Are your listening levels healthy? Doing damage?

Very interesting to read all the comments. I think spending money on a quality sound pressure meter with a calibration device makes sense and very worthwhile.  Reed Instruments seems good.

Surprised no one has discussed keeping their ears clean. I had some blockage a couple years ago and I applied sweet oil daily for a while and that softened things up and got rid of the problem.  When you chew food the movement tends to be a self cleansing mechanism for the ear canal area. Also flowing warm water from a shower to the ear area is helpful.

Also I take metoprolol, a heart medication, and side effects are tinitus.

Cleaning ears comes up on other posts. Many of use clean them periodically. There are also warm water ear cleaning devices that attach to the faucet. My doctor has one and you can buy them on line.

I have a couple SPL devices… but just use my Iphone. Typically only to occationally mention the volume on a forum post.

@macg19 "However there is no way to actually measure the frequency of the tinnitus tone that I am aware of."

Actually, I found it pretty simple. i sat down with a set of headphones,  with the amp hooked to a signal generator. I simply adjusted the tone frequency in the headphones until it matched what was in my head. In my case, that was about 9 KHz. 

I've had tinnitus for 30+ years now. The ENT I saw told me it was likely ear damage dating back to the 1970s when I was a concert sound engineer.  The follicles in the ear are each thought to be tied to an individual brain cell, and when the hairs are damaged, the brain cells end up disconnected and bored, and make their own noise, kind of like a bored kid drumming their fingers.  No idea if that's actually the case, but it does make sense to me. I've got my noise constantly when I'm awake but have learned to live with it, just as I've adapted to all the other aches, pains and disfunction I've acquired as I've moved into my 70s.

@mlsstl clever idea. 
 

@moonwatcher I’m setting up an appointment with a doc that offers the Lenire device.

Not covered by insurance yet - $5,500 and the treatment period is 12 weeks. Not convinced yet but I’m going to hear the pitch (pun intended)

@macg19 That's expensive, but less than a hearing aid. In the three clinical trials I read about with the Lenire device, about 87% said it improved their symptoms.  Now, how "much" it improved their perception of it I don't know. Hopefully your doctor can clue you into his own experience with it and his patients. Good luck! 

I live in NC and so far, no place around here offers it. But I'll keep hoping.