quoted 3 lines i've had ringing in my ears since i was very young, and i always thought> i've had ringing in my ears since i was very young, and i always thought
> it was perfectly normal, i mean, i assumed everyone heard ringing in
> their ears when there were no other sounds.
There is no such thing as silence. Your nerves and the circulation of
blood creates sound you can hear in the absence of other sound which masks
it.
The silicone plugs you can get at any drugstore have a reasonably flat
attenuation curve, and in most cases the shows sound better since my
nerves aren't being overloaded into distortion (as the PA system
frequently is).
Anytime you experience a shift in threshhold (that is, the quietest sound
you can hear is louder than before), some of the damage is permanent.
The SPL (loudness) isn't the whole story. I can play my (kinda high-end)
home system at much, much higher levels without any fatigue, versus my car
stereo for instance. Like I say, the engineers frequently drive PAs past
their comfort zone. Without earplugs, your ears will pay a permanent
price.
Wear earplugs and enjoy more music for a longer time.
--Mark