Tinnitus Awareness Week

Having myself experienced the scare of Tinnitus after attending an extremely loud gig almost a year ago now, I have since been a constant advocate of earplugs and protecting hearing at live music.
Protecting hearing seems to have a weird stigma attatched to it; that it somehow makes you uncool and lessens your experience of a live band by wearing earplugs. I admit, dance music is wonderful loud, pumping in your chest and ringing in your ears. the thought of that ringing persisting through the rest of your life however scares me too much. I love music, that is clear. I equally love live music and have myself complained that sometimes bands are too quiet.
However, to constantly hear a ringing, when I am away from the music, when I lie in bed at night, reading a book... the thought is terrifying.

Next week is Tinnitus Awareness Week, championed by Eddy Temple-Morris, himself a tinnitus sufferer.
Below is an interview he conducted with The Remix Update on his tinnitus experience and advice to prevent it.

Remember, laser-eye surgery can fix your eyes but there is nothing as of yet to fix your ears, merely temporarily reduce the symptoms.
This is a serious problem which our generation is yet to recognise and understand the consequence of. My earplugs cost £20 and have saved my ringing ears on numerous occasions.

"Next week is Tinnitus Awareness Week, a UK-wide campaign to inform and educate people about the condition, encourage gig-goers to protect their hearing, and promote the range of free services the British Tinnitus Association provides to sufferers and their families.
As his first piece of work as an 'ambassador' for the BTA, DJ and presenter Eddy Temple-Morris, himself a tinnitus sufferer, will kick the week off with a very special free event in London. Dubbed 'One Tune: One Cause', Eddy has pulled together a group of more than 25 DJs and musicians, all of whom have tinnitus, who will take it in turns to play one record each to make up one complete DJ set.

Those on the bill include Eddy himself, Adam F, Jon Carter, Way Out West, Lottie, Streetlife DJs, Burn The Negative, Wrongtom, Cassette Jam, Losers, Jagz Kooner and more. British Tinnitus Association representatives will also be on hand to offer advice on protecting your hearing, and bespoke earplugs will be available for a discounted price from earplug manufacturers Musicians Hearing Services.

Writing about his experience of tinnitus in CMU Daily's sister bulletin the Remix Update, Eddy says: "I remember the carefree days of going to a gig, blasting my eardrums with glorious and beautiful music, then getting home with a ringing in my ears. It would last for a few hours, maybe a day. I thought it was just part and parcel of going to a gig. Van Halen at Birmingham Civic Centre Coliseum in Alabama set an unbeaten record of about a week, but it always went away eventually. Then, one day, about a decade ago... it didn't".

He continued: "I have a constant high-pitched tone in one or both of my ears, and it's something I carry with me always, wherever I go. I don't notice it in the day, there's too much ambient noise in London, even at night. It's when I go somewhere really quiet, in the countryside, that it really affects me. I lie down to sleep and, with the absence of planes, trains and automobiles, I realise the awful truth that I cannot hear the silence. That lovely sense of total quiet, of blissful peace, is something I will never experience again".

He adds that through the advice of the BTA and a bespoke ear-plug from Musicians Hearing Services he has managed to reduce the impact of the condition, but that he is still committed to educating as many gig-goers as possible about the risks of exposure to very loud music, and of what they can do to reduce those risks.

He explains: "As long as I have the power to do something about it, I'll communicate, pressure, evangelise, talk, listen, rant, and anything else I can think of to make sure that you don't find yourself in the same position as me and all these other huge-hearted artists on the bill at this show, of never hearing silence again".

You can read Eddy's full piece on Tinnitus, and his advice for avoiding it, in this week's Remix Update. Access and subscribe at www.theCMUwebsite.com/remixupdate"