Tinnitus, Ear Buds & Students

Hey students, what’s up? This is Seth with SethPerler.com. I’m an executive function coach based out of Boulder, Colorado, and I help students navigate this thing called school.

Students, today I have an interesting topic for you. I’m going to talk to you about your ears.

The reason I’m bringing this up is that I just got done talking with somebody about it in the hallway here where I have my office. Students, I know, I know, I know—you like to listen to loud music through your earbuds. I get it. That’s how I grew up too. I grew up with headphones and listening to loud music all the time.

I love music. As you can probably tell from my office, it’s a huge part of my life. I play guitar, and I want to tell you what happened to me.

Today, I have a condition called tinnitus. There are many different levels and forms of tinnitus, but for me, it means that my ears believe there is a sound that doesn’t actually exist.

I hear about six different high-pitched tones in my ears, and I hear them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—every second of every day. There are about six different tones that I can actually identify. I can even find the notes on a guitar, although they’re in a higher octave than my guitar can produce.

Sometimes it’s really annoying because it never stops. Imagine trying to sleep while someone is mowing the lawn outside all night long. Or imagine sitting in a quiet classroom, trying to read, while hearing a constant buzzing noise in the background.

Some people hear a chainsaw sound. Some hear a lawnmower. Some hear low-frequency noises. In my case, they’re very high frequencies that are constantly ringing.

Now, not everybody develops tinnitus, but I want to tell you how I believe I got mine.

I play both acoustic and electric guitar. With electric guitars, I used amplifiers, and for about 20 years I probably played through amplifiers almost every day. I liked turning them up loud. I enjoy heavy music and rock and roll, so I spent a lot of time playing at high volumes.

I believe that the tiny hair cells in the inner ear—called cilia—can become damaged over time. These little hairs pick up sound vibrations and help your brain interpret sound. I think years of exposure to loud music probably damaged mine, which is why I have tinnitus today.

The whole purpose of this video is simply to tell you that story.

You can do whatever you want, but I really encourage you to think about your earbuds and how loud you listen to music. Sometimes I have students whose music is so loud that I can tell what song they’re listening to just from the sound leaking out of their earbuds.

I try to tell them to be careful, but people don’t always like taking advice. So take this for whatever it’s worth.

I will also tell you that I wear soft earplugs whenever I’m going somewhere loud. I wear them on airplanes, at concerts, and at shows. They reduce the volume so the sound isn’t as intense.

If I don’t wear them, my ears ring much louder after a concert—sometimes for hours. I believe that exposure is probably causing additional damage, so I really try to protect my hearing.

Our ears are incredibly important, and when you’re young, it’s ideal to protect them as much as possible.

I really just wanted to share this story with you. Honestly, I don’t even know why I made this video except that we were discussing it in the hallway, and I thought it was worth sharing.

This is real life. Had I known this was going to happen, I would have turned down my amplifiers. I would have worn earplugs more often. I wouldn’t have listened to my headphones at such high volumes. I would have protected my hearing much more consciously than I did.

Unfortunately, I can’t change it now. I’ll probably have this condition for the rest of my life. Hopefully it doesn’t get worse, because some people really struggle with tinnitus.

Anyhow, again, my name is Seth with SethPerler.com. I hope you students are doing awesome, and I’ll talk to you soon.