Loud music is one of the causes of tinnitus. This story is based on my experience with my daughter who’s been having tinnitus for two years now.

My 21-year old daughter Lindsy, loves rock music a lot since she was 15. She particularly likes those kinds that bang around. There was even a time when I entered her room and the sound of her stereos was just overwhelming. When she turned 18 she bought an mp3 player so she could bring her music anywhere she goes. I could not tell whether her volume was too loud, but whenever she stuffs the headphones in her ears, I am sure she could barely hear anything else.

Two years ago she began complaining that there was something weird about her ears. I asked her what was wrong with her ears. She said she could hear her ears ringing. At first, I found it stupid. I’ve never heard of ears ringing before. I thought she was making up a ridiculous story. I told her it might have been due to her loud hi-fi system. I was more right than I thought.

One evening she knocked at my bedroom door. My distraught daughter woke me up in the middle of the night covering her ears telling me the sound in her ears wouldn’t go away. I was alarmed. The following morning I brought her to a GP. Her vital signs were checked and she was perfectly normal. There was obviously nothing wrong with her, but then the doctor pointed us to an ENT Specialist to get a better look. It was then when we learned that my daughter had tinnitus. I never heard of this word before and so I asked what might have been the causes of tinnitus. According to the ear specialist, tinnitus may occur due to a lot of causes. Loud noise (and music), vascular problems, head injuries, diseases and infections, and some medications may cause tinnitus.

I could easily conclude even without proper medical background of this disorder that what caused it in my daughter was her loud music. She used to listen to it most of her waking hours.  Since she had her MP3 player, I could barely notice her removing her earphones.

After learning that she could no longer enjoy her loud music quite much, she felt cheerless. However, I told her she had barely other options. Now she keeps her music at moderate volume and she doesn’t wear ear phones anymore. Instead she wears a device known as a tinnitus masker and she has it around almost all the time.

Music is supposed to be a source of fun. I never had thought that it would bring some ordeal to my own daughter. Unfortunately, I could not do much about it now. One of the causes of tinnitus is loud music. That’s what I learned. That’s what everyone else should learn too.