Has anyone here developed tinnitus after firing a gun? Besides being much more diligent about hearing protection, has your day-to-day life changed in any significant way?
I find I have to have a fan running to fall asleep. Keeping the TV on helps drown it out too.
The ringing comes and goes for me; sometimes it’s faint, other times it’s quite loud. Usually, it’s because my ear protection wasn’t seated right or I simply forgot to use it.
You’ve brought this up a few times now. Just about everyone who spends significant time around loud noises ends up with some degree of tinnitus, and for the vast majority, it doesn’t really alter their life in a noticeable way.
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Yes, and it’s miserable. It doesn’t always happen instantly, but it builds up until it’s a permanent, 24/7 fixture. Occasionally it spikes so loud it’s physically painful. If you still need to be convinced that hearing protection is necessary, you probably shouldn’t be handling firearms.
I’ve dealt with tinnitus for as long as I can remember, way before I ever started shooting. After several hearing tests, an audiologist found a major dip in my hearing at the 3Khz frequency. I assume that’s the pitch of my ringing, which makes it hard to hear other sounds at that level. I’ve lived with it so long I’m used to it, though it flares up when I’m stressed. The doctor suggested it comes from heavy machinery exposure, but I wasn’t around that as a kid, so I’ve just accepted it as something I was born with.
Tinnitus isn’t like a concussion where you eventually heal. The sensory neurons die off and don’t come back. That ringing is a phantom sound your brain creates to compensate for the hearing loss. While it gets easier to manage as you learn to tune it out, it never actually goes away. You need to be extremely careful with the hearing you have left because you can’t afford to lose more.
Welcome to the club, unfortunately 
I got mine 20 years ago from playing in a loud band without plugs. I’ve adapted, though being in a completely silent room feels weird now. You’ll likely be fine, but get a checkup. If you’re ever exposed to another loud blast, see an audiologist immediately for medical treatment, as it’s very effective if started right away.
The first time I took out my new AR build, I left my left ear exposed while talking. The muzzle brake combined with the covered range really did some damage. I had immediate pain followed by days of ringing. I still notice it sometimes, but it’s not a huge deal. Now I use electronic muffs outdoors and double up with plugs indoors. I also wear high-fidelity plugs to concerts, especially indoor ones, because metal shows are painfully loud and the ringing makes it hard to sleep afterward.
I only get brief ringing in one ear for about 10-20 seconds every now and then. It’s been that way forever, so I doubt shooting caused it. It seems pretty common. I’m very strict about earpro and it hasn’t gotten worse, so I’m not worried.
I have tinnitus from a lifetime of working around loud equipment and duck hunting. I wear protection at work but not while hunting. The ringing is intermittent. My annual hearing tests at work show I’m still within the normal range for a 40-year-old, so I don’t let it bother me much.
You basically need white noise to get to sleep. Otherwise, I rarely notice it. Most background noise is enough to mask the ringing. If I focus on it, I can hear it, but it’s easy to ignore most of the time.
I’ve had tinnitus since I was a kid and didn’t realize the constant sound wasn’t normal. It sounds like a chorus of crickets and frogs in my head all day, especially at night. It’s usually not too bad, but it can be annoying. The biggest issue is my wife knows I don’t hear well but rarely adjusts her voice, then gets frustrated when I have to ask her to repeat herself.