@goatprairie
You were smart to leave when you did. I had been going to loud concerts for years. My hearing had been failing for a couple of decades, but last year, a loud show permanently destroyed hearing in my right ear. My left ear still has about 75% hearing, and the otologist told me if I want to keep the hearing I have left, I had better stop going to loud rock shows. I miss the shows, but they aren't worth going completely deaf.
Sorry for your hearing problems.
I haven't gone to a lot of rock shows in my life, but I am nearing seventy. I thought I was losing my hearing in my right ear and had diminished hearing for more than a decade. I have a bro-in-law, a little older than me, who recently had an ear infection and lost all the hearing in the ear. I thought that's what happens when you get older.
So the last checkup I had a few weeks ago when the doc asked me near the end of the checkup if there was anything else I was concerned about, I told him about the diminished hearing in my right ear.
He said it's probably just ear wax.
Sure enough, he got out some tool and started removing a ton of the stuff from my right ear. Then I had both ears irrigated.
When I got home, later that evening, as is my wont, I plugged in my electric guitar and started to whale away. I was immediately overwhelmed by the tremendous noise attacking my right ear. I was back to good hearing in both ears.... at least good for my age.
Ear wax was all it was.
