So this has been a big thing for me, especially since I've always had "good ears."
I find that a lot of times with headphones/IEMs, etc, if the volume is too high, it can be really painful or upsetting if you get hit with something loud.
This happened the other day when I was listening to the X2's and turned the volume up because it wasn't that loud. I realized it was in 5.1, and turned ti back to stereo... Adjusted the volume around and it was okay. Next song comes on BOOOOOOOOOOOM....
I forgot that the song itself doesn't change from 5.1 to stereo, until it switches. Youtube and such will actually break and you will need to refresh the page in order to get the new changes.
I've read that sometimes really loud noises can mess you up bad, if it was that piercing.
It's only happened to me a few times. One time it was IEM's in my left ear I believe, but this last time was both. I think I'm alright, but part of me felt weird on the left side, but I think it's psychosomatic/worry/placebo that's causing it.
Also, from reading the charts on the front, that talk about exposure time and damage, I have a friend who used to listen to bass all of the time in his car, and he lost a lot of hearing.
A doctor had told him though, that your ears will adjust to the volume, so if you play it too loud, your ears will adjust so that you don't' hear "as well," but I've heard that can be corrected.
I do like decently loud music, but that's a problem with HPs, because I notice if it's not properly powered, it will have a mix of volumes for the spectrum.
maybe the speakers I have just don't need that much power, but they sound good, and I don't need to turn it up to hear things, that I would have to do with HPs. This causes highs to be too harsh for me, and that's not good.
One guy on here claimed my hearing was damaged because the X2's sounded "harsh to me..." Funny how Amazon reviewers said the same thing... Wouldn't not hearing the harshness mean my hearing was damaged? I figure not hearing things would be worse than hearing things lol!?
Also, like a lot of things, our body heals over time. I believe it's all about "frequency." If you are listening to loud music every day, non-stop, and your body cannot heal itself, yeah... you're not going to do well... But if you have the time to PROPERLY HEAL, then you will be okay.
I posted this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/791699/how-easy-is-it-to-hurt-your-hearing-with-a-sudden-loud-intro-to-a-song-or-the-volume-turning-p-for-a-second
Talking about sudden sounds, and I explained a few things I have found about the body and healing.
I mentioned already about what the "doctor" had said (if that's true who knows, but makes sense).
People say that tooth enamel cannot be remineralized, but I have found information that says otherwise. It talks about the foods we eat, and needing a correct diet in order to remineralize. So if you are constantly eating bad crap, your teeth wont be able to heal, same with listening to loud music.
Also, as a personal trainer, I had stumbled upon some great information about workouts, and rest.
A lot of people workout very hard, and not only can they hurt themselves, but they can damage their CNS(Central Nervous System). This workout is based on 8 weeks on, and 2 weeks rest. This made complete sense to me, because when I was doing college sports, I was doing very intense workouts, and at some point I wasn't making much gains. After I got sick for about 2 weeks, I came back and everything was light... It was a joke. I asked some people, and they all were "you mean you didn't lift as much?" haha no, I lifted better! I felt better! IT didn't make sense, until I found this.
So if you give the body adequate time to heal, it will be able to heal itself.
The thing is, you have to "Rest" you have to constantly make sure to not keep hurting, the part you want to heal, over and over again.
Granted the body can only do so much, for instance we cannot regrow limbs, though other animals can.