Matteman
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2006
- Posts
- 265
- Likes
- 0
After too many loud concerts and late nights listening to my super.fi 5 pro's my ears decided to let me know they've had enough. I developed a mild to moderate tinnitus two weeks ago, and it doesn't seem to get better. I've been to the doctor a couple of times and there's nothing wrong with my ears.
Sometimes the buzzing is pretty quiet, sometimes I can hear it clearly through everyday noise like sitting on the bus, driving my car etc. The buzzing itself doesn't bother me that much, I've always fallen asleep like five minutes after I go to bed and my job makes me completely forget about it in the days.
The thing that bothers me is not being able to enjoy my music hobby the same way I used to. Right now I listen to ridiculosly low volumes out of fear of worsening the tinnitus. Now I listen to 55-60 db's, and I just don't get the same level of detail or music impact that I used to get listening to 75-80 db's. The way I measure it is comparing my IEM's with speakers measuring the speakers with an SPL-meter. I was just about to get the amazing UE-11's when my last paycheck arrived, however this has made me think twice about my purchase.
There's many tables showing what is considered to be safe noise exposure, the most common is the OSHA, found here: http://www.meiea.org/Journal/html_ve...003_img_14.jpg
I thought I was on the safe side, always checking the SPL so that I don't go too loud. My average listening level used to be about 75-80 db's. Pretty loud actually I admit that, but it should be safe according to OSHA since I listen for about an hour and a half a day.
What do you believe to be a safe listening level in order to prevent making tinnitus worse? How much more sensitive are you to noise afterwards?
Also, let me hear about your tinnitus and how it has affected your head-fi hobby!
Sometimes the buzzing is pretty quiet, sometimes I can hear it clearly through everyday noise like sitting on the bus, driving my car etc. The buzzing itself doesn't bother me that much, I've always fallen asleep like five minutes after I go to bed and my job makes me completely forget about it in the days.
The thing that bothers me is not being able to enjoy my music hobby the same way I used to. Right now I listen to ridiculosly low volumes out of fear of worsening the tinnitus. Now I listen to 55-60 db's, and I just don't get the same level of detail or music impact that I used to get listening to 75-80 db's. The way I measure it is comparing my IEM's with speakers measuring the speakers with an SPL-meter. I was just about to get the amazing UE-11's when my last paycheck arrived, however this has made me think twice about my purchase.
There's many tables showing what is considered to be safe noise exposure, the most common is the OSHA, found here: http://www.meiea.org/Journal/html_ve...003_img_14.jpg
I thought I was on the safe side, always checking the SPL so that I don't go too loud. My average listening level used to be about 75-80 db's. Pretty loud actually I admit that, but it should be safe according to OSHA since I listen for about an hour and a half a day.
What do you believe to be a safe listening level in order to prevent making tinnitus worse? How much more sensitive are you to noise afterwards?
Also, let me hear about your tinnitus and how it has affected your head-fi hobby!