[tooler]

I have mild tinnitus that, under normal circumstances where I haven't abused my ears, I cannot hear unless it is very quiet.

If you have a similar malady and use Etymotic earphones, does the increased isolation combined with the mild tinnitus make listening to music annoying?

 

[rohorn]

No! I found that the ety's ability to clearly play low level details will overpower (for lack of a better word) any mild tinnitus.

What inspired me to sell mine was a much higher hearing threshold. The lack of detail and "timing" sounded awful to me as a result.

Which is why the MX400s sound great to me now.

Still racing?

 

[rohorn]

I should have added that the isolation level of the Ety's allows the listener to listen to music at lower levels since the ambient noise will interfere with one's hearing a whole lot less. Unless you have access to an anechoic chamber, you will always be surrounded by a good deal of ambient noise.

 

[JaZZ]

I have a tinnitus, too, and don't feel that the Etys make it more apparent than any other headphone.

 

[Bobby C]

I've got tinnitus, I have to be careful with all headphones, but I find that with my Ety's, I need to be even more careful. For whatever reason, I've had the tendency to play that at a level that exacerbates the tinnitus. That being said, I can play them at low enough levels where they sound good and don't cause a problem.

As an aside, I've been using phones since the early 70's, although not exclusively. I listen to a lot of music, but not at loud levels. I think my case comes from live music (jazz clubs - I like to sit close

), but now I wear plugs (Ety's as well) that reduce decibles evenly across the spectrum. I worry about the younguns out there that listen to phones a lot at high levels - they will regret it later in life.

 

[ablaze]

this makes me worry. what is the definition of "loud"? I really don't know and WOULD like to find out. is there some online site where I can test how loud I normally listen to something..yknow some way we can all compare exactly how loud we listen to music?

 

[Andrew Pielet]

If you think it might be too loud, it is!

 

[ablaze]

bbbut if I turn it down..I lose a lot of the details..and especially the bass! it disappears!

 

[jessica00]

thats what an amp is for IIRC.

 

[pikawel]

So that IS what an amp is for (among other things)! More or less emulating a higher volume and getting those little nuances...

Anyway, I'm also concerned. Is there something I can buy that can accurately display the db level I'm listening to my phones at? I figure an online diagram or graph would be kind of worthless because they'd need to test a pair of my AT cans through a Jukebox 3 at my volumes...

 

[Bobby C]

You can get a SPL meter at Radio Shack, but I don't think that would help with measuring the output of the Etys (or any phone, for that matter). I use it with my loudspeakers for placement, etc.

I agree w/ Jessica - getting an amp will allow you to hear more details at lower volume. Problem is, I usually don't carry an amp with me when I travel and that's when I use my Etys the most. Personally, I love the detail and isolation that the Etys provide so much that whatever I miss at low volumes is certainly worth it.

Regarding my original post, I'm now more careful about volume control when I use my Etys, a simple excersise in memory (a no-cost tweak

).

 

[Peddler]

I have found that since owning the Ety's I don't listen to music as loud most of the time. The Koss KSC-35's really do sound good when driven hard though - so I still have the occasional 'headbanging' session.

 

[rohorn]

The only danger I can think of comes from the fact they sound SO clean (when hooked up to something like a Cosmic and a very good CDP or turntable) that, without the usual level of harshness that most judge volume levels by, it is easy to listen to them at too high a level - and for too long.

 

[pedxing]

I think you can call etymotic and special order a special adapter (not mentioned on the website) for the radio shack SPL meter so you can measure the SPL of the ER-4's. I think it only works with the digital SPL meter. I remember reading an old posting that this special adapter can only accurately measure SPL at certain frequencies because of the acoustic properties of the adapter itself.

 

[bubbaj]

Occasionally I have a little tinnitus, a pronounced ringing in the ear, but it only lasts a short time. Since getting my Etys I have noticed something else. I only became aware of it with the total isolation of the Etys. There seems to be a kind of a background noise level in my head. I wouldn't call it a ringing in the traditional tinnitus sense. It's more of an internal noise level that is always there. Perhaps that's what everyone else is calling tinnitus. Does anyone else experience this type of noise? Perhaps I should get my hearing checked.