do headphones cause more hearing loss than speakers?

The short answer is that neither of them cause hearing loss unless you turn them up too loud and for too long.

Quote:

Originally Posted by customcoco 

when you listen to something everyday, even at low volume (say, 65db maxi)  and for short period of time (say, 30 minutes) you'll experience hearing loss, it's natural.

I'm pretty sure that 65dB for 30 minutes a day won't have any noticeable impact on the rate of hearing loss. Yes, hearing is always decaying, albeit slowly, but you'll need longer exposure and higher volume to have an impact beyond regular old 50dB 24-hour background noise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by customcoco 

yes, but it's the short answer. 

 

when you listen to something everyday, even at low volume (say, 65db maxi)  and for short period of time (say, 30 minutes) you'll experience hearing loss, it's natural. 

 

so my question is : what causes the most hearing loss?

Well your body is essentially slowly dying after you reach around twenty years of age (often even less).  Your eye sieght decays, as do your senses and hearing.  Sad but true.  Just don't constantly blast music and you should be fine.  If you are trully worried measure the db output, 65 db for thirty minutes is less sound then you shall get often in everyday life (in a city for example) and is nothing to be worried about.
 

I vaguely remember reading in a newspaper that for various psychoacoustic reasons headphones are comfortable to listen to at volumes that would be more overtly loud if you reproduced the same sound pressure level with speakers. Having said that, UK newspapers are not known for their attention to scientific accuracy.

EDIT: Also, don't sneeze;apparently it does cause measurable additional hearing loss when occurring regularly over a long period of time (such as if you suffer from allergies.) Ask Wikipedia.

I like it when speakers punch me in the chest.

Headphones just can't do that.

If I had to guess, then I'd say headphones damage your

ear more than speakers, simply because the sound is

focused and directed straight into your ear. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by customcoco 

I've found an article about it on headwize : 

http://gilmore2.chem.northwestern.edu/articles/hearing_art.htm

 

Based on that article am I correct in assuming that if one softens the higher frequencies via eq then there would be no difference in the amount of damage caused by the headphones? Seems like speakers would actually be more fatiguing because you would need crank the volume up to hear the higher frequencies.

If anything I would think the in ear phones would be worse since the vibration and whatnot might have a more physical impact on your eardrum. However, I'd think it would be the same either way.