[djsubtronic]

I've been listening to ridiculously loud music on headphones, IEMs, and speakers practically since I was born. I'm 27 and I can hear 19 KHz.

 

[bouncer]

i doubt there is any correlation between headphones and damage, it is solely a function of volume / dB over time.
 
Of course the better / more powerful the headphones the easier and faster it is to destroy your hearing.
 
I sure wish someone would have told me how stupid it is to drive around in a car full of ludicrously loud bass / music in my youth and pay the price for it now that i am an old fart.
 
So anyone under the age of 25 - take notes.

 

[TheAttorney]

Quote:

So anyone under the age of 25 - take notes.

By definition, anyone under 25 will not take notes, because they know everything and they are immortal

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

...it is solely a function of volume / dB over time.
 
Of course the better / more powerful the headphones the easier and faster it is to destroy your hearing...

 
Not power, but lots of CLEAN power off the headphone amp (or a ridiculously efficient but clean headphone). Perceived dBs up to a point can be great for the listener, and in a cleaner, more powerful amp, you get more of this before distortion makes it unpleasant to listen to.

 

[concordus]

Quote:

By definition, anyone under 25 will not take notes, because they know everything and they are immortal

 
It is funny, I am 25, and I created this thread

 

[concordus]

Quote:

 
Not power, but lots of CLEAN power off the headphone amp (or a ridiculously efficient but clean headphone). Perceived dBs up to a point can be great for the listener, and in a cleaner, more powerful amp, you get more of this before distortion makes it unpleasant to listen to.

So pleasure level defines effect to your hearing.
 
I sounds like you are saying that investment in to more quality sound should make less damage at same sound level as if you had listened to cheaper headphones?

 

[concordus]

Quote:

i doubt there is any correlation between headphones and damage, it is solely a function of volume / dB over time.
 
Of course the better / more powerful the headphones the easier and faster it is to destroy your hearing.
 
I sure wish someone would have told me how stupid it is to drive around in a car full of ludicrously loud bass / music in my youth and pay the price for it now that i am an old fart.
 
So anyone under the age of 25 - take notes.

And what is now that you suffer from? 
 
Hearing loss, or frequency range? Something else?

 

[jake120]

I personally havent experianced hearing issues from headphones...  the only most uncomfortable thing for me was listening to heavy metal guitar with distortion through earphones, taking them off felt like the whole place was silent but I didnt have it up loud so my assumption was just the sounds coming out of the earphones from taking them off were vastly different if that makes sense to you.

 

[concordus]

I used to play bass and the best way not to disturb others was headphones. No damage, except from blood pouring out of my eyes and ears.  

 

[davidsh]

Quote:

I used to play bass and the best way not to disturb others was headphones. No damage, except from blood pouring out of my eyes and ears.  

Don't hope you are serious xD

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

So pleasure level defines effect to your hearing.
 
I sounds like you are saying that investment in to more quality sound should make less damage at same sound level as if you had listened to cheaper headphones?

Not sure if I get what you mean correctly, but to clarify my initial post with an example (do take note figures are for illustrative purposes only), let's compare two amps. If while driving one headphone at 93db one amp is at 0.05% distortion and the other is at 1.0%, some would have already pulled back the volume knob on the other amp and perhaps landed at, say 92db to 91dB or even 90 or 91dB as a balance between perceived loudness and distortion levels. However, when twisting the knob louder on the cleaner amp and it gets the headphone to do 96db with only 0.1% distortion (if not less) on the amp and the drivers aren't distorting either, the tendency is to listen at that level.

Compare that to speakers, where that 2dB to 3dB difference measured at a few meters away from the speaker will be audible for everyone in the house as well, perhaps even your neighbors, so chances are someone will complain. With headphones, that's not the case, until someone walks into the same room you're in and asks you if you're trying to murder your eardrums.
 
---
 
So basically, while at the same sound (pressure) level a good system will be better since ideally "good" here means response is closer to flat, which means you can hear all frequencies the drivers are capable of reproducing, what I was getting at is that some have ears and minds that at some point respond more to distortion than actual SPL. So while the "better" system reproduces frequencies more evenly at a lower volume, at higher volumes the bass for example becomes even more audible without the treble grating on your ears, so you listen at that louder setting, without being aware of how loud that really is.
 
In my case it wasn't just with headphones; same thing happened with my car. Before I tinkered with the sound system the loudest I could go inside the car was barely audible outside; once I set it up to an acceptable level (sound-treated doors, silent sport tyres, properly angled tweeters and a processor, clean amplifier, etc) I would get down from a car to hand the keys to the valet only to jump back in and feel stupid at a hotel driveway while Allison Krauss' voice can be heard by my friends waiting at the lobby. With the doors closed though the car is actually quieter than before, or at least the midwoofers aren't vibrating the doors panels, but once open and I'm standing outside I start to wonder how the heck I managed to still hear other cars' exhaust systems when they drive up alongside me on the road.

 

[concordus]

Quote:

Not sure if I get what you mean correctly, but to clarify my initial post with an example (do take note figures are for illustrative purposes only), let's compare two amps. If while driving one headphone at 93db one amp is at 0.05% distortion and the other is at 1.0%, some would have already pulled back the volume knob on the other amp and perhaps landed at, say 92db to 91dB or even 90 or 91dB as a balance between perceived loudness and distortion levels. However, when twisting the knob louder on the cleaner amp and it gets the headphone to do 96db with only 0.1% distortion (if not less) on the amp and the drivers aren't distorting either, the tendency is to listen at that level.

Compare that to speakers, where that 2dB to 3dB difference measured at a few meters away from the speaker will be audible for everyone in the house as well, perhaps even your neighbors, so chances are someone will complain. With headphones, that's not the case, until someone walks into the same room you're in and asks you if you're trying to murder your eardrums.
 
---
 
So basically, while at the same sound (pressure) level a good system will be better since ideally "good" here means response is closer to flat, which means you can hear all frequencies the drivers are capable of reproducing, what I was getting at is that some have ears and minds that at some point respond more to distortion than actual SPL. So while the "better" system reproduces frequencies more evenly at a lower volume, at higher volumes the bass for example becomes even more audible without the treble grating on your ears, so you listen at that louder setting, without being aware of how loud that really is.
 
In my case it wasn't just with headphones; same thing happened with my car. Before I tinkered with the sound system the loudest I could go inside the car was barely audible outside; once I set it up to an acceptable level (sound-treated doors, silent sport tyres, properly angled tweeters and a processor, clean amplifier, etc) I would get down from a car to hand the keys to the valet only to jump back in and feel stupid at a hotel driveway while Allison Krauss' voice can be heard by my friends waiting at the lobby. With the doors closed though the car is actually quieter than before, or at least the midwoofers aren't vibrating the doors panels, but once open and I'm standing outside I start to wonder how the heck I managed to still hear other cars' exhaust systems when they drive up alongside me on the road.

Glad to hear about your sound experiences
 
Yes I do understand about distortion levels. Good point.

 

[concordus]

Quote:

Don't hope you are serious xD

Doctors said same thing over and over again after my headphones usage

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

I've been listening to ridiculously loud music on headphones, IEMs, and speakers practically since I was born. I'm 27 and I can hear 19 KHz.

 
If you keep listening to ridiculously loud music you will start going deaf. You won't like it.
 
I spent a lot of my 20s in nightclubs. When I got into my 30s I started wearing ear plugs, but not just any old ear plugs, I had extremely high quality ones made which were moulded to suit my ears.
 
The earplugs available today are really superb, far better even than those ones I started with.
 
You can read about these Etymotic ones here:
 
http://www.etymotic.com/hp/erme.html
 
Now I am very nearly 50 and I have a pair of these high quality ear plugs which I wear if I am going to a very loud event, such as a nightclub. I still enjoy doing these things, even at "nearly 50" and my hearing has not been damaged because I use these really good ear plugs.
 
If you get these custom made ear plugs you will be surprised at what you can hear with them. These Etymotic plugs cut out the sound equally across the whole frequency range, so the world sounds the same as it did before, just a lot quieter. The muffled sound you might associate with ear plugs is due to the fact that bad ear plugs cut out sound over an uneven frequency range. These Etymotic plugs don't sound muffled or anything like that. You will be surprised!
 
With the custom made Etymotic plugs I actually hear the music better at nightclubs or loud amplified concerts because my ears are not being bombarded.
 
Getting good custom made Etymotic plugs (or similar) would be the best ever audio investment you make because it will protect your hearing.
 
 
 

 

[eucariote]

Here's a picture of a cochlea that has been damaged by excessive sound volume.  The hair cells in left part of cochlea have been damaged, unceremoniously removed and will never be replaced 

.
 
Damaged:

 
 
Intact:

 
 
The National Institute of Health's safe listening guidelines say that listening to music over 85 decibels will lead to gradual hearing loss.