[toaster]

Some time during the middle of today i noticed that hearing in my right ear was slightly attenuated. i listen to my e3's everyday and i have had them for just over a month now. i enjoy the sound very much and because i do, i usually listen very loud. However there is another reason i crank the volume besides the fact that i like loud music:

By now, it is quite widely known that the e3's do in fact have an "upper mid-range hump" (*thx for the correction bangraman) From a sound standpoint, this is not such a big deal as they still sound good despite this fact. However in an effort to "fill out" the entire frequency spectrum, (which i hear happen as i push the e3's to higher volumes) i often find myself inclined to raise the volume extra-high for this reason. (ie. beyond even perhaps my preferable loud listening levels)

Now, i am not saying that i am going deaf, but as of the middle of today my right ear is a bit short of hearing, and i think it has something to do with lisetning to the e3's. (i am hoping that maybe i just shocked my ear a bit and that foregoing use of the e3's for a day will allow my hearing to return to normal.) i use the foams and i find them to be the least shrill out of all the inserts. I don't know if anyone else has experienced anything similar to this yet, but just a word of advice to any e3 owners:

"If you feel inclined as i was to push the e3's to extreme volumes in an attempt to overcome the mid-bass hump, be careful. And of course always be careful while listening at high volumes, especially with canal phones."

i did plan on purchasing the e5's soon. i have heard they are flatter across the frequency spectrum. i hope this would mean that i would not have to push them as loud as the e3's in an attempt to have flat sounding music across all frequencies. i really do want to hear the e5's but if my hearing really has been affected premanently by the e3's than i don't know if i ever will.

i have not played around with the foam tips, or any tips for that matter. The eq is sometimes on bass-booster, but for the most part it is off as imo the e3's now sound best with no eq settings from the ipod.

i just ordered triflanges last night and they will not be here for a week. i will probably use that as an excuse not to listen to the e3's (along with my minor hearing loss of course) in hopes that my hearing will return in full by the time they arrive.

 

[bangraman]

The 'hump' is relative to the Etys. In an absolute sense these are not bassy cans compared to the true mid-bass humps of the V700DJ, Portapro, PX200 and the like. The mid-bass is by no means powerful enough to obscure the rest of the sound.


The advice for listening to them at a sensible volume is a very good one. However it is not in my experience linked to the 'hump' of the E3c.

 

[toaster]

Maybe i was a bit unclear about what i meant.

Basically all i am saying, is that i find the higher highs and the lower lows to be lower in volume than the midrange. In an effort to counter this i was listening very loudly (near full volume on my ipod, which to my ears did seem to smooth things out.)

I just wanted to mention this to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar and to warn anyone who might be thinking and doing like i was.

 

[bangraman]

Ah yes... the prominent midrange / upper midrange, not the mid-bass. I'm not sure what tips you're using but this has been covered on Head-Fi before.


You didn't try playing with the EQ or the tips?

 

[White Knight]

Wow the same thing happen to my right ear, Im using E2c. Been using it for almost a year now, it will be 1 year next month. I thought the right earphone was broken (I even emailed Shure to return the E2c) but when I switch both earphones, it turns out my right ear was the culprit. Im now going for headphones use instead of canalphones or earphones. I was using Shure foomies.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

HI: Could it be possible that you pushed some ear wax deep into the ear canal. If so the drug store sells stuff that are drops that breakup the ear wax.

 

[br--]

I would suggest draining your ears as well. And getting Ety's.

 

[TMC]

OMG, near full volume on the iPod?! That's just a crazy volume level to listen to even for a very short period with something as efficient as the E3c. I use the E3c at 14/25 on my Zen Xtra at normal listening levels, which I think is just below middle level on an iPod.

 

[katfisch]

If you have a tuning fork available (256-512Hz range is good), you can do a "Weber" test to categorize the hearing loss.
Get the fork vibrating, place the stem firmly on the top of your head (or on your teeth, even). If the sound is louder in the "deaf" ear, you have a "conduction loss" (commonest cause, wax obstructing the canal and "masking" environmental noise). If it's louder in the "good" ear, you may have a sensorineural hearing loss on the deaf side (ut oh).
Disclaimer: The above is for entertainment purposes only and does not take the place of a visit to your doctor

 

[toaster]

Well, i just woke up from a long sleep. thanks for the responses so far. hearing seems to have come back a bit, but hearing in my right ear is still ever so slightly less than usual.

Those ear drops sound like there'd be nothing to lose by tyring them. if my hearing doesn't fully return in the next day or so, i will definitely think about giving that a go.

As for the ety suggestion, (i can't tell if that was a shoutout for etys and kind of just a joke) but why would the etys be better?

I do not have a tuning fork on hand, but i did get a laugh out of that suggestion. if i ended up having to take this measure, i'd choose the doctor's office first.

Whiteknight - Did hearing in your right ear ever fully return?

 

[ArcTeryx]

Someone in one of my threads suggested taking magnesium supplements as a way to combat hearing loss.

 

[Cor]

Quote:

OMG, near full volume on the iPod?! That's just a crazy volume level to listen to even for a very short period with something as efficient as the E3c. I use the E3c at 14/25 on my Zen Xtra at normal listening levels, which I think is just below middle level on an iPod

I use E3's with an iPod as well. Normal listening volume for me is about 1/10th of full volume in a somewhat noisy office environment. On the bus I go up to about 1/4, and when running on the treadmill while listening to TV shows I go up to about 1/3 to 1/2, but dialogue driven TV tends to have a much lower average volume than most genres of music do, even classical. I use the grey flex tips, so my seal probably isn't quite as good as what you would get with the foamies either!

Full volume on the iPod with E3's with a typical music track would probably force me to tear off the phones and scream with pain. It's rather difficult to measure the effective SPL of canal-phones, but I strongly suspect full volume would be well over 100dB with the E3's. If you listen at that volume for extended periods of time you are probably going to damage your hearing. Hearing loss is cumulative. It adds up over time.

Just out of curiosity, do you ever get tinnitis? (i.e. ringing in your ears) That's a sure sign you had the volume to high. If you're getting that after listening to your phones then you know without a doubt you had better turn it down.

Personally, I've noticed just the opposite effect. I usually listen at a volume that is just enough higher than ambient for me to get good detail. With the isolation of the E3's, that's a *lot* lower than it used to be with my old cans, especially in noisy environments. When I take the E3's off everything seems much louder than usual by comparison!

 

[pedxing]

Sometimes the ears need a long break from the headphones. I recommend stop using your headphones for a few days. When you do use the headphones, its important to take breaks.

I doubt getting a pair of ety's would help unless you favor the ety sound. My ER-6 sometimes give me the sensation that I have lossed some hearing when I use them for too many hours in the row.

 

[toaster]

i have definitely been one to shrug off tinnitis before. however, this is the first time that i have actually noticed any sort of hearing loss in one of my ears. i also compose music, so my hearing is incredibly important to me. i guess i've just been taking it for granted up to now. i always listen to loud music, but with canalphones, i now know that loud is not an option when the music is blasting a mm away from you eardrum. i will continue to keep you guys posted on my right ear's progress (fingers crossed) over the next few days.

is it ringing in here or is it just me?

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Hmm...I feel giving relative volumes like this for the iPod isn't exactly the best way to gauge volume levels. You need to take into account different volume levels of songs and mp3s. For example, when I listen to my A900 out of my iPod (not quite as efficient as the E3, 40 ohms I believe) I am usually just under half--but for some songs (especially some classical) I'm close to 3/4.