[MatsudaMan]

I've had mild cases of tinnitus before - not from hp listening, but from playing the violin. I've found that one of the best remedies for this annoying ailment is drinking lots of water. It sounds kind of funny but, my doctor told me that in order for one's estashian (sp) tubes to function properly, one must be adequately hydrated. Try it, the worst that can happen is that you'll have to pee a lot.

Another remedy and the one most forgotten is to give your ears a plenty of rest. Usually the cause of hearing loss has to do more with lack of recovery time than actual decibel levels (as long as you're not listening at ridiculous levels - in that case, just turn it down!). Your eardrums can repair a lot of damage as long as you give them time to recover - something like 16 hours between times of relatively high decibel levels. For example, if I have 6 hrs of orchestra rehearsal, I'm not going to go home and listen to my headphones, because my eardrums need time to recover from the damage that was inflicted on them by the trombones! Instead, I wait until a day off (after adequate rest) to listen to my music.

Hope this helps.

 

[deltaydeltax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is critical if you listen for that much time to keep the volume to a safe level. Hearing damage is a question of both volume levels and exposure times. You need to be listening well below 80db peak if you listen that long in order to not damage your hearing. If you are using full size headphones, buy a $40 SPL meter and TEST the volumes that you listen at, by coupling the headphone to the meter, as pictured here: I occasionally teach a class at a local college on the science of sound and hearing, and as a part of that, I ask college students to play headphones at what would be their "normal" listening level. Many of them listen at over 110db, which will damage your hearing in less than 30 minutes of listening.

I like the setup. For a while, I've been trying to figure out how to do this. My ideas included renting a calibrated head, and putting the headphones in a custom built chamber.

 

[deltaydeltax]

Sorry for quoting twice. I know I peed in some cornflakes with that one.

 

[va3ttn]

For a quick way to estimate sound levels without using
a sound level meter please look at my posts here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/bes...1/#post5039131
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/bes...ml#post5043217

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaydeltax /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry for quoting twice. I know I peed in some cornflakes with that one.

You know you can edit the post and delete the second quote.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Another factor in loudness is the recording itself as well.

I'd rather have a quieter recording and crank up the amp's volume than suffer from the crapty loudness war.

Sounds so much better with dynamic range.
Listening to some of the Empire album from Queensryche (in FLAC, original 1990 release CD) and is great with the amp volume @ 1 o'clock as opposed to say 10-11 o'clock for modern recordings.

 

[Zida]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know you can edit the post and delete the second quote.

but the peeing in cornflakes quote makes it all ok again

 

[jivetrain]

with this talk about sound level meters i looked some up and found a bunch of super cheap meters from hong kong on ebay. any opinions on whether these would even be worth trying?

 

[deltaydeltax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know you can edit the post and delete the second quote.

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Done and done.

 

[jsplice]

Do any of you guys find the Yulong to be a bit bright sounding? I've had a case of tinnitus lately, so I've been unable to determine if the dac sounds brighter than it should, or if it's just my ears being overly sensitive. Of course listening to vinyl still sounds great, because it rolls off higher frequencies. I Just have a suspicion that this vibrating transformer is making the dac sound bright (and I installed some rubber foam weather stripping to insulate...it did nothing.) Or maybe it just sounds bright because of the way it was designed...

 

[TopPop]

^Mmm, you might not be a believer in this, but there are two things that, if I had to guess based on my experience, may be causing this brightness:

1. Are you using the stock power cable? I found that, especially on digital sources, using a good quality shielded aftermarket cable helps remove brightness like you wouldn't believe.

2. Any sort of power conditioning? This would go hand-in-hand with the power cable. RFI can cause a harshness in the upper frequencies, and a new cable and good power conditioning would get rid of this.

 

[Akselpaksel]

Like an earlier poster said, just turn down the volume gradually. Your ears will adjust naturally and it'll feel as if it was just as loud as before.

A few other tips:
1. While in a quiet room, find a good volume mark. Use it as reference for all other times. So try not to deviate from it.

2. If tinnitus bothers you, try to stay in a room with some other low volume noise. If i'm in my computer/hifi room at home i never notice my tinnitus because my comp is making some noise.

3. Sleep more, stress less. Works wonders.

Check out the other tinnitus threads in this forum. Couldn't find em right now, but just use google. They have some really helpful tips.

 

[b0dhi]

I've had a loud ringing in my right ear for about 4 months now. I've tried the banging fingers on the back of the head thing, melatonin and neither of them worked.

The other day my right ear got blocked after a shower, so I used a q-tip to unblock it. I was mesmerised - the ringing had stopped completely! The next morning, the ringing returned, but I used a q-tip again and it went away, and it hasn't come back since. Somehow wax was causing the ringing. I can now hear a slight ringing in my left ear which I think is also caused by wax, because it's louder than my right ear.

 

[Solid Snake]

Maybe ultrasone is calling your name?

 

[spanks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0dhi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've had a loud ringing in my right ear for about 4 months now. I've tried the banging fingers on the back of the head thing, melatonin and neither of them worked. The other day my right ear got blocked after a shower, so I used a q-tip to unblock it. I was mesmerised - the ringing had stopped completely! The next morning, the ringing returned, but I used a q-tip again and it went away, and it hasn't come back since. Somehow wax was causing the ringing. I can now hear a slight ringing in my left ear which I think is also caused by wax, because it's louder than my right ear.

Anything touching the ear drum itself will cause tinnitus with all different sounds..ringing being one of them

Do NOT use q-tips for the purpose of getting wax out of the ear canal. You're much more likely to just push it deeper and pack it in.

Your best bet is to go to the doctor's office and get an ear rinse. Its quite a nice process actually...I fought with wax build up for a long time. When I first went to see a nurse she said it was allergies and I should just use nasal spray...it didn't go away. I'd wake up at night and every morning with complete deafness in my right ear. Extremely unsettling to say the least.

Second time I went in quite some time later they did a rinse in my ear and more wax then you would believe washed out. I actually felt somewhat off balance afterward. Extremely refreshing and relieving to say the least. I'm pretty good at just blocking out minor discomforts and not saying anything until there's a larger problem...its not until after you fix it you realize how wrong its been.

They also make over the counter wax softener drops and rinses, but nothing will compare to what they do at the doctor. I'd suggest going to the doctor to do a rinse, and then periodically do the wax softener if you're feeling like some is building up, and keep anything smaller than your elbow out of your ear canal :]