ADD
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2007
- Posts
- 922
- Likes
- 26
I have been finding this thread very interesting because I am wondering the exact same thing that the original poster was wondering.
I know it has always been generally accepted that SPLs are SPLs and it does not matter how they are delivered - what matters is just the SPL level and the duration.
but...
I have always been extremely careful with my headphone listening. Infact I went to a lot of trouble over the last couple of years to seek out equipment that sounded great even at quite low SPLs. With my current combination (Sony PCM D50 --> V-DAC --> X-Can with Tungsram tubes ---> PXC300) I can listen to classical music where even the peaks never, ever exceed 72 dBA. That makes for an average listening level around the high 50, low 60 dBA.
Yet still I continue to experience significant tinnitus issues. Mind you, I never notice any change in my tinnitus when actually listening to music, but the morning after I have listened to music I wake up with quite severe tinnitus (sounds like an industrial gas heater) which takes about two to three days to subside.
So at least from a personal viewpoint, I do have to wonder whether some people are just "allergic" to headphone listening so to speak. But the other thing I would also point out is that often with headphone listening, the difference between "A" weighted and "C" weighted measurements are huge - like 20 dB as opposed to much smaller differences in other situations. And although most of the traditional evidence suggests that it is "A" weightings which matter when it comes to assessing the potential for hearing problems, there have been studies which show that it is infact the "flat" measurement of the SPL that matters, not a weighted one.
In any case, I will be putting my headphone gear away for a time and just listening to speakers at around the same measured SPL as I was with the headphones. There is doubt the sensation is very different listening to speakers, even when the SPL is identical, and even if things like Dolby Headphone are used to listen with headphones to try and compensate for the in-your-head effect.
I certainly never ever had any tinnitus in my speaker days, and I listened at higher SPLs than I do with headphones, though in both cases at levels that are theoretically well and truly safe.
I know it has always been generally accepted that SPLs are SPLs and it does not matter how they are delivered - what matters is just the SPL level and the duration.
but...
I have always been extremely careful with my headphone listening. Infact I went to a lot of trouble over the last couple of years to seek out equipment that sounded great even at quite low SPLs. With my current combination (Sony PCM D50 --> V-DAC --> X-Can with Tungsram tubes ---> PXC300) I can listen to classical music where even the peaks never, ever exceed 72 dBA. That makes for an average listening level around the high 50, low 60 dBA.
Yet still I continue to experience significant tinnitus issues. Mind you, I never notice any change in my tinnitus when actually listening to music, but the morning after I have listened to music I wake up with quite severe tinnitus (sounds like an industrial gas heater) which takes about two to three days to subside.
So at least from a personal viewpoint, I do have to wonder whether some people are just "allergic" to headphone listening so to speak. But the other thing I would also point out is that often with headphone listening, the difference between "A" weighted and "C" weighted measurements are huge - like 20 dB as opposed to much smaller differences in other situations. And although most of the traditional evidence suggests that it is "A" weightings which matter when it comes to assessing the potential for hearing problems, there have been studies which show that it is infact the "flat" measurement of the SPL that matters, not a weighted one.
In any case, I will be putting my headphone gear away for a time and just listening to speakers at around the same measured SPL as I was with the headphones. There is doubt the sensation is very different listening to speakers, even when the SPL is identical, and even if things like Dolby Headphone are used to listen with headphones to try and compensate for the in-your-head effect.
I certainly never ever had any tinnitus in my speaker days, and I listened at higher SPLs than I do with headphones, though in both cases at levels that are theoretically well and truly safe.
