Coupla late thoughts...
Because of the ear's natural tendency to protect itself from loud noises, whenever I enounter a noisy boo-boo when listening to headphones -- say, I bump the gain setting or the volume knob and get a loud earful -- I always give my ears a brief respite to recover before getting back to the listening, to allow them to readjust to normal hearing. That way, I don't risk restarting the listening on a louder, less safe level.
I also recall hearing (heh) years ago that the reflex meant to protect the eardrums from loud sounds diminishes with alcohol use. That is to say, after three or so drinks you may feel less inhibited about raising the volume on your cans to match your raucous mood, but your ears are less up to the task of trying to filter out the harmful noise. A nasty combo. And, as I say, I can't believe and am ever so grateful I have the ability to distinguish sonic detail as I do given my 20s.
