[Gummy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CuriousVoiger My ears may be too sensitive for Grados; next time I’ll go with IEM canal phones.

IEM is not a good idea if you have sensitive ears

If you think Grado is too bright then you shouldn't use IEM.
Granted IEM is not as bright, but the sound is pumped right into your ear.

 

[AuroraProject]

I may have this, occasionally in a quiet room I'll hear a high pitched noise only in my right ear, like someone left the tv on mute or something. Is this a symptom? I need to research this I guess.

 

[Solude]

Little bit of misinformation going on here so I'll try to explain it to you all. Tinnitus is NOT temporary, if you get it, its for life. There is no cure, there is no recovery, just a constant, nonstop, 100% of the time, ringing in your head. MOST tinnitus is from a jaw that comes too high into the ear canal and compresses it. Excessive exposure to loud sounds can also kill off ear 'hairs' that cause the ringing. Tinnitus is NOT painful, does not cause dizziness and is not associated with deafness. Having tinnitus does not make your hearing any worse, it just means that you hear your internal sounds as well as external.

So if you got ringing from listening to headphones its because you had it on way too loud. You would have gotten the same effect from going to a rock concert. Couple days later, right as rain. My advice NEVER turn your headphones past the point where you can't make out your own SPEAKING voice. If you can't clearly hear yourself speaking, its too loud. Skip the doctor, they can't do anything for you but tell you to watch your audio levels. If you do get tinnitus at some point though, removing coffee, smoking, alcohol from your diet and keeping your ears wax free does reduce the ring somewhat.

 

[Ic3Floe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude Skip the doctor, they can't do anything for you but tell you to watch your audio levels.

I recently ruptured my ear drum (cliffjumping into a lake), and had similar symptoms to CuriousVoiger. The first day, my ear really hurt, like a constant toothache-esque pain. The next day, i went to the clinic, the doctor told me that it was ruptured. So now, I can't swim for the next couple weeks, and three times a day I need to put anti-biotic drops in my ear 3 times a day for the next week. Then, i need to go to my doctor and have my ear reevaluated.

So, if CuriousVoiger's ear drum was ruptured, it is probably a very good idea to go to the doctor, seeing as how an infection developing or further aggravation of an in-ear wound can cause permanent hearing loss.

 

[commando]

I have tinnitus, it's no fun at all. Go see your doctor, and try to keep the volume down in future. Loud clubs are much worse than most headphones though, unless you're really blasting it.

 

[3lusiv3]

I have mild tinnitus which is not related to headphones. Probably more due to loud music in clubs and cars. I went to a concert last night and I can really hear it today, but it's something I have learnt to ignore. I don't think there is anything I can do about it. When it gets worse, my ears usually heal after a few days.

 

[Quad]

I would like to add that going to sleep with headphones on is probably not a good idea but if you must turn it way down low. I do not think sleeping for a good while with a fair bit of volume can be overly good for the hearing.

Ear plugs at concerts help loads. I love to be near the speakers and feel the music. I also love to leave a show pull the ear plugs and not have a ringing in my ears for a day. It is amazing how an earplug can fall out and not even be noticed (we are not talking about the symphony here folks).

That said my family (and even neighbours) have complained my music is at times too loud for them.

 

[Geek]

I would suggest keeping the volume down and seeing the doctor. Pain is not normally a symptom of tinnitus, as Solude says, and you really should check it out.

My suggestion for volume is to skip to a very loud dynamic passage of the music, the dynamic peak of the loudest part of the recording you are going to listen to, and then start turning the volume up from zero. When the sound is not too quiet, you should stop turning and leave the knob alone for the remainder of the listening session, only turning it DOWN if necessary, not up.

This will prevent most tinnitus by keeping your music at a reasonable volume level, for most people this will result in 69dB in a quiet room which is a very safe average sound pressure level, something around speaking volume or a bit higher than it.

Also take frequent breaks, mabye once every hour is a good time to rest the ears and you can judge ifyou had any problems that way quickly.

If you do sense fatigue, just skip the phones for a few days and your ears can heal fully.

I have permanent tinnitus in my right ear from playing the violin. Most violinists have right-ear tinnitus if they do develop any sort of a problem. I used to be bothered by it but luckily I have learned to completely and totally ignore it altogether; it doesnt' bother me at all anymore and I can't even notice it unless it's dead quiet. Don't let this happen to you, though, it's permanent and I can't guarantee you'll have as much success ignoring it as I have.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[Gummy]

Holy crap, thank god I skipped cliff jumping~
Man, it was kinda tempting.

 

[Geise]

Sleeping is very good for ear healing

. I find that getting a few hours extra sleep for a few days after having a total rock-out session will greatly speed the healing. (I know loud listening sessions are not good, but I just have to do it at least every now and then

)

 

[3lusiv3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geise Sleeping is very good for ear healing . I find that getting a few hours extra sleep for a few days after having a total rock-out session will greatly speed the healing. (I know loud listening sessions are not good, but I just have to do it at least every now and then )

I agree with that. It's amazing how we require sleep and it tends to fix so many things.

 

[purk]

http://www.ata.org/about_tinnitus/consumer/faq.html

read it. I might have one, but not quite sure b/c I can't hear that "high pitch" noise.

I believe we should take a great care of our ears, b/c it is the only way for us to enjoy our headphone experience.

 

[James]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ic3Floe I recently ruptured my ear drum (cliffjumping into a lake)

Gotta ask: did it pop when you hit the water, from the drastic change in altitude, or a combination of the two?

I have a very slight case of tinnitus (basically hear it at night and if I plug my fingers into my ears) that I assume came from either my childhood ear infections or my many years playing violin in an orchestra and playing piano. It's a very high-pitched ring reminiscent of electrons hitting a TV screen. I discovered the tinnitus when I first got into headphones -- which in turn was when I started really listening to music -- so it wasn't their fault. As mentioned, tinnitus is a constant affliction. Short bursts of loud sounds will cause tinnitus-like symptoms which usually fade away. Over time, however, they will aggravate any underlying tinnitus, so it's definitely best to coddle those eardrums!

If you have a sound meter (pretty inexpensive at Radio Shack), you can compare your listening levels to mine: my LOUD setting averages 75dB with peaks of just over 80dB, on A setting and with the mic flush with the driver. This is not a very scientific measurement -- in particular, it doesn't measure bass impact very well -- but on A setting it is fairly accurate and consistent due to the bass roll-off in the response curve. Anyway, it's at least consistent if you make measurements the way I did (duh!).

Edit: Woops, I forgot to say what my QUIET settings are: about 60dB with peaks under 65dB. This where I do the vast majority of my casual listening: studying, surfing, playing Unreal Tournament 2004, etc. I wager most people would find this very quiet, but that's how I like it!

 

[dhelm]

This is all quite interesting, on a trip once I fell asleep while listening to quite louder levels to drown out exterior noises. Being and MP3 cd I was left listening several hours, and my ears became congested for over a week. Anyone had a similar feeling? Occasionally it'd be in one ear, and you could hear or feel it kinda break through, and a veil would be removed making your hearing clear again. I thought it was permenant and it was quite depressing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude If you do get tinnitus at some point though, removing coffee, smoking, alcohol from your diet and keeping your ears wax free does reduce the ring somewhat.

So how do these things exactly affect one's hearing?

 

[Solude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhelm So how do these things exactly affect one's hearing?

Tinnitus isn't a hearing problem in the same way that deafness is. It's that you hear a ringing, which is literally those hairs resting on the surface of the ear instead of being upright. The resting means those hairs transfer internal noise to your senses instead of external. The largest sound source in the body is blood flow and those vices affect blood flow. Basically any accelerant or thinner will increase the ring because the flow has increased.

Oh and if you only hear the ring when you block your ears its not tinnitus its normal. You block external noise and internal ones become more noticable, nothing unusual about that. The opposite is also true. The good news is minor tinnitus is pretty easy to live with. All I need is another sound going and the ring is very hard to notice, probably why I like music playing 24/7 unless I'm sleeping then my snoring takes care of it

One last thing, those vices do help but its a minor difference. I'm not giving up coffee for the difference and don't drink often enough anymore for it to matter. Your results may differ though so it might be worth dropping those for 4 weeks. Then reintroduce them one at a time and see the difference. If you have a cup of coffee and the ring increases noticably then it may be worthwhile to drop it from your diet. It wasn't for me.