Any Tinnitus sufferers notice this phenomenon with canal phones?
May 13, 2004 at 4:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 38

OniVerde

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Hi guys. This is my first post here.
I bought some Koss plugs 2 days ago and I noticed that while I'm wearing them, environment ambient noise has been reduced. The trade off is that I now hear the ringing much more. And since I usually listen to soft music, there's now a high pitched "eeeeeeeee" in the background. Perhaps isolating canal phones aren't for me.
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May 13, 2004 at 4:56 PM Post #2 of 38
Quote:

Originally Posted by OniVerde
Hi guys. This is my first post here.
I bought some Koss plugs 2 days ago and I noticed that while I'm wearing them, environment ambient noise has been reduced. The trade off is that I now hear the ringing much more. And since I usually listen to soft music, there's now a high pitched "eeeeeeeee" in the background. Perhaps isolating canal phones aren't for me.
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You don't really need isolating canal phones to hear the ringing more - just a quiet room will do. :^(

Oh, welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet!
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May 13, 2004 at 6:17 PM Post #3 of 38
I have tinnitus and have had the e5c, er-4p/s and a couple other in-ear canals. When I had them I did notice the ringing more when they were in my ears since they were isolating all outside sound but when the music came on I didn't hear it. At the time my tinnitus came and went though (now it's there for good
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) so it could be different now.
Question though, is your tinnitus in both ears or one ?
 
May 13, 2004 at 6:30 PM Post #5 of 38
I still can't decide of canal phones are worse than regular headphones for tinitus, although I suspect that they may be less harmful at inflaming tinitus. The reason you're hearing your tinitus is exactly as others have said. The isolating effect is simply making your tinitus more audible. I was ready to state, that using canal phones at a low level for about two months seem to improve my tinitus. But then I realized I was also dieting and exercising alot during that same period and that's probably the reason. Still, I am pretty sure low level canal phones are less damaging than full sized, dynamic headphones. Just as I'm sure headphones cause tinitus.
 
May 13, 2004 at 6:32 PM Post #6 of 38
Welcome to Head-Fi!

I can see how canalphones may bring the tinnitus more into the fore. But I for one don't notice anx difference between canal- and open phones when it comes to my tinnitus. It only depends on the mood (extroverted: no tinnitus / intraverted: tinnitus) and somewhat on the instruments (violins or other continuous tones are sometimes critical, whereas transients are a mighty anti-tinnitus weapon). BTW to listen to headphones is much better than to listen to speakers for me.

You can train yourself to ignore and even not to hear your tinnitus. There are institutes which are specialized on this; search the internet if you're interested. Good luck!

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May 13, 2004 at 6:33 PM Post #7 of 38
I am curious if I have tinnitus. Does the sound you hear sound like a hiss, or like a tone? When I would wear my e3s, with no sound, they would hiss like my cd3ks did with the ppa. I hope what I hear is natural, just that I concentrate on it too much, but I am a drummer, so I am worried that what I hear is tinnitus.
 
May 13, 2004 at 6:55 PM Post #8 of 38
Quote:

Originally Posted by raif
Does the sound you hear sound like a hiss, or like a tone? When I would wear my e3s, with no sound, they would hiss like my cd3ks did with the ppa. I hope what I hear is natural, just that I concentrate on it too much, but I am a drummer, so I am worried that what I hear is tinnitus.


AFAIK tinnitus can also sound like hiss or even kind of rattling or buzzing, but in the majority of the cases it's a high-pitched tone (13 kHz in my case) like the sine waves on a test-tone CD.

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May 13, 2004 at 7:09 PM Post #9 of 38
How did you figure out it was at 13hz, Jazz?
 
May 13, 2004 at 7:21 PM Post #10 of 38
I compared it with some test tones, and 13 kHz sounded very similar. Moreover there's a significant sensitivity loss in my left ear in this frequency range with 13 kHz as minimum -- which has been said to be a typical concomitant phenomenon.

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May 13, 2004 at 8:06 PM Post #11 of 38
My tinnitus is in both ears and it is a high pitch. I have had it since childhood and have learned to ignore it during daily life. However, having the Plugs in blocks most sounds out and brings the tinnitus out. I returned those horrible Koss Plugs and was going to buy some Shure E2's to try, but Guitar Center charges a 15% restocking fee on all returns. I opted not to make the purchase since I didn't know if the sound was worth the more noticable tinnitus.
 
May 14, 2004 at 1:15 AM Post #12 of 38
This is the case for me as well. When I finished listening and unplugged my ears, the high pitched tone was blaring. The volume wasn't high or anything, but the drastic switch from quiet to noisy does something that made me go crazy! A few minutes after taking out my ER-4P is all it took for it to go away but it's still kind of scary which is why I just decided to get rid of it in the end.
 
May 14, 2004 at 1:36 AM Post #13 of 38
I came down with tinitus last Oct when I got a sinus infection and it stuck. It sucks. Tonight I was listening to my brand new Shure E3cs and when I took them out after listening at a moderate volume for an hour my ears were ringing like mad. It scared me and made me wonder if I should stick with something that does not block ouside noise. I haven't had this experience ever with my HD650s, and I've had them for several months.
 
May 14, 2004 at 4:02 PM Post #15 of 38
I just got confirmation that the high-pitched tone in my right ear is just as I feared - mild tinnitus (saw an ENT specialist). Fortunately I don't have any hearing loss but this is annoying and has just recently manifested for me - sux getting old
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Needless to say, I'm keeping my E5C (recent purchase). I love my E5Cs and the high pitched tone from my tinnitus can be ignored so I choose to ignore it.

You can pry my E5Cs from my cold, dead fingers! ...well, a lot of cash might pry them loose too.
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