[eatmoreplant]

Hi headphone Jedis,
Anyone can help me with my ear problem? I was a headphone maniac like 1 or 2 years ago. Since then I hear crackling sound on my right ears when I hear loud sound. Also, when I listen to slightly louder than usual volume, I get headachce ot tinnitus as they called it. I ignored the pain/tinnitus and contiunue listening to headphone. Then I remember one day I my ear is aching bad but I stubornly continue to listen to my sweet Grado RS-1 at night untill the next morning while sleeping. When I woke up, I feel that the vocal was off to the left. Gradually it becomes more and more obvious that the vocal is off to the left (about a few weeks). Then I went to an ENT doctor. He told me I cannot listen to headphones anymore. I quit my favorite hobby, it was devastating. I quit from headwize (head-fi not yet established). Its painful to hear people raving about headphone, their gigs and music when I have hearing loss and can just envy of those with good ears and enjoying music. Last month, I went to surf headwize and headfi, got excited by new stuffs. I decide to check with a new ENT doctor again. He did some checks and send me to an audiologist. The report came out that my earing is perfect. What!! I feel happy but confused at the same time. I asked why do I listen to music with the vocal off to the left? He replied oh its like some people have right hand better than left hand and your left ear is better than your right ear. I was shocked, dumbfold and say thank you and leave the clinic. I was so shocked I don't know what to ask at that time. I looked at my report and the graph for my left ear is the same as for my right ear. Identical volumes on various frequencies. Anyone know whats the problem? Please help me if you can.

Thanks,
Retired Jedi

 

[usc goose]

plenty of people here have one ear that hears better than the other. i do. hope your hearing holds up but i guess all i can say is try to listen at a lower volume than you're used to. not sure if anything else is really going to help.

good luck.

 

[Orpheus]

well, if the graphs are the same... wouldn't that mean both ears physically hear the same levels?

so... perhaps your stereo image problem is "all in your head." maybe your head is interpreting the positioning information incorrectly... even though your ear technically hears correctly. when you see stuff in front of you.... like someone clapping... can you tell the correct direction from the sound?

....i dunno. when i listen to stuff, i also feel that the sound is not perfectly centered too. i used to think some of my headphones were incorrectly balanced... but i think the skewing is consistent now, thus it's probably me, not my equipment. even stranger... with same headphones, and same music, and same everything, when i listen at different times, the position seems to change slightly.

anyway... hearing is very complex, and involves your brain, in addition to the ears............

 

[mclaren20]

Quote:

hearing is very complex, and involves your brain, in addition to the ears............

damn, im screwed.

 

[Ebonyks]

The only long-term viable solution that i can think of from an audiophile perspective is getting a duel-mono amp with two pots to allow you to change the volume so they're equal in both ears. You could build a much simplier device, (a few RCA plugs and a pot), and attach it to one channel, and then run things that way.

Either idea should fix your problem

 

[eatmoreplant]

Well so I am not alone. Yeah I think the only way is to get a preamp or something like an amplifier that have dual volume controls. I bought the sennheiser volume control with seperate left and right channel. Also, the most incredible discovery is that Iriver SlimX discman has a balance control built into it!!! No other consumer portables has that feature. Yeah its also really werid to see the graph that both ears have same level, baffles me till this very second. I am having a sound diet right now. Maybe I am still afraid that my perfect hearing may get lost again. No music on car, home, computer games. But for television, I has to turn on the sound or I might as well don't watch television. Hmm keep your opinions coming, especially if you experienced this yourself.

Thanks.
May the enjoyment be with you,
Headphone Jedi

 

[Orpheus]

well, there's many preamps with a balance function....

but i think he's more worried about his hearing.

 

[setmenu]

There is a tiny muscle in the ear that tensions the Diaphragm
when exposed to loud sounds[80+db if i recall] ,this mechanism
is designed to protect the ear when in noisy environments.
Unfortunately it is too slow to protect form loud impulses, so
one still has to be careful.

Is anyone here aware of this mechanism when it goes into action?
I notice it from time to time.
It is perceived as a sort of crump sound/feeling.

I would guess when in operation this tensioning would reduce
HF sensitivity and possibly encourage even higher volume listening

A marvel of engineering the ear, and all too easy to abuse.



Setmenu

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Tell me you checked that your source and headphones were not the cause of the imbalance?

Biggie.

 

[eatmoreplant]

Hi,
I was watching Discovery channel and there's one drummer who listened to loud sound for too long and develop tinnitus. The tinnitus cause him to hear a high frequency screeching sound like someone scratching nails over a surface. He then cut off the nerves of his ear. He prefer being deaf than to hear the screeching sound. What a sad story... Well I have 3 portables abd 3 headphones. Checked them all and con firm its my hearing