Asius hasn't just now been saying ADEL prevents the acoustic reflex. One of the very first-if not the first-videos they put out on the technology said precisely that. It showed the inventor in a lab coat pointing to a video display of the reflex happening explaining how their technology prevents the reflex by venting the pressure while simultaneously preserving sound via a unique membrane material.
It isn't as simple as having "...the disciple to maintain your volumes below a certain level" since AFAIK none of us can consciously prevent the triggering of the acoustic reflex due to pneumatic pressure (or volume). You can be as disciplined as you want with regard to volume but you will still likely perceive the volume lowering overtime in a typical sealed IEM due to pressure alone. Attributing the acoustic reflex to volume alone: "...if you have the discipline to maintain your volumes below a certain level, it should not make a difference on that front." is fundamentally a misunderstanding of what causes the acoustic reflex.
Yes, you might be right. You might perceive the volume to be lower without the adel module that's what Adel is saying.
If you read ENT texts, it is not so simple there are other mechanisms involved with having a second window that actually perpetuate energy loss which result in a lower volume level heard but we shan't go into that's.
Now assuming that Asius is right and that you hear things softer without adel because of the stapedius reflex, their extrapolation is this, that you
turn the volume up to compensate, and this is what causes hearing damage.
What I'm saying is this, whatever the mechanism behind ADEL, ultimately if you do not turn up there volume there is no increased hearing damage and if you turn it up, there is more damage to hearing.
Quoting straight from the asius website
"Stephen discovered that when the ear canal is sealed by an earbud, the speaker vibrations create acoustic pressure. In the confined space of the closed ear canal, these become harmful amplified pneumatic pressures and cause the eardrum to move with an amplitude thousands of times greater than normal. Tiny muscles around the eardrum then tighten to protect the ear by dampening the sound. To overcome this dampening you must turn up the volume. The more the volume increases, the more the eardrum tightens. And so on."
I understand the stapedius reflex very well. I also understand that it is not an infinate loop/vicious cycle as it seems to be from the above description. There are of course many many other factors, such as how if the reflex is triggered and we hear things more softly, it's because the reflex itself actually causes dampening of vibrations that reach the inner ear, meaning that when Two people listen to the same volume, but with the reflex only triggered in one person, the person with the reflex triggered actually has A SMALLER amplitude of sound waves reaching the inner ear meaning his ear is more protected, all assuming they do not turn up the volume. However that's making things a little too complicated so we let's avoid that discussion.
But yes the moral of the story is this. Don't turn up the volume and your hearing will be fine
Again I want to emphasise, I won't comment on things like listening fatigue and prevention of tinnitus and the likes because I don't experience it, and I don't have the required level of knowledge or expertise to comment on it. For those who do, let's go with their experience. But STRICTLY for hearing loss prevention, this is my analysis.
