[codine]

I do listen to my music too loud, often I hear ringing after long periods of listening to music at a high volume but I am trying to quit this habit and save the heartbreak I will suffer when I start to notice my hearing is screwed.

With that said I think my ears are pretty sensitive, noises other people find bearable I find very loud.

 

[neilvg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt fury /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't feel like I'm really having fun and enjoying the music unless it's loud. Probably too loud. To me the music just doesn't "wake-up" until it's at a certain volume. This might be something I can fix with my gear, I think, but I dunno.

This could be due to the fact that 1) your headphones aren't very dynamic or resolving and/or 2) you have not properly amp'd you headphones 3) you have (in the case of non-portable headphones) very bad power in your area, which in my experience has a dulling effect at times on the sound, and / or 3) you are listening to open headphones in a noisy environment, bringing up the noise floor considerably, and thus the listening volume as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Technex /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyway. About this dB limit thing. I'm pretty sure that some peoples ears, that have got used to loud music would still be fine.

This getting used to thing is bad. Our ears have a certain threshold, and naturally will try to saturate what we are hearing to protect us from prolonged exposure to loud sounds. This is not giving you an accurate experience of the music, and over time, this WILL definitely cause damage. In fact, this is the way it starts. At the stage at which your hearing first becomes insensitive to certain loud volumes, you can still generally recover all your original hearing. But eventually your ears will become much MORE sensitive, in a painful kind of way, and by this time people start to experience hearing problems.

Neil

 

[Rob80b]

Over sensitivety could be a sign of your ears not being able to handle loud sounds, much like some speakers will start to distort or rattle at moderate to high volumes.
I know a number of people who are hard of hearing but cannot handle loud or congested noise, parties etc.
In an earlier post I mentioned I like to listen at near live as possible, but my listening duration is on average one album, sometime two.
Those of you who listen all day or at hours at a time much like a radio in the back-round, you should keep the levels low.
Being of the pre walkman/ipod generation my serious listening is still a kin of going to a concert, meaning I relegate a specific time and duration to my music.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig /img/forum/go_quote.gif can some1 recommend me a place to buy noise level detectors? i need to check if the vol of my O2 is safe.

Here is one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

The analog one RS used to sell is better, and was cheaper, but it's no longer sold by RS.

 

[breseler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by codine /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do listen to my music too loud, often I hear ringing after long periods of listening to music at a high volume but I am trying to quit this habit and save the heartbreak I will suffer when I start to notice my hearing is screwed. With that said I think my ears are pretty sensitive, noises other people find bearable I find very loud.

That 'ringing' could well be your ears saying that they are getting screwed. When that ringing doesn't go away, then you're screwed dude....

Seriously, you wouldn't throw metal shavings into your eyes so why blast your ears with music at excessive volumes. You will start to hear a distant hum or buzz or ringing in your ears in the still of the night and all of a sudden you'll realise that all that brain busting bass has done for your hearing once and for all.....

 

[jcx]

http://headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm

also

http://www.etymotic.com/aer/libart-category.aspx

about halfway down, "Hearing Protection", 4 articles, some more at bottom, "Musicians"

although from some of the comments, a few of you will soon be reading the hearing aid articles!

you start with a finite # of sensitive hair cells that transduce vibration into nerve impulses, when they die they're gone forever, even OSHA levels are killing hair cells, it's just that modern industrial society has accepted that you'll loose hearing as you age

 

[neilvg]

And Sadly, headphones seem to be good at doing it sooner.

I am around loud sounds ALL day. I play the drums, work as track and mix engineer at a studio, and live in a noisy city! At the end of the day, to put on a pair of phones and relax, I don't want to be pounding myself any more!

 

[breseler]

Sounds like you need to just slip in a pair of ear plugs and listen to the silence...

 

[neilvg]

That is what meditation is for

Actually I work another job in the early morning (6 to 1) in which I am mostly in solitude and it is very quiet. Once my second day begins though, yeah, the noise of the world...

Neil

 

[bazmonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob80b /img/forum/go_quote.gif In an earlier post I mentioned I like to listen at near live as possible, but my listening duration is on average one album, sometime two.

I don't know how loud live rock music is where you come from, but here, in a bar or a night club or anywhere near the stage, live music is easily loud enough to be dangerous over a couple hours of constant exposure (an album or two).

Once I went to a bar, jammed out to the awesome jazz, and had ringing in my ears half-way through the next morning. Since then I have a pair of earplugs with me whenever I plan on going out.

I also thought it was worth pointing out that your threshold of pain when hearing loud noises doesn't necessarily correlate with your ear's susceptibility to damage from loud noises. If you can stand hearing 100dB of cymbal coming out of a loudspeaker two feet away, congratulations, but it'll still ruin your hearing. The entire point of all this hearing awareness is that it doesn't even take painful exposure to damage your hearing.

 

[Skylab]

This is why it's so important to use an SPL meter to measure how loud you listen, to make sure you aren't using headphones dangerously. It's so mych more enjoyable to me when I listen to headphones since I have measured and know I am listening safely.

 

[epaludo]

Used to listen very loud. Turned down considerably lately regarding some earing problem articles that i've read on the web ...

 

[m8o]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vath /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basically do you all keep the volume low to hear all the good sounds or can you really rock the v-dial?

..ya, I often play it TOO loud... I think I'm trying to achieve the dynamics of speakers; which will never happen.

 

[Esidarap]

Right now I'm listening WAYYYYYY too loud, i should probably turn it down in 10 mins or so before i start damaging my hearing. It's a dangerous game, but actually "feeling" it is so much fun.

FREEEEEDOM!

 

[flamerz]

I like listening pretty loud. My ears aren't too sensitive to loud sounds. It really helps me get into my music.