[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

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.

 
That's enough to scare me into turning down my already reasonably quiet music!
 
Another thing people may not think about is how loud it can be inside a vehicle, especially on the highway.  Luxury vehicles can be fairly quiet, but econoboxes can be almost deafening.  My Pontiac Vibe measures a very loud 80 dB cruising at 70 mph on the highway (on concrete).  I plan on treating the doors, dash, trunk, etc. to improve that (and my music).
 
You don't notice the white noise so much, especially because it slowly ramps up as you increase speed, but it's still very loud.  Add music on top of that, and it's even louder.

 

[MegaBass18]

Man, this whole thread is very depressing.  What's the point of listening to music if its not loud?!

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

Man, this whole thread is very depressing.  What's the point of listening to music if its not loud?!

 
There is great beauty in quiet things MegaBass
 
If you protect your hearing and avoid loud noise you will have the joy of discovering this in the future I think.
 
If you like going to loud things (nightclubs, loud concerts etc) then do check out the excellent custom made ear plugs I mentioned earlier. With those you will actually enjoy the loud events even better. You still get all the benefits of the bass impacting on your chest etc, but you will also be able to hear what is being played. You'll be surprised how much you like it.
 
http://www.etymotic.com/hp/erme.html
 
 

 

[Electro-Static]

I''ve always been a fan of keeping my music as quiet as I can, in order to prevent hearing damage from headphones or IEMs, the level of loudness at which other folks listen to their music has always amazed me because, it's always been pretty painful to my ears. I tend to prefer IEMs with decent isolation so that I can avoid outside noises and having to turn my music up loud. 

 

[MegaBass18]

Quote:

 
There is great beauty in quiet things MegaBass
 
If you protect your hearing and avoid loud noise you will have the joy of discovering this in the future I think.
 
If you like going to loud things (nightclubs, loud concerts etc) then do check out the excellent custom made ear plugs I mentioned earlier. With those you will actually enjoy the loud events even better. You still get all the benefits of the bass impacting on your chest etc, but you will also be able to hear what is being played. You'll be surprised how much you like it.
 
http://www.etymotic.com/hp/erme.html
 
 

I understand where you're coming from.  Thanks for the suggestion! It was just kind of a spur of the moment gut reaction to the thread since I almost exclusively listen to electronic music.  The headphones I have do a great job of making me feel like I'm in the middle of a club and it feels fantastic since I generally don't enjoy ACTUALLY being at clubs/concerts/bars (for a variety of other reasons besides the sound level).

 

[bouncer]

Quote:

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

 
yes, yes - unfortunately i remember being 25 and never took notes.....
Quote:

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

i just do not hear as good as i used to - not enough to say i am deaf - but sure would have loved to have some of those described earplugs at the nightclubs in my youth !!!
and not wasted thousands of $ on stereo equipment (for a car that is worth not much more than that)

 

[concordus]

Those damaged ears are scary... 
 
What is the point in sound level if you can harm yourself. 

 

[proton007]

Quote:

Those damaged ears are scary... 
 
What is the point in sound level if you can harm yourself. 

Exactly. 
Its important to think about the absolute volume, because "loud" is relative. Consider this thought. Sitting in an anechoic chamber, your definition of 'loud' would be totally different than that in home environment, and this would be miles apart from that on the street. 
 
Its also worthwhile to realize that physically, 80dB by itself is causing the same amount of damage in all environments, while being perceived "loud" in varying amounts.
 
Hence, never take 'loud', or your perceived level of loudness,  for granted. As a personal standard, keep track of the level you listen at in quiet environments. If you have to push the volume beyond a regular setting, you need to change the environment, or isolate external noise.