Tinnitus and DJing
Tinnitus: A Real Problem For Every DJ
Ean Golden, the man behind the site DJTechTools.com, laid out a personal and practical account of tinnitus and, in a larger sense, what it means to have your career path altered by auditory damage. In the article that could have been titled 'how to avoid destroying your ears while DJing', he wrote about his own tinnitus which came on at the peak of his professional DJing career.
"That fear, and the realization that DJing was making things worse, triggered me to change my lifestyle and significantly reduce noise. In the end that meant adjusting how I DJed, cutting most gigs and limiting set lengths. Having something taken away from you without choice was profoundly depressing and took a while to get over."
Although Ean wrote this article several years ago, it is impressive to see many subsequent articles he published pertaining to practical hearing protection tips.
Tinnitus is not the end
"Fortunately, it was a blessing in disguise. Instead of gigging full time, my focus turned to this site and today, I feel significantly more fulfilled helping others DJ but for many, tinnitus may mean the end of a career completely"
On a personal level, I reflect Ean's sentiment that even the worst outcome can have an upshot. The realization that my persistent tinnitus would significantly damper my budding music career, or at least hinder the enjoyment of that career, lead me to study Audiology. Now I devote the majority of my time to helping others maintain their own music careers - a cathartic and productive twist.
Message of caution
Often I find that after countless hours of wording and rewording hearing conservation messages, someone else has found a way to say the same thing more clearly and realistically than I could. Ean Golden proves this phenomenon again in his closing lines:
"Your ears can heal themselves of short term damage, but once things are really broken, they are broken for good."
http://djtechtools.com/2012/05/20/tinnitus-a-real-problem-for-every-dj/