[Frihed89]

I have fairly severe conductive hearing loss. I still have good capacity in the inner ear, but the middle ears have failed badly and for whatever reason the operations have not worked well.

Can anyone tell me if in-ear or earbud phones can bring the sound closer to my inner ear with more clarity than regular headphones? I am not interested in speculation, but rather experience or scientific knowledge (an MD or Audiologist for example).

Thanks,

John

 

[cherepashka]

Don't know but i REALLY mess up my right ear a bit using in-ears...

 

[jules650]

I'm not an ENT specialist but I can speculate with a degree of scientific knowledge.

First, some basic physiology.. The eardrum vibrates when hit with a sound wave, and converts it into mechanical energy. The ossicles in the middle ear amplify this signal and then conduct it to the inner ear. Here it moves fluid in a tube-like structure. The fluid stimulates hair-like structures and this is converted into electrical nerve impulses which goes to the brain.

If your middle ear is damaged, everything in front of your inner ear (the conductive component) is affected. This impairs the ability to amplify the initial stimulus into a useable signal for the inner ear (the sensory component). I don't know how much your middle ear is damaged, but working from first principles I don't see how IEMs or buds will make a difference.

How good/bad is your hearing? There may be other solutions out there.

 

[nfsu]

Quote:

I don't see how IEMs or buds will make a difference.

X2, I've been using in-ear earphones for about 3 years and I'm still not deaf

My hearing is good actualy (last checked about half year ago)
If you don't listen to music as loud as your mp3player can or so loud that your brain is escaping from head through nose, your ears will be safe.
What is more, IEMs were designed to PROTECT hearing, so I don't think that they are harmful...

 

[Phreon]

First, for you non hearing impaired folks, conductive hearing loss has nothing to do with inner ear / nerve damage. Conductive loss is caused by the bones in the middle ear not conducting sound from the eardrum to inner ear properly. For a person with conductive loss, playing loud music to overcome the impairment does not cause damage because we're simply trying to overcome dampening that occurs to sound on it's way to the cochlea (inner ear). For example, my left hearing aid is set for an average boost to 118 dB. Prolonged exposure to sounds in this range would cause damage in a properly functioning ear, but not mine. I've verified with my Audiologist that playing music loud enough for *me* to comfortably hear is ok.

Frihed89,

I have conductive hearing loss (Otosclerosis) with severe loss on the left and moderate to severe loss on the right, but my inner ears are almost perfect. I routinely wear my Alessandro/Grado MS1 (OTE) headphones and crank them to levels that would be plainly audible to people around me (the phones bleed sound like mad), but are perfectly comfortable for me. Put it this way, besides that my hearing aids are incapable of producing sounds outside of 200-8000 Hz, functionally, there's not much difference between them and a pair of Etymotics.

You really should talk to your Audiologist, but I suspect he or she will tell you roughly the same thing.

Phreon

 

[Phreon]

My pair of Etymotic ER4P earphones just arrived today. I've been listening to music with them plugged into my venerable old Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3; I'm only 30 minutes into their use and even with the EQ off, I can say I haven't heard music this well in YEARS. I can't wait to see what these sound like after they break in.

I really like my Alessandro (Grado) MS1s, but these Etymotics trump them in every way. They're worth every bit of the $165 from Amazon.com

Phreon

 

[kelvinz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phreon /img/forum/go_quote.gif My pair of Etymotic ER4P earphones just arrived today. I've been listening to music with them plugged into my venerable old Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3; I'm only 30 minutes into their use and even with the EQ off, I can say I haven't heard music this well in YEARS. I can't wait to see what these sound like after they break in. I really like my Alessandro (Grado) MS1s, but these Etymotics trump them in every way. They're worth every bit of the $165 from Amazon.com Phreon

armature's don't break in