Tips for a...

St Pancras too earlier. Limited Service

 

Just put some warm oil in it.

 

You can ear syringes from boots. Fill it with warm water and squirt it in your ear, job done. Worked for me a couple of times

 

They used a vacuum cleaner with a camera attached to it ( not joking) to clear mine of years of wax build up having been in a live band. Could not believe how much they removed. Trouble is I can now have to respond to all the nagging I get from the missus which I used to be able to ignore claiming I could not hear her.

 

I didn't check out the debris but they assured me there was plenty! I guess it could also have been connected with years of DJing.

 

I was gobsmacked how much they removed. I never realised how much space I had between my ears. They moved the screen for me when they changed sides so I could see the process and they were pulling out great lumps with hair and cotton bud fluff attached.

For you, like me as a pro muso, DJing would certainly have made a difference. I was working in bands in the days when P.A. systems were poor and inner ear monitoring did not exist which nowadays is great for isolating all the other noises and providing a clear lower level mix. I assume as a DJ you use(d) isolating headphones now. We used to have huge reflex sub bass cabinets, mids, horns and bullet speakers each side of the stage. Wedge vocal monitors and side fills firing the mix across the stage - high volume, comparatively low quality. In addition there was 'spill' from the guitarist, bassist back lines not to mention the drummer only several feet away from my right ear. My ears were often ringing when we came off. The worst place we ever played was once at Sheffield city oval hall. The sound came back from the back of the space about half a second later. We had to have the monitoring really loud to drown it out as it was really off putting.
Nowadays two active speakers and two active sub bass speakers give me all the power and quality I need for small/medium venues. (at a fraction of the cost of the old systems with heavy amp racks and x-overs).
I do have some permanent hearing loss particularly in my right ear and my inner ear is 'semi permanently' blocked but I can clear it via the valsalva manoeuver which lasts for about 10-15 minutes before the high frequencies 'disappear' again. It makes recording mixing hard and certainly not possible to professional recording standards.
I have learned to compensate to some extent on the rare occasions we venture out for a live gig.

Old age is a wonderful thing

 

Bit the bullet and gone to the UTC.

 

I haven't DJ'd professionally for over 15 years, but at the time people were only just beginning to take hearing loss in professional musicians seriously. Most people who are still doing it now wear very expensive earplugs to filter out the damaging frequencies. DJing is particularly high-risk, due to your reliance on a monitor speaker that must be loud enough to be heard above the main sound system in the club.

 

One of the worst environments are classical orchestras / brass bands. Many violinists suffer over the long term due to the high frequencies and proximity of the instrument to the ears. Conductors too, particularly brass bands are facing the orchestra/band where the output is coming straight at them. I once, as part of a risk assessment when I was working as a techniciañ did check of the sound levels at a brass band rehearsal and clocked. 120db (louder than a chain saw at a metre). Constant exposure to levels above 85-90db causes long term hearing loss and possible tinnitus. The higher frequencies tend to do the most damage which is why modern personal MP3 players with high quality frequency range with the limiter turned off do more damage. Audiologists predict an epidemic in the coming years of older people needing hearing aids.
Simple rule - if you come out of any concert/environment and your ears are ringing you will have sustained a small level of permanent damage. Do that regularly and you will end up with LTNIHL ( Long term noise induced hearing loss) .

 

UTC. For an ear wax problem!!!

 

Yeah. I followed the guidelines online. They are to wait for it to clear by itself if there's no change, see someone. It's UTC in name only. Ran by GP's. Turns out I have an ear infection and need to oil them nightly to get rid of the wax that's built up.

 

First concert I went to after lockdown, my ears were ringing until the next afternoon. Very unpleasant!

 

I've been the opposite - not had the tinnitus after any gigs since lockdown. Although I have had it semi-permanently since about December which is slowly clearing...