since about 2011 when I stopped using headphones. I always used them at reasonable volumes, and I'm guessing the slight ringing in my ears was caused by a combination of pre-earplug concerts and sinus problems, but not wearing said headphones any more certainly seemed to help. Whether that's causation or just random is anyone's guess, but it's nice to know things are capable of getting better one way or another.

I've had tinnitus since I was 2 or 3 years old. I was born deaf, but when I was a year old I gained my hearing (this is more common than you'd think). After that I had ear infection after ear infection to the point that the doctors said that I might lose my hearing again if tubes weren't put in. They put the tubes in my ears, but one of them got stuck in my ear drum and would not fall out normally. My ear was operated on and the tube was removed, and ever since then I've had that faint ringing/white noise. In the last few years I've also begun to hear better out of my right ear than my left, leading me to believe that it was my left ear that the tube got stuck in.

As for severity, there's only been one time that my tinnitus has gotten to the point of being unbearable, and that was during a bout of severe illness I had 2 years ago. I remember waking up at about 1:30 in the morning in a cold sweat (those are always so much fun), hobbling over to my bathroom, and trying for what felt like a half hour to vomit. I sat down on the side of the tub, and very quickly the ringing in both ears got louder and louder and louder until it was all I could hear and it felt like my head was about to explode, it hurt so much. The next thing I remember was waking up on the floor of the bathroom with my head in the garbage can, meaning I had blacked out from the pain the ringing caused.

You posted this thread a few months ago?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=100823&hilit=tinnitus

Looks like I did this can be deleted

I guess I'll join the club of tinnitus sufferrers hear, though I acquired mine via listening to excessively loud electronic music, use of headphones for DJing and generally abusing my hearing in my earlier years. Its transient and aggravated by stress/anxiety and hasn't gotten worse, which is a positive. I find that if I am able to hum at the same frequency, this seems to silence it- phase cancellation induced by inter-cranial vibration is my theory, though I could be wrong. Whatever it is, it works.

Tinnitus has caused me a lot of anxiety to be honest and was really exacerbated by drug withdrawal; I've never had it be as deafening during those hellish experiences.

Protect your ears kids... You only have two.

I've had ringing in my ears for a couples years for a lot of reasons. In 8th grade I blasted my music WAY too loud, as in upper third of the levels my mp3 player could go. Then band practice without ear protection for a few months before I invested in some ear plugs. I've also had ear infections in both ears for some time, I'm finally getting tubes in my ears later this month so I'm looking forward to finally not feeling that stuffy feeling in my ears.

I thought i had this untill i found out that i didnt put on my on headphones quite right.
I usually don't subject myself to loud noises except for when i go to gigs. I band practice with plugs nowadays as well. The sound balance is actually a lot better with plugs and makes playing quite a bit easier.

I don't get real hearing issues after gigs anymore either... its like my ears got used to getting occasionally blasted. My hearing seems just as fine as before and i still notice many sounds better than other people do.

All those Rock 'n Roll concerts really burnt my hearing and actual understanding.
Totally worth it until I go deaf and insane though.

I've been off work this week with infections in both ears, tinnitus and general nausea/headaches. I've had tinnitus for years, but this is louder and messes up my sleep. I can hear my heart beat reverberating in my ear, sounds like someone beating a steel drum in my head.

Hearing has still has not improved despite antibiotics and steroid spray, although nausea has gone away. Going back to work tomorrow as I need to, hopefully I'll be given stuff to do that doesn't involve hearing much (not extremely hopeful on this happening).

Metal sounds terrible to me at the moment.

Ever since I started jogging again about a month ago or so, if I listen to music my hearing gradually fades away in both ears as I'm jogging to the point where I can barely hear any of it, though it only seems to affect my hearing of the music, and it comes back quickly once I finish jogging. It also affects my left ear much faster than my right ear. I have a pretty bad ear wax problem, though, that might be caused by my earbud use, and I'm getting an ear cleaning later today so that might have something to do with it. Either way, I've started listening to podcasts instead of music with my earbuds, so I'm not tempted to raise the volume every five minutes.

I got some small improvements going on, but I'm still pretty deaf. Work is absolute shite with this going on (I deal with the public and they are not very understanding of me not hearing them 99% of the time).

Tried listening to some Pharaoh, but Tim Aymar almost made my brain explode. Not good. I'm kinda missing music!

So, following a head cold I woke up Monday with my right ear so plugged up my hearing was cut by about 50%, along with a very loud rushing and ringing noise. Went to immediate care and they flushed out a whole bunch of wax and gunk from that ear.

Point is, the ringing in that ear got cut back even further than it was before that ear's problem started, so it definitely seemed to be caused in some part by wax and fluid buildup. Those of you with such issues may want to give it a shot.

I have a bit of tinnitus as a result from listening to music too loud when I was young and due to concerts that I went. Therefore, I only go to concerts with earplugs these days.

Yeah, I've got slight Tinnitus. Seems to come and go though, honestly. Some days I have excellent hearing, and other days I have slightly less than excellent hearing. I still haven't lost much range according to all the hearing tests I take yearly. Oh, and to whoever was talking about losing hearing while jogging, the longer you listen to music at a certain volume, the less sensitive you become to it. I have the same thing happen when I'm playing hockey at the outdoor rink, running, taking a spin on the exercise bike, or rollerblading. As soon as I pull 'em out, my hearing comes back in clearly. And then I'll plug them back in a few hours later, same volume, and it'll seem loud as hell again.