[Nefarion]

Last month or so my left ear has been hurting, its not much when im not "hearing anything". But when i listen to my headphones it gets bad. Im not sure if its an ear infection or if i just listened to my cans too loud at some point and didnt feel the pain. I dont ever remember such a time but its really hard to tell.

At first i thought i was becuase my hd600's were squeezing my head so tight (i have somewhat of a big head). But now the cans are pretty much stretched out and are comfortable to me with no music on... Yet my ear usually starts hurting 5 min after i put them on and start playing music...

Obviously, if this is not related to listening to music... it must be an infection of some sort (medical/docter related)... In that case i need to see a docter..

But if its too loud music related... Which almost doesnt seem feasable.. Im a drummer and a guitarist, ive had to deal with some rreally loud situations before.. Never really got ear aches. Anyway, im thinking if i just listenned to loud at some point.. maybe i can just take a break for a week or two and see if it goes away.

I hate having a $1,500 headphone setup that i have trouble enjoying fully becuase of something as trivial as an ear ache. I dont know what im going to have to do... It just pisses me off.. Which im sure you all could understand. GO AWAY EAR ACHE!!... sigh...

 

[chadbang]

STOP LISTENING NOW!

Take off two weeks and see if it goes away.

If you're a drummer AND using headphones alot, you could be seeing the beginnings of tinitus which you DO NOT WANT.

Believe me, I've got it now from using headphones (which I now cannot use). Tinitus is incurable and only keeps getting worse. STOP NOW.

If it subsides, you know you are listening too loud and that your are on the verge of gaining a permanent hearing disorder. Tinitus IS HORRIBLE. Read about it on the web. STOP USING YOUR HEADPHONES NOW!

I'm just trying to help you, dude. Don't **** up like I did.

 

[Nefarion]

I will defenitly have to quit listening for a while then (gawd its hard!)... I havent listenened in 3 days and it seems to be hurting less (the feeling is faint, i have to focus on it to feel any part of it)... I sure hope im not getting tinitus.

This is very scary and serious to me...

Are there any known ways to help prevent it other than keeping the noise level down?

I want to do all i can to prevent this...

 

[Nefarion]

Upon searching about tinitus. It seems many places claim to have cures or at least remedies to help it... Some places are actually laser surgery with supposed 85% success rates.. Lots of places seem to claiming that it is indeed curable and its a misconception that it is not.. Of course, its likely that it could be a hoax to make some money. But i dunno.. Just a though. If it gets worse for me i know i wont hesistate to try different things to get rid of it .. or at the least help it.

http://www.t-gone.com/index2.htm

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Sounds like an Arcam CD player is in order, so you can turn the sound down, and still get phenomenal detail.

Quote:

Originally posted by Nefarion I will defenitly have to quit listening for a while then (gawd its hard!)... I havent listenened in 3 days and it seems to be hurting less (the feeling is faint, i have to focus on it to feel any part of it)... I sure hope im not getting tinitus. This is very scary and serious to me... Are there any known ways to help prevent it other than keeping the noise level down? I want to do all i can to prevent this...

 

[Tim D]

That homeopathic stuff looks like hogwash and it doesn't help that I get spammed with some pop-up ad advertising miracle tonic.

The best solution is to just exercise some restraint in listening. Many people do not know that they are listening too loud...if they did, and an alarm went off in their head everytime they did so, I really don't think tinnitus would be so widespread. You don't get any warnings...your only warning IS the damage.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

http://www.radioshack.com/category.a...8%5F000&Page=1

 

[Nefarion]

"Sounds like an Arcam CD player is in order, so you can turn the sound down, and still get phenomenal detail."

This might be a possibility for me! MY #1 goal in the future may be flip flopped into finding players with low level detail.. But man that sucks, music is just much more intense when listened to at a reasonable level... Reasonable being able to hear most every instrument... IF there are still things i have trouble hearing i usually turn it up a bit more till i can hear them.. could be part of my problem.. I dunno.



"That homeopathic stuff looks like hogwash and it doesn't help that I get spammed with some pop-up ad advertising miracle tonic."

I was thinking the same thing... If you even look at his skepticism section he mentions that there are tons of fake places claiming to have "miracle cures"... Most likely he falls in that catagory.. The pop up ad almost sealed it...Probably ********.

"The best solution is to just exercise some restraint in listening. Many people do not know that they are listening too loud...if they did, and an alarm went off in their head everytime they did so, I really don't think tinnitus would be so widespread. You don't get any warnings...your only warning IS the damage"

Yea im going to defenitly have to keep it down....Grrrr. Thanks for the advice everyone.



Another thing i noticed my ear doing (actually just did it) .. It popping on its own.. Every once and a while a bit of pain will build up and it will pop on its own.. and the pain seems to reside a bit. Im not sure if this is common with tinitus. Im actually hoping i have an ear infection. Do you think I should see a docter and get checked out?

The more i talk about this the more my ear hurt it seems

.. Must be because im focusing on it so much...

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

I am certainly not a doctor, but if I were willing to bet, I would bet that you don't have tinnitus. My ears pop like that when I have sinus problems also. Go to a doctor, and get it checked out. You may want to look into headphones with better isolation, (closed) so you don't have to blast the music over outside noises. Good luck!

 

[Nefarion]

Yea i need to get it checked out. I havent been to a docter or a dentist in over 7 years ... My teeth are quite white though

 

[akar]

I have tinnitus in my right ear, and it will sometimes pop.
But there is no pain involved when it does, so you may have an infection of some type in your ear.
I would get it looked at.
If you do have tinnitus, there really isn't much you can do about it, other than just learn to live with it.

 

[Lampshade]

Ugg. This is exactly what happned to me

I wound up with a mild case of tinnitus in my left ear and a very minor in my right. My sinus are kinda wacky, but they have been for years. I have slight trouble making out quiet sounds when there are louder ones now. I hope you will be able to avoid this.


I just dont want to stop listning. I have never listed to more then 50% volume on what my headphones put out streight from my soundcars. Now usualy 15-25% I used to do like 50-100%

I just worry that it will get worse, part of me want to stop listnign alltogother.

 

[Geek]

I have lived with tinnitus for over a year and a half now. I do not know when I first began having it; I have played the violin for almost a decade now and it probably results from it.

Many famous violinists have the type of tinnitus I do: An extremely high-pitched E-harmonic in the right ear, only noticeable at low volumes or silence.

I have listened to headphones at anywhere from low (below 60dB) up to intense (90dB) volumes and my tinnitus is actually getting slightly better; right now I'm listening to music on the HD600s and do not notice it.

I think that the idea that you must give up headphone listening as soon as you get tinnitus is ridiculous. I have not changed my listening habits (8 hours a day) at all over the past year and my tinnitus is actually getting slightly better.

I am exposed to average SPLs greater than 95dB when playing in orchestra. That is probably why I have tinnitus.

Anyways, don't give up. Just turn the volume knob up to the point where the sound isn't too quiet, and then back DOWN a bit after 15 minutes of listening. You won't have any problems.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[chadbang]

Upon searching about tinitus. It seems many places claim to have cures or at least remedies to help it... Some places are actually laser surgery with supposed 85% success rates.. Lots of places seem to claiming that it is indeed curable and its a misconception that it is not.. Of course, its likely that it could be a hoax to make some money. But i dunno.. Just a though. If it gets worse for me i know i wont hesistate to try different things to get rid of it .. or at the least help it.

http://www.t-gone.com/index2.htm

Yes, this is a site run by a South African quack. It's ********. Currently, there is no cure for tinitus.

I must disagree with Geek saying it's fine to continue using headphones. The nature of wearing headphones is to place a transducer an inch from your eardrum - completely unlike natural listening.

Telling someone developing tinitus to continue using them is not being fair to that person. It's like telling someone with diabetes, you CAN still eat chocolate - just take LITTLE bites. ********. Geek, I notice your address is Bozemont, MT - same as the Headroom Corp. Are you an employee of that company, and might you have a vested interest in headphones?

I have tinitus and every four months are so my ears adjust to where they're almost perfect, or at least where I completely forgotten about the ringing in my ears. Then I'll decided that I want to try to headphones and within a hour and a half I can feel my ears begin to hurt. Just look at the first sentence of Nefarion's original post: "Last month or so my left ear has been hurting, its not much when im not "hearing anything". But when i listen to my headphones it gets bad." There you go

Nefarion, for your own good. Stop using headphones for one month. Okay, yes, I know you love Head-fi and you're having a blast with phones and that you've drop a lot of money on them, but do you want a PERMANENT DISABILTY because of a little fun? I don't think so. Take off a month and then try headphones again. If you start to feel pain again - THERE'S YOUR ANSWER.

Tinitus is horrible. I regret over-using headphones. Now I'll have tinitus until the day I die.

 

[myself, aka me]

Quote:

Originally posted by chadbang Geek, I notice your address is Bozemont, MT - same as the Headroom Corp. Are you an employee of that company, and might you have a vested interest in headphones?

Is that REALLY necessary?!



I think I have tinnitus from ear infections. It sucks. You do not want it. Even if you aren't sure what it is, it's best not to listen.. If you ever listen portably, etymotics or other canalphones are a very good idea, as you don't have to listen nearly as loud. ("normal" bud: about 24/30, EX70: 16/30)