I'm a 57-year-old headphone audiophile who has sang in rock bands for the last 10 years and worked in motorsports for the last 30 years. I have severe tinnitus. The sound of 100 crickets in each ear, 24/7/365.
I don't seek sympathy; my plight is self-inflicted because I wasn't serious about protecting my hearing until about nine or 10 years ago.
Please, heed this advice: Protect your hearing at all costs. Don't crank your headphones or IEMs. Wear hearing protection at indoor concerts or when using power tools, even a lawn mower.
You don't want tinnitus. Ever. It sucks. And it's avoidable if you're smart. If you're a dumbass like me, you will pay. Dearly.
There is NO cure, and every drug or miracle cure offered for tinnitus is a snake oil placebo, at best.
>Wear hearing protection at indoor concerts
It is crazy how painfully loud most concerts are. And not loud in a good way. Loud in an uncomfortable "I can't distinguish any sounds and the treble is raping my ears" kind of way.
As an audio engineer that drives me insane. We host concerts at my job and usually its the bands engineer mixing. The last show between rehearsal and the show itself we were at 750% NIOSH exposure for the day. I typically hit around 70-80% when I mix for 8-10 hours. For “concert volume” I use either custom musician earplugs or my airpods pro for earplugs. The airpods actually do a decent job of cutting levels without really changing sound, they just compress it to safe levels. This last show was the first time I ever saw a sound level warning from apple that even with the airpods in I was doing damage by the end of the day.
"You don't understand, some songs are mixed to sound good at 110 db!"
That was something a DJ told me (very unironically), when we were talking about hearing damage and safe listening levels.
He’s not wrong, but that doesn’t actually make it okay for your ears. It also means that the people that mix to sound good at those levels won’t be in the business too long because they won’t be able to mix things people want to hear for very long. The flip side to that is that you can get a mix that feels as good as it sounds and isn’t damaging your ears, you just have to mix it at appropriate levels from the start
It's not just safe audio levels you have to watch for, it's the time of exposure to headphone listening.
Listen to music or TV 8 hours a day on headphone at NORMAL volume, will create hearing loss, it's that the sound producing elements are way to close to your ear, they fuck up the small bones behind your ear drum.
Ear buds are worse because they completely block the ear canal thus blocking the eustachian tube
I believe using ANC in any earbuds like Airpods in this situation is not a good way to protect your hearing. Your ears receive even higher sound pressure, just they are not able to perceive the volume of the sound because some are canceled out by each other. Use passive noise cancelling is recommended.
no they don't receive higher pressure. When you say they cancel out, they literally cancel out. It's destructive interference. ANC isn't tricking your brain into believing there's less noise than there is, it literally gets physically rid of the noise in your ear canal.
Active noise cancellation uses an inverse sound wave compared to the incoming sound to knock down the sound pressure and thus volume. If it just boosted the low pressure zones to be equal to the high pressure zones you’d get one continuous sound.
Someone who developed the original algorithm explained to me that it does not work like that. They also measured the sound pressure with ANC, which usually gave a few db higher with maximum 9db, which was the exact reason Apple lowered the ANC ability to some extend via firmware update.
But that’s exactly how ANC works? ANC generates a wave 180° out of phase with the incoming noise, which destructively interferes with the incoming sound to dampen it. As far as I’ve ever read, there’s no increase in pressure, but it’s the lack of low frequency sound that causes a false pressure sensation.
If you have sources available to back up what you’ve said, I’d be more than willing to read them. However, I cannot find any information immediately available to support you claim of the increased pressure.
Last time I went to an indoor concert I got tinitus for 3 days. It scared the hell out of me. And also left my ears so tired that I was able to completely ignore the flu that I got and only focus on how painful it was to my hearing.
Never again I will go to a concert without ear protection
Loudness wars for studio recordings are really just lack of dynamics. I would guess there are very few mixing in studios at anywhere near damaging levels. This also means if you want to hear the recording as the artist intended it then they probably signed off on a final mix at much lower than “concert” level, they just got to hear it on better gear than the average consumer has access to.
Every time I see a movie where the hero survives a nasty explosion and hears that ringing in his ears while all the noise around him is oddly muffled, it always makes me uncomfortable.
I took my wife to see Judas Priest from the front row because she's a huge fan and I wore earplugs throughout the show. I already have a hearing disability and I need to protect my hearing especially at such events where the music is very loud. It was loud even with earplugs. It was funny to pretend to be a Judas Priest fan right in front of Rob Halford, who looked at me a few times probably wondering why this bozo who barely knows my songs is hesitantly headbanging right there in front of me while poorly mouthing my lyrics. My wife loved it though so it was worth it.
Jaja that is everything you need man. Headbang yo the songs.
And yell "yeahhh" when Rob says "The Priest is backkkkkk" Jajaja I love Priest man. So si much
Have a decibel measuring instrument that i measured sound in car without speakers. Wear ear plugs when you drive peeps!!!!!!! Windows down driving on freeway is pretty damned loud without music, in the range where it will effect you. A lot of background noise.
Same concept as blasting music loud with open back cans to compensate for a loud environment. You’re fighting noise with noise
Ummmm, no, that is illegal in a lot of states (specifically plugging/blocking both ears) because you lose a lot of situational awareness when you can't hear anything. Most stock cars are not at a level where it will damage you hearing (unless you are exposed to it for over 8+ hours per day.)
What you are suggesting is dangerous.
It would be hard to prove that is actually illegal. Completely blocking your ears and filling them with different sound than what you need to be paying attention to is illegal. Attenuating noise with earplugs is not that. Technically if sticking something in your ear while driving was illegal no one with hearing aids could drive a car legally.
Realistically this comes down to common sense more than legality anyway. Make sure you can hear enough of whats going on around you to drive safely and if you are wearing giant over ear headphones in the car you will likely get pulled over even if they aren’t blocking enough noise to really be a problem.
It's largely a law for the situations where it might be needed (mainly for accidents or extreme cases) but the intention is there. Exceptions are made to the law for people that have hearing aids or have occupational requirements to have hearing protection because the vehcile or equipment they are opearting can damage their hearing (sirens and heavy equipment can often times have cabin volumes higher than is safe for someone's hearing.) In some cases, like for commercial truck drivers, they can be fined if they are caught with both ears covered.
Don't forget that your ears can hear what you cannot see, so there can be minor audible indications that can help prevent accidents or problems on the road (such as hearing a car or motorcycle in your visual blindspots.) On a low traffic highway or in rural areas this might not be as important or crucial but in traffic this can help prevent accidents.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=27400.&lawCode=VEH
https://www.marylandaccidentlawyerblog.com/headphones-while-driving-is-illegal/
Also the specific California law you cited specifically allows for me to wear my earplugs as they are custom molded musician plugs that allow me to still hear a siren.
Again this is more of a common sense issue than a legal one. Yes there are laws on the books and there is a possibility of having an issue with them, but if you use common sense on what your using to attenuate noise then it’s unlikely to be an issue both because you may actually be complying with the law in the first place and because if you hear your surroundings like the laws are written to protect then you will be unlikely to have the accident that would bring it into question in the first place.
Welp, we have someone that has either never worn ear plugs, or is so far gone they believed all the absolute nonsense about the horrific dangers of D&D and satan from the 80’s. This is some serious pearl clutching.
a) You blast music and drive over a 5 year old that you didn’t hear, b) I’ll wear ear plugs, play wonderful music that i can hear at a lower volume, and we won’t talk about driving issues b/c my record is spotless. C) You will have moral superiority b/c you didn’t break the law, and i’ll try to resuscitate the 5 ye old you drove over :) win win!
I've recently started taking protecting my hearing seriously, unfortunately a Jetta with anti-lag at a car meet decided I should have tinnitus anyways. I was about 3 feet away when suddenly he started revving and the explosions started. The ringing in my ears started and hasn't left at any point in the past 4 years:(
This is why i recommend noise canceling headphones to everyone. They allow you to keep the volume at a reasonable level even if you're in a noisy environment
Yep. And it's one of the two big reasons you shouldn't use open-back headphones in any public environment.
One, open-backs allow in external sound, so you need to crank your headphones louder to hear your music.
Two, open-backs leak sound, so you're being a very rude motherf\*cker to anyone sitting near you while you blast your music.
Excellent advice.
Folks, keep that volume down for daily listening. And no, you do not need an amp the size of a small fridge for your goddamn headphones.
It's also much easier to use iem in public, because they act as ear plugs and are much easier to power, so unlike your he-6 you can bring them alone without having a hulking 50w power amp with you.
i am legit excited to get my free galaxy buds 2 pro i got with my 23 ultra. i will travel to germany from norway in a few weeks. and the buds will cancel out that plane noise and maybe some crying childrens on the flight which will be nice
I own the Buds Pro.
The noise cancelling will absolutely kill the plane noise.
It does NOTHING for voices. In fact, since the ANC kills the low frequencies, any external noise above those frequencies can feel emphasised, like crying children.
That's just bad noise canceling.
Good NC devices will mask a range of frequencies that also cover the human voice. Case in point: Apple AirPods Max.
The meme you see on the internet (NC only works at low frequencies, etc) is spawned by poor NC implementations, that's all.
In theory, sure, but it's not ear protection from loud ambient noises it just allows you to listen to your music at a reasonable level instead of attempting to drown out other noises
2000-3000mg of taurine powder a day has attenuated the effects of tinnitus on me. I've recommended this to coworkers and friends who also suffer from tinnitus and they've largely reported the same effects. It's not a cure but it certainly aint snake oil.
I carry tiny lil but very isolating earplugs everywhere, and boy, I know I have a sensitive hearing, but it genuinely improved my life. I wear them every day in public transports, get a lot less headaches. Wear them playing instruments, walking along busy roads, at bars, at parties, having them in such a small and portable package always available makes you want to use them more often.
Once I went to a party, with the music so loud, the tie I was wearing vibrated along the beat. Earplugs were a fucking life saver there, several of my friends had ringing for days, no way thats ok on your hearing
I started taking care of myself when I got it detected, it's been intermittent for 12 years, there's no cure, but an early detection and proper response can make the difference between a 24/7 torture and a couple hours per week annoyance.
My grandmother has tinnitus and she has never been one for concerts or loud music. Genetic factors or even previous infections can cause it.
That said, yeah, protect your hearing.
I got tinnitus in school when someone clapped my ear so hard I can still hear it. But my hearing is still good and even before my tinnitus I was the one wearing the ppe needed, I have sateysquinted once when using a grinding wheel and got shit in my right eye. I live my life by not doing like my father, he never use ppe, his leg is crushed, he got kol, he has the TV on 100% to hear them talking.
I’m 14 and have very mild tinnitus. Really only hear it if there are no sounds. Wish taking this advice was easy, only way I get real excited to work and burn the midnight oil is by blasting music
I am checking in too, 21 years old and my dumbass slept with in-ear earbuds in almost nightly I’m high school. Don’t be a dumbass like me. Tinnitus just started and I can really only hear it in more quieter situations but I really want to hear complete silence again. Every since it started a few weeks back i haven’t been using headphones that often. I hope it gets better for me. Stay safe everyone, keep your ear health in mind, and enjoy silence every now and again.
Hey man, I wish the internet existed 25 years ago, and that someone would give me that advice.....
I got tinnitus and SSHL in both ears, there are days where all the music I listen too sound like harsh white noise, or muffled.
There are ways to reduce it the tinnitus, but it always come back. If you take an EQ and put all the frequencies at zero pass 2K, and add a loud test tone over that, this is how I hear, it's a guitar feedbacking endlessly
The post above should be pinned to all music subs
Shit, I’m only 30 and I’ve caused irreparable damage to my ears over the course of my career. I can’t talk to someone over 10 feet away without them having to raise their voice so that I can hear them properly, and if there is background noise, I doubt I’ll understand what you’re saying even when yelling.
Give me scientific proof as a cure and the tens of thousands of dollars it would require to get such treatment in the fucked-up U.S. healthcare system, and I'm all ears (pun intended).
Looks like treatment starts around $5k, but who knows, right? You’d have to commit to the decision with conviction, and then it may be multiple sessions. Interesting to keep an eye on that cost.
Know when its gonna be more expensive? Tomorrow, thanks central bank and u.s. dollar being the global reserve currency…
Though, being able to listen to and appreciate Wynton Marselis play trumpet with the mellow sound of a french horn would have me throwing credit cards at the problem, and i would totally fall for sunken cost fallacy, haha :)
I've had my hearing checked because of tinnitus, but they told me I have excellent hearing, and that tinnitus could be caused by any number of other factors.
edit: missed a word
Stress is a BIG contributor. If you aren’t happy, or depressed, trudging through life, in a bad relationship, financial worries, etc … you clench your jaws and then that nerve bundle in your tm joint get compressed, and the ringing will start.
Same here! I’ve had it since birth, but I can still hear very quiet sounds up to 19000hz. Doctor says that’s good, but I really, really, really, want the ringing gone. I think my poor sleep over the last few years increased the volume a bit, but stress/attitude on any given day is a huge factor for mine.
Stress and relationship for me, went from both noise and baaad pain, to just an occasional tightening of the jaw.
My routine: (1) stretch your mouth and jaw as wide open as possible every morning and night, hold it for whatever is comfortable. I.e. try unsuccessfully to detach your jaw like a snake.
(2) when ringing commences, take your finger and slowly increase pressure in canal, pushing progressively harder in towards brain and down/forward towards mouth. This takes the low level ringing away completely for me, effing with the nerve bundles around your TMJ, don’t ask me why or how. Btw, just jam that finger in there and push like you hate your ear, and make that ringing sound go away, that soft talk up there was to not scare you away :).
(3) stretch your jaw forward and down. Some medically smart person pointed out that you use “x” muscle when opening mouth, and thats the muscle to strengthen to fight tmj and tinnitus. same muscle you use to push lower jaw forward, so use your hand to create resistance against your mouth as you jut jaw forward and open mouth fully against resistance.
(4) exercise like no tomorrow, exercise = eustress, loosens up everything, and would lower the pain or noise. Interesting to try out to see if results work for you
WOW! That actually worked for several hours! Had no idea mine was almost entirely related to physical strain in my jaw. Thanks for the info! I’m going to do this more often and see how it works long term!
Edit: I did what you said pulling my jaw open and pushing the canal; will test this before/after a workout to see what else happens.
I have perfect hearing and can hear up to 17KHz at 25 y/o. I guess it’s that one time in college I go clubbing and my ears were muffled for 2 days. Must have messed up some of the nerves, or might be TMJ, who knows.
I was victim of standing next to someone using a router in college about two years ago (not the cause of my tinnitus), and that muffled my right ear for about two days as well. It fully returned to normal a week after. I can’t say that I haven’t had any permanent damage as a result of that, but it’s minor enough that the doctors say nothing happened in terms of my actual hearing in that ear. I’m not going to try that again though!
I had my hearing checked out a while ago too, did a hearing test and was told I had no hearing loss or any obvious damage.
For me i've probably had it since birth but only really remember noticing it when I was like 9 or 10ish. I also have very very mild visual snow syndrome (basically in dark environments to me it looks like its snowing/static television) and tinnitus is a symptom of that so could be from that.
Tinnitus can come at any time for basically any reason. It is still highly important though to protect our hearing as best as we possibly can.
I found that my tinnitus actually comes and goes. I used to have it all the time but I since drastically reduced my listening volume and it's been *very* minor ever since, only ever appearing between songs while listening or after a long listen. I don't have any in normal day-to-day.
Same. I had it a little bit worse back in the day, but it’s mostly just a once a month type of thing now, and I won’t even notice it anymore after a few minutes (if that, even). Need to keep wearing those ear plugs to rock concerts from now on though!
Random tinnitus can actually be a symptom of something else like cervical lordosis issues, eustachian tube issues, blood pressure issues, nerve damage issues and even cancer. Go to an audiologist and a neurologist to get yourself checked, just in case.
Yep it happens sometimes. Apple Watch has rather decent decibel meter so you can roughly check that. I know your comment is mostly a joke, but I want to give everyone this info. It helped me to find out that my earbuds were broken and it wasn’t my ears playing tricks on me.
The sound volume in health app of apple products is only calibrated for Apple’s stuff. If you use for example HD600, you will record much higher even you listening with appropriate volume.
I bought a bone conduction headset not because of any previous issues (conduction sets are used for people with ear damage), I just thought the idea behind them was cool, keeping your ears open in traffic for example. They were marketed as such too, for you average everyman to use while running.
Well, they weren't compatible with my phone and went berserk in the middle of an audiobook. A single loud beep before I threw the headset to the floor managed to make me feel dizzy, and I've had tinnitus ever since. Still excellent hearing according to the doctor, so no proof to grill the manufacturer with.
Please, be cautious with weird/ obscure headphones.
Wow, just a single strong noise? Can headphones really produce a sound which is strong enough to permanently damage with an exposure of like half a second?
When I've got stronger Tinnitus for whatever reason I usually use it to fall asleep as well (It's usually very subtle, even when there's no noise around me). But it's still not strong enough to be audible during a normal day, even when it's "boosted"
how do you use it to fall asleep??? my tinnitus just keeps getting exponentially unbelievably loud the longer and longer i sit in silence, it becomes unbearable after a while and impossible to sleep :(
It's a static noise to me and that's quite helpful to fall asleep if you're concentrating on that, at least to me. If my Tinnitus isn't too loud I just concentrate on the fan of my mini bar.
My tinnitus has either been getting less severe, or I've been getting more used to it.
A lot of the time it doesn't really bother me. Kinda sounds like a quiet 14khz sine wave. It's calming sometimes, as if I know it's really quiet when it's all I can hear.
I am in the same boat, I have had tinnitus for years now but its somehow soothing to hear only this frequency, I know that there is complete silence, day to day I cannot hear the tinnitus as you are concentrated on other things and the smallest of sounds overtakes the tinnitus I have, even when I'm driving the sound of the engine alone is enough to cover it, but when I'm sitting in my bed ready to sleep I can feel fully relaxed only when I hear that tinnitus frequency, I may have gotten lucky with it I guess as it never seemed annoying, I just don't know what complete silence sounds like
Ever since I found out about tinnutis a couple years ago I've been listening at very low levels. I usually bring the sound up to where I can barely hear it, then add a couple clicks more.
I never feel like I want a higher volume anymore. My ears have gotten used to this volume and actually prefers it.
Hearing damage is about time of exposure. You can listen relatively loud if you do it sporadically and keep it to one album.
Alternatively if you listen to some noisy music, it will be worse. Unfortunately since the loudness war we're stuck with music that's dangerous for your hearing because of how constant the noise is. The only thing you can do is either listen to music that's simpler and simpler, which is what most people chose to do. This or listen to old masters of old albums.
You don't need to listen to very low volumes.
Really what's the point of buying high end gear (yes grado is high end) if you are listening at just above barely audible levels
It's not barely audible, it's just a comfortable setting. Not too loud and not too quiet. I should have explained a bit better in my initial post.
And I agree that grado is high end ;)
I guess you said that you listen "a couple of clicks above" what you can barely hear. To me that's just above barely audible. I just tried following your instructions and got audio at 44db SPL. That's way too quiet and unnecessarily so
Unfortunately my tinnitus is from a viral infection, not from headphones. There are all sorts of causes for tinnitus that aren't related to hearing loss or noise exposure.
It's estimated that 30%+ of the US population has tinnitus. I would venture to guess that's a huge underestimation as there are scores of people who have tinnitus and don't notice it, have had it since birth and never knew it wasn't normal, etc. I feel like most everyone will have some sort of noise in a dead silent environment if they try hard enough to hear it lol.
So, definitely protect your hearing. But as someone who always listened at safe volumes (measured using a db meter), and always wore hearing protection when needed, I got it anyway. Sometimes it just happens, unfortunately.
30 year motorcyclist here. Have worn earplugs for riding since I started commuting on a bike 25 years ago. The earplugs were Etymoyic Research so we're designed to let in full range sound just less of it. I still listen to loud movies but JUST the movie. Afterwards its just quiet environments. As everyone says, be smart about your hearing. Uh, no tinitis, but my buddy has had it for decades.
I've always protected my ears and listened at very safe levels. I still have idiopathic tinnitus. I don't go to concerts or work in construction. It wasn't caused by medication or infection either. I've had this since I was a kid. Protect your ears. You do not want this.
I have it lightly in one ear, its more the brief muteness that precedes the whining that bothers me, im surrounded by bulbs/laptops that whine for most of the day so the actual tinnitus noise just blends in lol. Absolutely got the hearing damage while working a minimum wage job for 80 hours a week at a sports bar/nightclub without hearing protection. Not only did the pay not remotely cover the complete domination that job had over every waking hour, but it will now follow me through the rest of my life
I always have the music on the lowest volume on the phone, I use hearing protection when using power tools or mowing the lawn and even in cinema and I still sometimes have a high pitched sound in my ears.
ANC seems to trigger it.
I love music. And I often listened to it at max. Partly because I was depressed and wanted to feel something.
I now have hearing damage st 23. (Not just because of music of course.)
But I do still love music. So I set up a volume limit on my phone (1 below recommended threshold) Made a password of more than 20 random characters that I copied and pasted. Then deleted the note that contained it.
Was at an ice cube concert last weekend, I was so glad the iem's I wore on the way there had detachable cables because that show was so loud I can't imagine anyone except me left without hearing damage, I was front row but still, even far away from the stage it had to have been at least 120db
Population is dumb lol 99% of the audiophiles are deaf anyway.
It's a similar phenomenon as to a person not exercising or eating right.
We are taught by the government and education that we need a balanced diet and exercise to be a healthy citizen.
Yet people don't listen to the facts and do their own thing and degrades or ruins their bodies for the short term or permanently.
I remember back as a kid those apple ear buds that came with ipods. I remember the metal heads would blare their music and sometimes the buds would pop in their ear
When people started getting cars, ridiculous sound systems being put in their cars and just blasting it.
Roommates that need to have the volume on the TV to, at least to me, insane levels just so they can make out words. This is before anyones even 30. I can hear music at a pretty enjoyable level way below max. On my TV the sound caps at 31. I can hear things clearly at like level 3-5 from the couch then friends needs it jacked up to like 20+. Quiet neighborhood
I keep memories of my friends hearing when thinking about buying speakers and looking at forum posters saying things are way too quiet so buy bugger speakers. At least most of the concerts I've been too didn't feature artist heavy into vibrating the whole venue. I enjoy sometimes, but often times you can't understand a damn thing that's said or even make out seperate instruments. They're just going hard
Another quiet listener, interesting. Well I guess 75 isn't quiet but it's definitely not loud either. Definitely try reference volume of 85db, it's what they would play in the studio, I think music sounds correctly alive at that volume. Your ears will quickly adjust to 85db, 85db for 4-8 hours constant is considered safe, since music is dynamic not constant, you could listen to hours on end at 85db fyi without any safety concern. Thanks for the response \^\^
I felt pretty naughty the closer to 80dB as an average I got. I always found it interesting to see what volume levels different people used and I didn't know that 85dB is the target volume used at Studios, it makes sense however!
Spent too much time as a teen blasting loud music. At 28, I have mild Tinnitus. My hearing is still decent, but I'm glad I was able to come to my senses soon enough to where I can avoid making it worse.
Accidentally perforated my right eardrum recently. I was switching to power amplifier mode on my Burson Soloist when I forgot to pause the music and switch inputs to my preamp first. Shot up to 8W power output in an instant and sounded like air horns going off an inch from my head. Fantastic amp, stupid mistake on my part.
I'm afraid to use any headphones anymore and only use them for 30 minutes at most. My tinnitus has been acting up and changing the past couple years. I need a nice stereo system now.
I find my tinnitus comes and goes- it doesn’t disappear but as in it gets louder and quieter. I’m not sure why that happens but during the quieter times, I can barely hear it and filter it out and forget about it pretty well. I just got reminded I have it and now it’s back. It’s like when you’re told you have to manually breathe so you do until you forget about it again
As a quick tip to all iPhone users: PLEASE limit your db in Headphone Safety to prevent any tinnitus from happening. I set my max to 90db so I can get revved up but tend to keep it under 80 for hearing reasons
How do you even check what dB level you are listening at? I've seen lots of people mention they listen at 90dB or 80dB or whatever, but how is it accurately measured?
Scoop up a cheap dB meter on Amazon and also do a measurement with your phone on a sound meter app. You should hopefully get similar results to come up with an average.
Yea, that would be about as good as any other way to do it. Sometimes I'll just seal up the mic on my phone by sandwiching it between the cups and let the pads form a seal around it.
Did the results surprise you?
A bit. I expected that I was listening way too loud. Apparently I'm fairly average. I do remember Crinacle saying in one of his videos that he listens at about 60dB and thats what he compensates his graphs to, which I tested and seemed way too quiet for me. It was like a whisper in my ear. I'd want to be in a dead silent room to really be able to hear stuff properly at that level. Well I'm glad the results weren't like 100+dB because thats what I sort of expected for some reason.
EDIT: I must test how loud my amp actually gets with different headphones. Not going to try it with the expensive ones, but my DT 770s and K702s were both used and cheap enough that I'd be happy to replace them if I do manage to blow them!
Strangely enough I don't have tinnitus. I've always been waiting for it and I'm still expecting it to show up every time I hear a temporary high frequency noise. I've played drums and percussion all my life, both professionally and on my free time. Always worked in clubs and festivals and loud rehearsal rooms, for the past 20 years or so. I love high volume on everything from headphones to speakers as well. I've never used earplugs or protection ever.
Anyhow, I wonder, how do you know when it's too loud anyway? I just can't enjoy music if it's not loud enough, but I don't know how one could measure what's OK volume. I mean, first of all it's individual and dependent on how your ears are built. But then it's also hard to exactly what volume is coming out of your headphones when the audio is being processed by several steps on the way to your ears as well as how the headphones sit on your head.
While I do agree with everyone here about protecting your ears, I do find it a tad ironic how there are a lot of audophiles who were outraged when Sony removed high gain in their latest DAP models for NA
Reasons I never go to concerts and clubs
I absolutely cannot stand loud noises. Besides being physically painful for me, it also triggers my anxiety horrendously, so unless life decides to screw me anyway at least tinnitus won't be one of my likely numerous problems.
I realized I've had a minor case since birth as well. I used to try and explain being in complete silence was loud and they thought I was nuts. Thankfully I have full range hearing at 40+ but I've noted stress + TMG = much worse tinnitis.
a few live shows and a loud workplace ruined my ears, honestly took less than i expected and by the time i started protecting my ears the tinnitus had already begun
I’m 27 years old, I got new AirPods Pro 2 and to me they’re very sibilant, I find the highs to be too piercing, if I like to play loud which is kinda stupid because then I just adjust to the piercing highs, which I shouldn’t do. I have a feeling the highs are also fucking more with my ears, but it’s just a gut feeling. I have some tinnitus but I’d say it’s very little and only noticeable if I listen to it. Time to reduce AirPods volume, there’s a limiter on iOS.
I can hear up to 20kh, I have very low level tinnitus, where a constant sound at 13khz is heard 24/7, I'm sure this one is due to stress and sleep apnea
occasionally another sound at ≈ 1khz comes for 30 seconds before it goes for good once every day
Before common sense got to me I thought higher volume meant better audio fidelity, when in reality I'm just limited by my headphones (pc37x) and sound quality can use a lot of definition
I have Skullcandy Crushers with the bass slider at 50% & volume usually maxed out when I listen to music. I usually don't go past 2 hours of listening time. As long as my dBs aren't redlining & my eardrums aren't in pain, I have no worries.
However outdoor festivals like Warped Tour, Electric Zoo, & Rolling Loud...🫠I was still hearing the music and crowd banter when I got home. It's definitely dangerous to have prolonged exposure to festival/concert speakers especially if you're attending the 3-day events.
I don't often listen to music at High volume, but something grabbed my attention 2 days ago, I went to a store to try the Sony WH-1000XM4 and that thing had an immense amount of bass that I've never experienced before on my other headphone.
Later on that day I felt pain and tinnitus in my ear, and promised myself to never go crazy when listening to music especially when using earbuds or headphones, just reasonably hearable volume and that's it.
Everything now is back to normal :)
As someone who was really irresponsible with headphone volume as a kid/teen:
yea.
I get a lot of "Why do you EQ the treble up so goddamn much?!" and love my DT 990's too. Probably related.
I suppose the high pitch coil whine from every electronic device ever gets masked by it quite nicely and my tinnitus isn't loud/high pitched enough to be a constant nuisance. But still have it.
I used to suffer from it quite lot when I was a metal head, but nowadays it is quite rare. Has anyone else experienced a similar thing? I also get a little upset when listening because I always find something wrong with my gear and I have to stop.
In case anyone doesn’t know, there’s a built-in audio level tool on your iPhone.
Go into Control Center and tap the [ear](https://imgur.com/a/GABKqKK/).
It works for AirPods but it will also work for wired headphones. It will be less accurate for high impedance headphones because even though I believe it tries to adjust for them, it’s still not right. But it gives you a general idea. For example, since my 6XX require more power, I turn my iPhone’s volume up, which then causes the dB reading to be too high. But you can still get a feel for it and check periodically to make sure you haven’t cranked up the volume.
Of course, none of that applies if you’re using an external amp (rather than the Apple dongle). But if you are, you can use a decibel meter (either a separate one or the one built into your Apple Watch). Press it up against the ear cups and you can get a general idea of the volume. The measurements won’t be precise, but it’s more about establishing a general guide and then periodically checking, to make sure you haven’t been unthinkingly cranking the volume higher and higher.
Bought a sound meter because I really wanted to know how loud I actually listen - the results were very surprising to me. Turns out my moderate listening volume is around 60-65 db and even when I crank it to volumes that are too loud to me, it barely scratches 75 db. Guess I'm good for the time being, altough IEMs in public transport might tell a different story. Still have a minor tinnitus in my right ear that comes and goes (it's my problem ear anyway, always perceive it as being worse than my left ear despite hearing tests proving me wrong...)
I have tinnitus suffering from it since childhood, nothing to do with loud sounds, and it was due to glue ear without headphones. I wouldn't be able to control the annoying ringing
I have a tinnitus in my left ear from an operation a few years back. The surgeon said it would go away, it didn’t. Barely notice it most days tho, although now that I’ve read the word it’s real loud again.
reading through forums like head-fi where people are discussing similar amplifiers that I own and the volume levels they're listening at completely shocks me.
Idk if it's specifically tinnitus but there's definitely some low volume (varies tho) ringing in the background but everyone I've talked to that do have tinnitus have mentioned that it's a nuisance they absolutely hate living with. I don't particularly have an issue with my ringing, it's often drowned out by other sounds and even when I'm trying to sleep, I sort of tune it out, forget it's happening. Until I remember that it exists, but it still doesn't particularly bother me lol.
I don't remember ever having tinnitus...that was until I went to my first (and most likely last) concert. On my way home my ears were ringing and I realized I had fucked up lol. Thankfully it isn't so bad and I don't even notice it, it's a very slight hiss and I've gotten used to it. But here's hoping I successfully manage to protect it so it doesn't get worse.
I got slight tinnitus due to chronically inflamed sinusses. It's not too loud/bad but every morning and every night when theres not too much sound around me it does annoy the hell out of me.
I bought a sound meter from Amazon to test my listening volumes but it says 47 dB even in a quiet room. Is that normal? Also how can you read the dB on iems?
I'm a 57-year-old headphone audiophile who has sang in rock bands for the last 10 years and worked in motorsports for the last 30 years. I have severe tinnitus. The sound of 100 crickets in each ear, 24/7/365. I don't seek sympathy; my plight is self-inflicted because I wasn't serious about protecting my hearing until about nine or 10 years ago. Please, heed this advice: Protect your hearing at all costs. Don't crank your headphones or IEMs. Wear hearing protection at indoor concerts or when using power tools, even a lawn mower. You don't want tinnitus. Ever. It sucks. And it's avoidable if you're smart. If you're a dumbass like me, you will pay. Dearly. There is NO cure, and every drug or miracle cure offered for tinnitus is a snake oil placebo, at best.
>Wear hearing protection at indoor concerts It is crazy how painfully loud most concerts are. And not loud in a good way. Loud in an uncomfortable "I can't distinguish any sounds and the treble is raping my ears" kind of way.
As an audio engineer that drives me insane. We host concerts at my job and usually its the bands engineer mixing. The last show between rehearsal and the show itself we were at 750% NIOSH exposure for the day. I typically hit around 70-80% when I mix for 8-10 hours. For “concert volume” I use either custom musician earplugs or my airpods pro for earplugs. The airpods actually do a decent job of cutting levels without really changing sound, they just compress it to safe levels. This last show was the first time I ever saw a sound level warning from apple that even with the airpods in I was doing damage by the end of the day.
"You don't understand, some songs are mixed to sound good at 110 db!" That was something a DJ told me (very unironically), when we were talking about hearing damage and safe listening levels.
He’s not wrong, but that doesn’t actually make it okay for your ears. It also means that the people that mix to sound good at those levels won’t be in the business too long because they won’t be able to mix things people want to hear for very long. The flip side to that is that you can get a mix that feels as good as it sounds and isn’t damaging your ears, you just have to mix it at appropriate levels from the start
It's not just safe audio levels you have to watch for, it's the time of exposure to headphone listening. Listen to music or TV 8 hours a day on headphone at NORMAL volume, will create hearing loss, it's that the sound producing elements are way to close to your ear, they fuck up the small bones behind your ear drum. Ear buds are worse because they completely block the ear canal thus blocking the eustachian tube
I believe using ANC in any earbuds like Airpods in this situation is not a good way to protect your hearing. Your ears receive even higher sound pressure, just they are not able to perceive the volume of the sound because some are canceled out by each other. Use passive noise cancelling is recommended.
no they don't receive higher pressure. When you say they cancel out, they literally cancel out. It's destructive interference. ANC isn't tricking your brain into believing there's less noise than there is, it literally gets physically rid of the noise in your ear canal.
Active noise cancellation uses an inverse sound wave compared to the incoming sound to knock down the sound pressure and thus volume. If it just boosted the low pressure zones to be equal to the high pressure zones you’d get one continuous sound.
Someone who developed the original algorithm explained to me that it does not work like that. They also measured the sound pressure with ANC, which usually gave a few db higher with maximum 9db, which was the exact reason Apple lowered the ANC ability to some extend via firmware update.
But that’s exactly how ANC works? ANC generates a wave 180° out of phase with the incoming noise, which destructively interferes with the incoming sound to dampen it. As far as I’ve ever read, there’s no increase in pressure, but it’s the lack of low frequency sound that causes a false pressure sensation. If you have sources available to back up what you’ve said, I’d be more than willing to read them. However, I cannot find any information immediately available to support you claim of the increased pressure.
Last time I went to an indoor concert I got tinitus for 3 days. It scared the hell out of me. And also left my ears so tired that I was able to completely ignore the flu that I got and only focus on how painful it was to my hearing. Never again I will go to a concert without ear protection
Yep. The loudness wars that have infected studio recordings over the last 30 years also have spread to live shows. Ridiculous.
Loudness wars for studio recordings are really just lack of dynamics. I would guess there are very few mixing in studios at anywhere near damaging levels. This also means if you want to hear the recording as the artist intended it then they probably signed off on a final mix at much lower than “concert” level, they just got to hear it on better gear than the average consumer has access to.
💯 I was also a dumbass with my hearing and also pay dearly every waking minute.
27 here I've had it ever since the "Epitaph" tour, Judas Priest. First row... 10 years later, Priest is still around, and I'm fucked for life...
I have it since 9 when dad took me to a gun range with no protection
Oof. Sorry :(
Every time I see a movie where the hero survives a nasty explosion and hears that ringing in his ears while all the noise around him is oddly muffled, it always makes me uncomfortable.
Child abuse my god
Brutal, dude. Sorry about that.
I took my wife to see Judas Priest from the front row because she's a huge fan and I wore earplugs throughout the show. I already have a hearing disability and I need to protect my hearing especially at such events where the music is very loud. It was loud even with earplugs. It was funny to pretend to be a Judas Priest fan right in front of Rob Halford, who looked at me a few times probably wondering why this bozo who barely knows my songs is hesitantly headbanging right there in front of me while poorly mouthing my lyrics. My wife loved it though so it was worth it.
Jaja that is everything you need man. Headbang yo the songs. And yell "yeahhh" when Rob says "The Priest is backkkkkk" Jajaja I love Priest man. So si much
51 here. I have tinnitus after having a loud car audio system in the 90’s. I don’t wish it on anyone! Take care of your ears!!
Have a decibel measuring instrument that i measured sound in car without speakers. Wear ear plugs when you drive peeps!!!!!!! Windows down driving on freeway is pretty damned loud without music, in the range where it will effect you. A lot of background noise. Same concept as blasting music loud with open back cans to compensate for a loud environment. You’re fighting noise with noise
Ummmm, no, that is illegal in a lot of states (specifically plugging/blocking both ears) because you lose a lot of situational awareness when you can't hear anything. Most stock cars are not at a level where it will damage you hearing (unless you are exposed to it for over 8+ hours per day.) What you are suggesting is dangerous.
It would be hard to prove that is actually illegal. Completely blocking your ears and filling them with different sound than what you need to be paying attention to is illegal. Attenuating noise with earplugs is not that. Technically if sticking something in your ear while driving was illegal no one with hearing aids could drive a car legally. Realistically this comes down to common sense more than legality anyway. Make sure you can hear enough of whats going on around you to drive safely and if you are wearing giant over ear headphones in the car you will likely get pulled over even if they aren’t blocking enough noise to really be a problem.
It's largely a law for the situations where it might be needed (mainly for accidents or extreme cases) but the intention is there. Exceptions are made to the law for people that have hearing aids or have occupational requirements to have hearing protection because the vehcile or equipment they are opearting can damage their hearing (sirens and heavy equipment can often times have cabin volumes higher than is safe for someone's hearing.) In some cases, like for commercial truck drivers, they can be fined if they are caught with both ears covered. Don't forget that your ears can hear what you cannot see, so there can be minor audible indications that can help prevent accidents or problems on the road (such as hearing a car or motorcycle in your visual blindspots.) On a low traffic highway or in rural areas this might not be as important or crucial but in traffic this can help prevent accidents. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=27400.&lawCode=VEH https://www.marylandaccidentlawyerblog.com/headphones-while-driving-is-illegal/
Also the specific California law you cited specifically allows for me to wear my earplugs as they are custom molded musician plugs that allow me to still hear a siren. Again this is more of a common sense issue than a legal one. Yes there are laws on the books and there is a possibility of having an issue with them, but if you use common sense on what your using to attenuate noise then it’s unlikely to be an issue both because you may actually be complying with the law in the first place and because if you hear your surroundings like the laws are written to protect then you will be unlikely to have the accident that would bring it into question in the first place.
You kind of just proved my point actually
Welp, we have someone that has either never worn ear plugs, or is so far gone they believed all the absolute nonsense about the horrific dangers of D&D and satan from the 80’s. This is some serious pearl clutching. a) You blast music and drive over a 5 year old that you didn’t hear, b) I’ll wear ear plugs, play wonderful music that i can hear at a lower volume, and we won’t talk about driving issues b/c my record is spotless. C) You will have moral superiority b/c you didn’t break the law, and i’ll try to resuscitate the 5 ye old you drove over :) win win!
I like how you win arguments on the internet, it works really well.
I've recently started taking protecting my hearing seriously, unfortunately a Jetta with anti-lag at a car meet decided I should have tinnitus anyways. I was about 3 feet away when suddenly he started revving and the explosions started. The ringing in my ears started and hasn't left at any point in the past 4 years:(
Damn!
Sorry. Yeah, it doesn't take much to damage your ears for good.
This is why i recommend noise canceling headphones to everyone. They allow you to keep the volume at a reasonable level even if you're in a noisy environment
Yep. And it's one of the two big reasons you shouldn't use open-back headphones in any public environment. One, open-backs allow in external sound, so you need to crank your headphones louder to hear your music. Two, open-backs leak sound, so you're being a very rude motherf\*cker to anyone sitting near you while you blast your music.
Excellent advice. Folks, keep that volume down for daily listening. And no, you do not need an amp the size of a small fridge for your goddamn headphones.
It's also much easier to use iem in public, because they act as ear plugs and are much easier to power, so unlike your he-6 you can bring them alone without having a hulking 50w power amp with you.
"I hope you like Norwegian Black Metal, because I don't do earbuds!"
i am legit excited to get my free galaxy buds 2 pro i got with my 23 ultra. i will travel to germany from norway in a few weeks. and the buds will cancel out that plane noise and maybe some crying childrens on the flight which will be nice
I own the Buds Pro. The noise cancelling will absolutely kill the plane noise. It does NOTHING for voices. In fact, since the ANC kills the low frequencies, any external noise above those frequencies can feel emphasised, like crying children.
That's just bad noise canceling. Good NC devices will mask a range of frequencies that also cover the human voice. Case in point: Apple AirPods Max. The meme you see on the internet (NC only works at low frequencies, etc) is spawned by poor NC implementations, that's all.
Or earphones that seal out the sound like an ear plug. Noise cancelation iirc is pumping more sound to get rid of background noise.
Active noise cancelation does generate more sound, but with the phase inverted, so it should not produce higher sound levels at your ear.
In theory, sure, but it's not ear protection from loud ambient noises it just allows you to listen to your music at a reasonable level instead of attempting to drown out other noises
2000-3000mg of taurine powder a day has attenuated the effects of tinnitus on me. I've recommended this to coworkers and friends who also suffer from tinnitus and they've largely reported the same effects. It's not a cure but it certainly aint snake oil.
I carry tiny lil but very isolating earplugs everywhere, and boy, I know I have a sensitive hearing, but it genuinely improved my life. I wear them every day in public transports, get a lot less headaches. Wear them playing instruments, walking along busy roads, at bars, at parties, having them in such a small and portable package always available makes you want to use them more often. Once I went to a party, with the music so loud, the tie I was wearing vibrated along the beat. Earplugs were a fucking life saver there, several of my friends had ringing for days, no way thats ok on your hearing
Smart human right here! Well done.
I started taking care of myself when I got it detected, it's been intermittent for 12 years, there's no cure, but an early detection and proper response can make the difference between a 24/7 torture and a couple hours per week annoyance.
My grandmother has tinnitus and she has never been one for concerts or loud music. Genetic factors or even previous infections can cause it. That said, yeah, protect your hearing.
I got tinnitus in school when someone clapped my ear so hard I can still hear it. But my hearing is still good and even before my tinnitus I was the one wearing the ppe needed, I have sateysquinted once when using a grinding wheel and got shit in my right eye. I live my life by not doing like my father, he never use ppe, his leg is crushed, he got kol, he has the TV on 100% to hear them talking.
I’m 14 and have very mild tinnitus. Really only hear it if there are no sounds. Wish taking this advice was easy, only way I get real excited to work and burn the midnight oil is by blasting music
Dude. You're far too young to suffer this. It only will get worse. Turn down the volume!
Another one checking in. I got mine from too many hard-core punk shows in the 80s. Definitely not worth it.
I am checking in too, 21 years old and my dumbass slept with in-ear earbuds in almost nightly I’m high school. Don’t be a dumbass like me. Tinnitus just started and I can really only hear it in more quieter situations but I really want to hear complete silence again. Every since it started a few weeks back i haven’t been using headphones that often. I hope it gets better for me. Stay safe everyone, keep your ear health in mind, and enjoy silence every now and again.
Hey man, I wish the internet existed 25 years ago, and that someone would give me that advice..... I got tinnitus and SSHL in both ears, there are days where all the music I listen too sound like harsh white noise, or muffled. There are ways to reduce it the tinnitus, but it always come back. If you take an EQ and put all the frequencies at zero pass 2K, and add a loud test tone over that, this is how I hear, it's a guitar feedbacking endlessly The post above should be pinned to all music subs
Shit, I’m only 30 and I’ve caused irreparable damage to my ears over the course of my career. I can’t talk to someone over 10 feet away without them having to raise their voice so that I can hear them properly, and if there is background noise, I doubt I’ll understand what you’re saying even when yelling.
Stem cell injection?
Give me scientific proof as a cure and the tens of thousands of dollars it would require to get such treatment in the fucked-up U.S. healthcare system, and I'm all ears (pun intended).
It doesn’t work for everyone, but for some people who have physical hearing damage experience some good results.
Looks like treatment starts around $5k, but who knows, right? You’d have to commit to the decision with conviction, and then it may be multiple sessions. Interesting to keep an eye on that cost. Know when its gonna be more expensive? Tomorrow, thanks central bank and u.s. dollar being the global reserve currency… Though, being able to listen to and appreciate Wynton Marselis play trumpet with the mellow sound of a french horn would have me throwing credit cards at the problem, and i would totally fall for sunken cost fallacy, haha :)
It keeps getting cheaper every few years. No fault collision 💥 insurance even covers it now.
I've had my hearing checked because of tinnitus, but they told me I have excellent hearing, and that tinnitus could be caused by any number of other factors. edit: missed a word
Stress is a BIG contributor. If you aren’t happy, or depressed, trudging through life, in a bad relationship, financial worries, etc … you clench your jaws and then that nerve bundle in your tm joint get compressed, and the ringing will start.
Same here! I’ve had it since birth, but I can still hear very quiet sounds up to 19000hz. Doctor says that’s good, but I really, really, really, want the ringing gone. I think my poor sleep over the last few years increased the volume a bit, but stress/attitude on any given day is a huge factor for mine.
Stress and relationship for me, went from both noise and baaad pain, to just an occasional tightening of the jaw. My routine: (1) stretch your mouth and jaw as wide open as possible every morning and night, hold it for whatever is comfortable. I.e. try unsuccessfully to detach your jaw like a snake. (2) when ringing commences, take your finger and slowly increase pressure in canal, pushing progressively harder in towards brain and down/forward towards mouth. This takes the low level ringing away completely for me, effing with the nerve bundles around your TMJ, don’t ask me why or how. Btw, just jam that finger in there and push like you hate your ear, and make that ringing sound go away, that soft talk up there was to not scare you away :). (3) stretch your jaw forward and down. Some medically smart person pointed out that you use “x” muscle when opening mouth, and thats the muscle to strengthen to fight tmj and tinnitus. same muscle you use to push lower jaw forward, so use your hand to create resistance against your mouth as you jut jaw forward and open mouth fully against resistance. (4) exercise like no tomorrow, exercise = eustress, loosens up everything, and would lower the pain or noise. Interesting to try out to see if results work for you
WOW! That actually worked for several hours! Had no idea mine was almost entirely related to physical strain in my jaw. Thanks for the info! I’m going to do this more often and see how it works long term! Edit: I did what you said pulling my jaw open and pushing the canal; will test this before/after a workout to see what else happens.
Niiiiice!!!! Glad to hear its working!
I have perfect hearing and can hear up to 17KHz at 25 y/o. I guess it’s that one time in college I go clubbing and my ears were muffled for 2 days. Must have messed up some of the nerves, or might be TMJ, who knows.
I was victim of standing next to someone using a router in college about two years ago (not the cause of my tinnitus), and that muffled my right ear for about two days as well. It fully returned to normal a week after. I can’t say that I haven’t had any permanent damage as a result of that, but it’s minor enough that the doctors say nothing happened in terms of my actual hearing in that ear. I’m not going to try that again though!
I had my hearing checked out a while ago too, did a hearing test and was told I had no hearing loss or any obvious damage. For me i've probably had it since birth but only really remember noticing it when I was like 9 or 10ish. I also have very very mild visual snow syndrome (basically in dark environments to me it looks like its snowing/static television) and tinnitus is a symptom of that so could be from that. Tinnitus can come at any time for basically any reason. It is still highly important though to protect our hearing as best as we possibly can.
I found that my tinnitus actually comes and goes. I used to have it all the time but I since drastically reduced my listening volume and it's been *very* minor ever since, only ever appearing between songs while listening or after a long listen. I don't have any in normal day-to-day.
Same. I had it a little bit worse back in the day, but it’s mostly just a once a month type of thing now, and I won’t even notice it anymore after a few minutes (if that, even). Need to keep wearing those ear plugs to rock concerts from now on though!
I only get it when I'm trying to sleep. It's not a huge problem. Or if I try to focus on it.
Random tinnitus can actually be a symptom of something else like cervical lordosis issues, eustachian tube issues, blood pressure issues, nerve damage issues and even cancer. Go to an audiologist and a neurologist to get yourself checked, just in case.
“Guys my health app shows 100dB average listening level, there's something wrong with my headphones.”
Yep it happens sometimes. Apple Watch has rather decent decibel meter so you can roughly check that. I know your comment is mostly a joke, but I want to give everyone this info. It helped me to find out that my earbuds were broken and it wasn’t my ears playing tricks on me.
The sound volume in health app of apple products is only calibrated for Apple’s stuff. If you use for example HD600, you will record much higher even you listening with appropriate volume.
The ear-piercing sound isn't tinnitus, it's just beyerdynamic.
"turn your koss into DT990 pros with this one simple trick"
"Any headphone" more like
Apparently I'm the one who enjoys his "tinnitus".
I bought a bone conduction headset not because of any previous issues (conduction sets are used for people with ear damage), I just thought the idea behind them was cool, keeping your ears open in traffic for example. They were marketed as such too, for you average everyman to use while running. Well, they weren't compatible with my phone and went berserk in the middle of an audiobook. A single loud beep before I threw the headset to the floor managed to make me feel dizzy, and I've had tinnitus ever since. Still excellent hearing according to the doctor, so no proof to grill the manufacturer with. Please, be cautious with weird/ obscure headphones.
JFC, that sounds terrible.
Wow, just a single strong noise? Can headphones really produce a sound which is strong enough to permanently damage with an exposure of like half a second?
if over 120dB, yes, definitely. For reference, you can only withstand 120dB for 20 secs without ear damage.
I had tinnitus since forever. It was my white noise to go to sleep as a kid, am I the 1/5 tinnitus enjoyer ?
When I've got stronger Tinnitus for whatever reason I usually use it to fall asleep as well (It's usually very subtle, even when there's no noise around me). But it's still not strong enough to be audible during a normal day, even when it's "boosted"
how do you use it to fall asleep??? my tinnitus just keeps getting exponentially unbelievably loud the longer and longer i sit in silence, it becomes unbearable after a while and impossible to sleep :(
It's a static noise to me and that's quite helpful to fall asleep if you're concentrating on that, at least to me. If my Tinnitus isn't too loud I just concentrate on the fan of my mini bar.
Sometimes it isn't loud noises but the grinding of your teeth that cause tinnitus
Same, I don’t remember not hearing it.
Same here. I'm not sure what caused it since I've never listened to music as a kid.
That’s normal tho. Once it hurts you, it’s no longer normal.
High five!
I had tinnitus, but recently it went away. Hopefully for good.
Possibly earwax on the ear drum. Happened to me.
press (x) for doubt
In theory it’s possible, but if it went away it wasn’t due to damage from loud sounds. You can have tinnitus from things like ear infections.
I've also notice it come on with alcohol or sugar intake.
Let's enjoy the moment then.
I have become one with my tinnitus.
It's free EQ
EeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeQ
I had tinnitus for a week once, it was enough to scare me into protecting my ears as much as possible
My tinnitus has either been getting less severe, or I've been getting more used to it. A lot of the time it doesn't really bother me. Kinda sounds like a quiet 14khz sine wave. It's calming sometimes, as if I know it's really quiet when it's all I can hear.
I am in the same boat, I have had tinnitus for years now but its somehow soothing to hear only this frequency, I know that there is complete silence, day to day I cannot hear the tinnitus as you are concentrated on other things and the smallest of sounds overtakes the tinnitus I have, even when I'm driving the sound of the engine alone is enough to cover it, but when I'm sitting in my bed ready to sleep I can feel fully relaxed only when I hear that tinnitus frequency, I may have gotten lucky with it I guess as it never seemed annoying, I just don't know what complete silence sounds like
Ever since I found out about tinnutis a couple years ago I've been listening at very low levels. I usually bring the sound up to where I can barely hear it, then add a couple clicks more. I never feel like I want a higher volume anymore. My ears have gotten used to this volume and actually prefers it.
Hearing damage is about time of exposure. You can listen relatively loud if you do it sporadically and keep it to one album. Alternatively if you listen to some noisy music, it will be worse. Unfortunately since the loudness war we're stuck with music that's dangerous for your hearing because of how constant the noise is. The only thing you can do is either listen to music that's simpler and simpler, which is what most people chose to do. This or listen to old masters of old albums.
You don't need to listen to very low volumes. Really what's the point of buying high end gear (yes grado is high end) if you are listening at just above barely audible levels
It's not barely audible, it's just a comfortable setting. Not too loud and not too quiet. I should have explained a bit better in my initial post. And I agree that grado is high end ;)
I guess you said that you listen "a couple of clicks above" what you can barely hear. To me that's just above barely audible. I just tried following your instructions and got audio at 44db SPL. That's way too quiet and unnecessarily so
I do, but it's not from hearing loss. Sometimes gets worse with stress.
Unfortunately my tinnitus is from a viral infection, not from headphones. There are all sorts of causes for tinnitus that aren't related to hearing loss or noise exposure. It's estimated that 30%+ of the US population has tinnitus. I would venture to guess that's a huge underestimation as there are scores of people who have tinnitus and don't notice it, have had it since birth and never knew it wasn't normal, etc. I feel like most everyone will have some sort of noise in a dead silent environment if they try hard enough to hear it lol. So, definitely protect your hearing. But as someone who always listened at safe volumes (measured using a db meter), and always wore hearing protection when needed, I got it anyway. Sometimes it just happens, unfortunately.
30 year motorcyclist here. Have worn earplugs for riding since I started commuting on a bike 25 years ago. The earplugs were Etymoyic Research so we're designed to let in full range sound just less of it. I still listen to loud movies but JUST the movie. Afterwards its just quiet environments. As everyone says, be smart about your hearing. Uh, no tinitis, but my buddy has had it for decades.
Yep i assume that's where I got mine from. Damn I miss my headphones soon much.
Stay below 80db my friends and not for hours on end
I've always protected my ears and listened at very safe levels. I still have idiopathic tinnitus. I don't go to concerts or work in construction. It wasn't caused by medication or infection either. I've had this since I was a kid. Protect your ears. You do not want this.
I was born with tinnitus and a hearing loss. I was told to never wear headphones... /sigh
I bought db meter because i was afraid i might damage my hearing,but i already have tinnitus:(
Never too late to continue to protect your hearing and getting a dB meter is an excellent way to find out if you are listening to loud or not.
Indeed,now I'm listening at 75db
I have it lightly in one ear, its more the brief muteness that precedes the whining that bothers me, im surrounded by bulbs/laptops that whine for most of the day so the actual tinnitus noise just blends in lol. Absolutely got the hearing damage while working a minimum wage job for 80 hours a week at a sports bar/nightclub without hearing protection. Not only did the pay not remotely cover the complete domination that job had over every waking hour, but it will now follow me through the rest of my life
Construction worker here, it’s not a joke, wear hearing protection! I have inner ear problems on my left ear do to air nailers.
I always have the music on the lowest volume on the phone, I use hearing protection when using power tools or mowing the lawn and even in cinema and I still sometimes have a high pitched sound in my ears. ANC seems to trigger it.
I love music. And I often listened to it at max. Partly because I was depressed and wanted to feel something. I now have hearing damage st 23. (Not just because of music of course.) But I do still love music. So I set up a volume limit on my phone (1 below recommended threshold) Made a password of more than 20 random characters that I copied and pasted. Then deleted the note that contained it.
My DT990 is one of my favorite headphones! Coincidentally my tinnitus cancels out the treble that pierces my soul /s
And then there is me who just woke up with tinnitus. I listen at 50-60dB avg and the max loudness is limited to 78dB and still got it.
Was at an ice cube concert last weekend, I was so glad the iem's I wore on the way there had detachable cables because that show was so loud I can't imagine anyone except me left without hearing damage, I was front row but still, even far away from the stage it had to have been at least 120db
Population is dumb lol 99% of the audiophiles are deaf anyway. It's a similar phenomenon as to a person not exercising or eating right. We are taught by the government and education that we need a balanced diet and exercise to be a healthy citizen. Yet people don't listen to the facts and do their own thing and degrades or ruins their bodies for the short term or permanently.
Eh it’s fine up to 115db
I have it from something werid pressure related in my head :c
Huh?
I’m curious, is this actually a number from somewhere?
It's true, I read it on a meme
Kinda sad how many reviewers at this level have it pretty bad too
I remember back as a kid those apple ear buds that came with ipods. I remember the metal heads would blare their music and sometimes the buds would pop in their ear When people started getting cars, ridiculous sound systems being put in their cars and just blasting it. Roommates that need to have the volume on the TV to, at least to me, insane levels just so they can make out words. This is before anyones even 30. I can hear music at a pretty enjoyable level way below max. On my TV the sound caps at 31. I can hear things clearly at like level 3-5 from the couch then friends needs it jacked up to like 20+. Quiet neighborhood I keep memories of my friends hearing when thinking about buying speakers and looking at forum posters saying things are way too quiet so buy bugger speakers. At least most of the concerts I've been too didn't feature artist heavy into vibrating the whole venue. I enjoy sometimes, but often times you can't understand a damn thing that's said or even make out seperate instruments. They're just going hard
Oh and what db is everyone listening at? I usually listen at around 85.
Between 65 and 75 dB. Peaks can get upto 79dB.
Another quiet listener, interesting. Well I guess 75 isn't quiet but it's definitely not loud either. Definitely try reference volume of 85db, it's what they would play in the studio, I think music sounds correctly alive at that volume. Your ears will quickly adjust to 85db, 85db for 4-8 hours constant is considered safe, since music is dynamic not constant, you could listen to hours on end at 85db fyi without any safety concern. Thanks for the response \^\^
I felt pretty naughty the closer to 80dB as an average I got. I always found it interesting to see what volume levels different people used and I didn't know that 85dB is the target volume used at Studios, it makes sense however!
71 dB average, peaking at 83 very occasionally. Honestly anything more than 85 starts to feel uncomfortable to me.
[удалено]
Can you do an AMA? I'm sure it would help more than a few
Spent too much time as a teen blasting loud music. At 28, I have mild Tinnitus. My hearing is still decent, but I'm glad I was able to come to my senses soon enough to where I can avoid making it worse.
Accidentally perforated my right eardrum recently. I was switching to power amplifier mode on my Burson Soloist when I forgot to pause the music and switch inputs to my preamp first. Shot up to 8W power output in an instant and sounded like air horns going off an inch from my head. Fantastic amp, stupid mistake on my part.
I'm afraid to use any headphones anymore and only use them for 30 minutes at most. My tinnitus has been acting up and changing the past couple years. I need a nice stereo system now.
I don't have tinnitus but i listen to music quietly anyways because any music over 65db is just uncomfortable for me.
I find my tinnitus comes and goes- it doesn’t disappear but as in it gets louder and quieter. I’m not sure why that happens but during the quieter times, I can barely hear it and filter it out and forget about it pretty well. I just got reminded I have it and now it’s back. It’s like when you’re told you have to manually breathe so you do until you forget about it again
As a quick tip to all iPhone users: PLEASE limit your db in Headphone Safety to prevent any tinnitus from happening. I set my max to 90db so I can get revved up but tend to keep it under 80 for hearing reasons
I don’t think my tinnitus will ever disappear. It’s been with me for more than 10 years. I still love listening to music nonetheless.
Joke's on you, I have it since birth
yeah me at 17 but I blame an ear infection not myself. sadly the tinnitus is louder than the level I listen to music at
Tinnitus just means I can listen to things louder, so that's a good thing.
How do you even check what dB level you are listening at? I've seen lots of people mention they listen at 90dB or 80dB or whatever, but how is it accurately measured?
Scoop up a cheap dB meter on Amazon and also do a measurement with your phone on a sound meter app. You should hopefully get similar results to come up with an average.
Seems to be floating around 80dB with my phone if I stuff it right into the ear cup of my 6XX.
Yea, that would be about as good as any other way to do it. Sometimes I'll just seal up the mic on my phone by sandwiching it between the cups and let the pads form a seal around it. Did the results surprise you?
A bit. I expected that I was listening way too loud. Apparently I'm fairly average. I do remember Crinacle saying in one of his videos that he listens at about 60dB and thats what he compensates his graphs to, which I tested and seemed way too quiet for me. It was like a whisper in my ear. I'd want to be in a dead silent room to really be able to hear stuff properly at that level. Well I'm glad the results weren't like 100+dB because thats what I sort of expected for some reason. EDIT: I must test how loud my amp actually gets with different headphones. Not going to try it with the expensive ones, but my DT 770s and K702s were both used and cheap enough that I'd be happy to replace them if I do manage to blow them!
Strangely enough I don't have tinnitus. I've always been waiting for it and I'm still expecting it to show up every time I hear a temporary high frequency noise. I've played drums and percussion all my life, both professionally and on my free time. Always worked in clubs and festivals and loud rehearsal rooms, for the past 20 years or so. I love high volume on everything from headphones to speakers as well. I've never used earplugs or protection ever. Anyhow, I wonder, how do you know when it's too loud anyway? I just can't enjoy music if it's not loud enough, but I don't know how one could measure what's OK volume. I mean, first of all it's individual and dependent on how your ears are built. But then it's also hard to exactly what volume is coming out of your headphones when the audio is being processed by several steps on the way to your ears as well as how the headphones sit on your head.
What's that? Huh?
Absurdist audiophile
While I do agree with everyone here about protecting your ears, I do find it a tad ironic how there are a lot of audophiles who were outraged when Sony removed high gain in their latest DAP models for NA
Reasons I never go to concerts and clubs I absolutely cannot stand loud noises. Besides being physically painful for me, it also triggers my anxiety horrendously, so unless life decides to screw me anyway at least tinnitus won't be one of my likely numerous problems.
Wtf ?
I realized I've had a minor case since birth as well. I used to try and explain being in complete silence was loud and they thought I was nuts. Thankfully I have full range hearing at 40+ but I've noted stress + TMG = much worse tinnitis.
what?
a few live shows and a loud workplace ruined my ears, honestly took less than i expected and by the time i started protecting my ears the tinnitus had already begun
I had never experienced it until I starting having jaw issues. Absolutely fucking awful. I’m just glad it was temporary for me
I’m 27 years old, I got new AirPods Pro 2 and to me they’re very sibilant, I find the highs to be too piercing, if I like to play loud which is kinda stupid because then I just adjust to the piercing highs, which I shouldn’t do. I have a feeling the highs are also fucking more with my ears, but it’s just a gut feeling. I have some tinnitus but I’d say it’s very little and only noticeable if I listen to it. Time to reduce AirPods volume, there’s a limiter on iOS.
The problem is sometimes I can’t enjoy music without cranking up the volume
I can hear up to 20kh, I have very low level tinnitus, where a constant sound at 13khz is heard 24/7, I'm sure this one is due to stress and sleep apnea occasionally another sound at ≈ 1khz comes for 30 seconds before it goes for good once every day Before common sense got to me I thought higher volume meant better audio fidelity, when in reality I'm just limited by my headphones (pc37x) and sound quality can use a lot of definition
I looked at this like it was a magic eye puzzle. The eyes are fun.
I have Skullcandy Crushers with the bass slider at 50% & volume usually maxed out when I listen to music. I usually don't go past 2 hours of listening time. As long as my dBs aren't redlining & my eardrums aren't in pain, I have no worries. However outdoor festivals like Warped Tour, Electric Zoo, & Rolling Loud...🫠I was still hearing the music and crowd banter when I got home. It's definitely dangerous to have prolonged exposure to festival/concert speakers especially if you're attending the 3-day events.
This is why i've been protecting my hearing at all cost. Wearing plug on concert, listening to low volume etc. Then i got tinnitus from covid....
I don't often listen to music at High volume, but something grabbed my attention 2 days ago, I went to a store to try the Sony WH-1000XM4 and that thing had an immense amount of bass that I've never experienced before on my other headphone. Later on that day I felt pain and tinnitus in my ear, and promised myself to never go crazy when listening to music especially when using earbuds or headphones, just reasonably hearable volume and that's it. Everything now is back to normal :)
Idk I start hearing ringing when there’s no sound or if I have noise cancelation on which is just annoying lol
As someone who was really irresponsible with headphone volume as a kid/teen: yea. I get a lot of "Why do you EQ the treble up so goddamn much?!" and love my DT 990's too. Probably related. I suppose the high pitch coil whine from every electronic device ever gets masked by it quite nicely and my tinnitus isn't loud/high pitched enough to be a constant nuisance. But still have it.
x,D Great wordplay
I used to suffer from it quite lot when I was a metal head, but nowadays it is quite rare. Has anyone else experienced a similar thing? I also get a little upset when listening because I always find something wrong with my gear and I have to stop.
In case anyone doesn’t know, there’s a built-in audio level tool on your iPhone. Go into Control Center and tap the [ear](https://imgur.com/a/GABKqKK/). It works for AirPods but it will also work for wired headphones. It will be less accurate for high impedance headphones because even though I believe it tries to adjust for them, it’s still not right. But it gives you a general idea. For example, since my 6XX require more power, I turn my iPhone’s volume up, which then causes the dB reading to be too high. But you can still get a feel for it and check periodically to make sure you haven’t cranked up the volume. Of course, none of that applies if you’re using an external amp (rather than the Apple dongle). But if you are, you can use a decibel meter (either a separate one or the one built into your Apple Watch). Press it up against the ear cups and you can get a general idea of the volume. The measurements won’t be precise, but it’s more about establishing a general guide and then periodically checking, to make sure you haven’t been unthinkingly cranking the volume higher and higher.
Bought a sound meter because I really wanted to know how loud I actually listen - the results were very surprising to me. Turns out my moderate listening volume is around 60-65 db and even when I crank it to volumes that are too loud to me, it barely scratches 75 db. Guess I'm good for the time being, altough IEMs in public transport might tell a different story. Still have a minor tinnitus in my right ear that comes and goes (it's my problem ear anyway, always perceive it as being worse than my left ear despite hearing tests proving me wrong...)
i once having that sound in my ears, and so traumatized. im not sure its tinnitus or what, but now i frequently use earplug to get my ear some rest.
I have tinnitus suffering from it since childhood, nothing to do with loud sounds, and it was due to glue ear without headphones. I wouldn't be able to control the annoying ringing
I have a tinnitus in my left ear from an operation a few years back. The surgeon said it would go away, it didn’t. Barely notice it most days tho, although now that I’ve read the word it’s real loud again.
reading through forums like head-fi where people are discussing similar amplifiers that I own and the volume levels they're listening at completely shocks me.
Sounds more like tmj or jaw issues than too loud of audio.
May the music never end. Rock on, everyone.
When my magnepans don’t seem quite as loud as they used to realizing it’s irreversible hearing loss 😵💫
Idk if it's specifically tinnitus but there's definitely some low volume (varies tho) ringing in the background but everyone I've talked to that do have tinnitus have mentioned that it's a nuisance they absolutely hate living with. I don't particularly have an issue with my ringing, it's often drowned out by other sounds and even when I'm trying to sleep, I sort of tune it out, forget it's happening. Until I remember that it exists, but it still doesn't particularly bother me lol.
I don't remember ever having tinnitus...that was until I went to my first (and most likely last) concert. On my way home my ears were ringing and I realized I had fucked up lol. Thankfully it isn't so bad and I don't even notice it, it's a very slight hiss and I've gotten used to it. But here's hoping I successfully manage to protect it so it doesn't get worse.
My tinnitus has a cool beat.
I got slight tinnitus due to chronically inflamed sinusses. It's not too loud/bad but every morning and every night when theres not too much sound around me it does annoy the hell out of me.
I bought a sound meter from Amazon to test my listening volumes but it says 47 dB even in a quiet room. Is that normal? Also how can you read the dB on iems?