I think I finally did damage to my ears. For the past week Ive had ringing/pain in my ears and my ability to hear has dropped dramatically. Im going to the doctors tonight. I now regret not wearing earplugs.
Well just make sure you wear them from now on, seriously the sooner you learn the tinnitus lesson the better.
It's no fun and perhaps it's not too late, your body can repair some damage over time.
Happy hearing and Good luck,
Dirk
I damaged my hearing over the course of only a few weeks in 1988 playing in a metal band and I regret it all the time even though I've learned to live with it and to compensate for it.
It's happened to a lot of us and the more it gets talked about the more likely it is new musicians will heed the warning.
The best of luck to you and I hope that the damage isn't as bad as you fear.
The doctor did an ear flush (apparently years of q-tip use packed wax deep in my ear) which helped with pain and some hearing loss (still not great) but the ringing is still there. She said that is most likely due the lack of earplugs but if im lucky it might go away.
I experienced what I must now accept as permanent damage to the hearing in my left ear in ONE SESSION. The keyboardist's monitor was pointing right at my head all night and he was making this piercing tone that hurt at first but which I became less sensitive to as the session wore on. My high frequency hearing in that ear never recovered and that was three years ago. It rings all the time. Be careful out there.
i did this the other day, went a couple hours jamming in a basement with a drummer and other electric guitarist without my headphones on so i could hear myself sing. it's been like 3 days and it seems like it has come back. after a week though.. good choice on seeing the doctor, hope you're alright. after that 1 jam session i'm always going to wear headphones now
I think I screwed up 
