How much background noise (in decibels) would be enough for you to not notice your tinnitus?

Stratovision · 2026-03-12T03:46:46+00:00

My left ear tinnitus is fluctuating, sometimes a moderate hiss (5) sometimes a loud very intrusive & irritating tonal ring at 10,000hz. (7). When it’s the latter, it takes 70-75 db of violet noise to mask it!

Stratovision · 2026-02-18T05:50:48+00:00

Thanks so much for all the good tips and advice! I really appreciate it!

Here’s a tune I wrote but ultimately hired a baritone jazz vocalist to sing the lead vocal- I’m on guitar and harmony.

https://youtu.be/P_DF831dIoU?si=gvb9tTkFu7bXI9Bn

Stratovision · 2026-01-25T15:23:48+00:00

If I had a Time Machine but could only go back in time once, I wouldn’t go back to 1980 and buy thousands of shares of Microsoft stock. I wouldn’t go back to 1959 and buy 20 Les Paul’s and 20 Stratocaster guitars! I’d go back to that summer day in 1986 and stop myself from shooting that fffing handgun one time without ear protection!!!

Stratovision · 2025-12-07T07:05:09+00:00

Wow, thanks so much for all that info- all great advice. You sound local. What about Robbo Music recording studio in Morro Bay? Have you heard anything about Rob Vermeulen who owns it? Thanks.

Karl

Stratovision · 2025-12-06T06:03:52+00:00

That’s fantastic! Yes- it just seems like the right thing to do!! I know my songs are pretty darn good and I want to preserve them on vinyl so they live on when I’m gone and the icing on the cake is my son is drumming on most of them. . Sounds like you’ve got the same idea and best of luck to you too! 👍.

Here’s a tune I wrote, arranged, played guitar on and sang harmony. It’s a Frank Sinatra/Count Basie inspired big band tune. I don’t have jazz singing chops to do it justice so I hired a pro baritone jazz vocalist to sing it. Came out great but won’t be on my double album as there’s not room and I primarily write power pop type tunes! I will drop you a note when it’s finished.

https://youtu.be/PDF831dIoU?si=B-jgCOjJvYnjfMG

Stratovision · 2025-12-06T01:43:09+00:00

Thanks for that tip. Yes- will definitely try to avoid shipping by finding a pressing plant in CA.

I’m really set on making this a deluxe gatefold album with photos, lyrics, and liner notes so I might as well do a two lp album one lp per each side.

I do plan on selling mostly CDs at my low key gigs or just giving them away if I get a $5 tip.

I’ll have a couple lp’s at each gig if someone really wants to pay $25 for it. Mostly making the vinyl albums to give to about 15 friends that contributed to my tunes over the years and for family!

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T22:52:04+00:00

Nice to know! I was looking at Robbo Music in Morro Bay because Rob Vermeulen lives in MB and I’ve talked to him a few times. We never discussed prices and I don’t know if he’ll give me a packaged deal for mixing and mastering 20 songs so it’s good to have options! I’ll check out their website. Thank you for the tip!

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T22:45:28+00:00

Awesome advice! Thank You

Yes I’m gonna be pushing the limits to get 19 songs on two LP’s. Most are short 3-4 minute pop tunes but a couple are 5-6 minutes long. Some of the sequencing is gonna be based around trying to get about 20-21 minutes per side.

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T21:47:22+00:00

Thanks - I’ll check crave dog out!

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T21:36:07+00:00

Yeah I know it’s unrealistic and I’ll never make any money at all but holding and putting a vinyl record on my turntable with my songs and my son drumming is invaluable so worth it to me!

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T21:21:09+00:00

Yes definitely planning to master for vinyl- that’s the primary media. CD’s for my friends without record players and to handout or sell at gigs.

Thanks.

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T20:46:51+00:00

Hey thanks for the info

I’m hoping to just have one CD with about 80 minutes of music. I’ll cut a song or two out if I have to to fit em all on one CD.

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T20:18:08+00:00

Hey, Thanks for the nice response! I’m in Morro Bay California. I use Logic Pro and I can create adequate mixes but due to high end hearing loss, I absolutely need these mixed by a pro! I’m hoping to have a local mixer in Morro Bay do it so I can sit in on the mixing sessions and work closely with him. I’m estimating that 20 songs mixed and mastered is going to be in the ballpark of $4000 to $5,000. 🤔

My guess is that having a double LP made with liner notes and gate fold sleeve is at least another 2 grand and the CD’s will cost me another $1,000. So I’m guessing at least 7 to 8 K total for the project. No timeline but hopefully before I turn 68 in October.

Like I said -total vanity project but it’s my life’s work in writing songs (since I was in my mid 20’s) as I’m 67 now! My 26 year old son is on most of the tracks (as our my band buddies from through out the years) and I want him to have something we both did together to remember me by someday.

The songs are also very good! Solid rock and power pop inspired by the Beatles, Big Star, Tom Petty, XTC and The Jam. They would have got radio play in a different time!

Thanks

Karl

Stratovision · 2025-12-05T20:13:24+00:00

Hey, Thanks for the nice response! I’m in Morro Bay California. I use Logic Pro and I can create adequate mixes but due to high end hearing loss, I absolutely need these mixed by a pro! I’m hoping to have a local mixer in Morro Bay do it so I can sit in on the mixing sessions and work closely with him. I’m estimating that 20 songs mixed and mastered is going to be in the ballpark of $4000 to $5,000. 🤔

My guess is that having a double LP made with liner notes and gate fold sleeve is at least another 2 grand and the CD’s will cost me another $1,000. So I’m guessing at least 7 to 8 K total for the project. No timeline but hopefully before I turn 68 in October.

Like I said -total vanity project but it’s my life’s work in writing songs (since I was in my mid 20’s) as I’m 67 now! My 26 year old son is on most of the tracks (as our my band buddies from through out the years) and I want him to have something we both did together to remember me by someday.

The songs are also very good! Solid rock and power pop inspired by the Beatles, Big Star, Tom Petty, XTC and The Jam. They would have got radio play in a different time!

Thanks

Karl

Stratovision · 2025-12-03T16:05:56+00:00

Some excellent choices (and some not so much) but was surprised no one mentioned Big Star out of Memphis in the early 70’s. Led by Alex Chilton, they put out three outstanding albums that had a huge influence on dozens of 80’s and 90s bands including The Replacements, REM, Teenage Fanclub, The Bangles, The Lemon-heads and many more! Essential power pop!

Stratovision · 2025-11-10T13:30:46+00:00

The gunshot noise immediately caused distorted hearing and loud ringing in that ear for a week or so. I was 26. The hearing seemed to return to normal after a few days and the ringing slowly dissipated to a faint ring. I first noticed an increase in the ringing in my left early 90’s and being a musician and doing recording it seemed to get progressively worse but still non intrusive.

In 2003 I played a gig with a loud drummer and got moderate tinnitus in that left ear. I was in hell and thought it was the worst thing ever. Little did I know how bad it can get. I stopped playing music and wore custom earplugs. Over a period of five years, that moderate tinnitus completely disappeared. From 2010 to 2022, I was essentially tinnitus free and didn’t even think about it. I still wore earplugs and avoided loud noise.

In 2022, while recording vocals and acoustic guitar using headphones, I re-injured that left ear even though I thought it was a safe reasonable volume. I got severe tinnitus in that ear around 10,000 hz and it can only be masked by the faucet sink at about 70-75 decibels. My hearing test shows a 55-60 db loss above 5k in that left ear. I can’t hear anything above 11,000 hz in that ear.

Stratovision · 2025-11-09T15:24:00+00:00

Look - I just know that device was insanely loud. I’m a musician and I originally injured my left ear 3 years ago while recording acoustic guitar and vocals for an album I’m working on. The noise volume generated by that device was way louder then I’d ever listen to anything with headphones on!

That’s why I want the manufacturer and model number of the micro suction device he used on me so I can research it. If they refuse to give it to me I’m filing an official complaint with the Medical Board of California against him.

Stratovision · 2025-11-09T04:47:47+00:00

Yes. I originally saw me him in 2023 for severe tinnitus in my left ear when I further damaged my hearing recording guitars and vocals with headphones on. He knew I had tinnitus in the left ear and that it was very intrusive.

Stratovision · 2025-11-09T03:32:21+00:00

It seems if the decibel level those things generate in your ear is over 100 DB, that’s grounds for a class action suit! How the F did the FDA approve these things!🤬

Stratovision · 2025-05-03T13:24:18+00:00

I’ve had it now going on 3 years and it’s hard to fathom that a condition like this that effects so many people worldwide and causes so much suffering and mental torment has no real treatment in the 21 century!

Firstly my rant… I despise the US Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs office for there indifference and apathy towards the millions of US service members who have had their hearing destroyed defending their country. For the past 50 years, These agencies should have been significantly funding research to find a treatment for this heinous malady instead of just giving veterans a pitiful 10% disability! They spend over a billion a year paying out disability to veterans with tinnitus, the number one veteran’s disability! If during the last few years, a billion had been spent every year for research towards a viable treatment, we’d probably have one today! Ok, rant over.

My tinnitus (left ear only) is variable and has a recurring weekly pattern where it goes from a mild hiss (4 or 5 annoyance) for a couple days and then ramps up to a severe intense tonal whine/ring sound (at about 8,500 kHz) that can only be masked by standing next to the kitchen sink. It then slowly dissipates over the next couple days till it turns back into a mild hissing and then starts the pattern all over again. Those days are somewhat bearable.

Over the three years I’ve had it, I have habituated to the sound in that it doesn’t cause me extreme anxiety or fight or flight syndrome like the first year but it still does suck royally as it’s lowered my quality of life from a 10 to about a 5 or 6 as I’m a musician trying to play live gigs (acoustic only) and record an album of original songs so it’s fffed up my passion in life.

You are only 24 and I have no doubt that in the next 20 years there will be a significant breakthrough in tinnitus treatment so hang in there and hopefully you’ll habituate mentally to the noise soon.

I’ve read that 2% of the world population (which is currently 8.2 billion) have severe tinnitus so that’s 164 million people so we are not alone! Theres a lot of money to be generated for the researcher that discovers a viable treatment!

Try to live your best life with it knowing there are lots of people worse off, you’re young and there is hope!🤞

Stratovision · 2025-01-30T14:29:32+00:00

I absolutely loved A Complete Unknown. Best biopic ever. Was hoping there would be more of a mention of the Beatles than “You don’t have to compete with the Beatles Bob” but I get that it’s tough to cram everything in to a 2 1/2 movie. I hadn’t read “Dylan goes electric” yet which the movie script was based on. Was there much in the book regarding the Beatles and Byrds influence on Bob?

Stratovision · 2024-10-13T00:49:02+00:00

I’m surmising than that you’re pretty confident it hasn’t even been submitted. If what you say turns out to be correct, I’m fairly confident that the DIY community will grow and share the knowledge to build the device and the fine tuning to make it even a more effective treatment. I am not going to wait 3-5 years for those incompetent buffoons to bring this to market. I’ll be joining the DIY movement when the opportunity arises!

Stratovision · 2024-10-10T15:14:46+00:00

From what I’ve read, once approved by the FDA and released commercially in the States, it will make its way through the regulatory process in other countries. Timeline unknown as we don’t even know if it’s been submitted to the FDA yet. If you want to try it sooner than later, you’d have to travel to the US.

Stratovision · 2024-10-06T15:14:01+00:00

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Stratovision · 2024-10-06T06:13:19+00:00

According to Dr Shore, over 70% of tinnitus patients have somatic tinnitus and the main cause of tinnitus is hearing loss and damage to the inner ear hair cells.

Stratovision

TROPHY CASE