What damages your ears?

[koolaid man]

I want to be able to hear when I'm old, possibly bypass hearing aids, so I was wondering a few things...

What type of volume damages your ears the most? I read somewhere that surprisingly bass doesn't hurt damage ears(Is that true?) one bit, however at extreme levels it can give you a headache or make you pass out. I heard tremble is what really does the damage. Which would be worse, high pitch or low? Also any comparison examples of how loud you have to go to cause permanent damage? Any info like that.

When it's dead silent I here a high pitch noise(isn't that normal, I hope?), that's why I started this thread :)

Thanks.

[wmartinlsmith]

any sustained noise over 90-95 db iirc, can cause/start irreversible hearing damage..

heres a quick reference tool click me (http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html)
/thread.

[jriggs]

as smith stated high low doesn't matter. the ringing in your ears isn't "normal" but it probably will not go away any time soon so start getting use to it. i have it sometimes as well but mine comes and goes

[MCOR]

Constant ringing noise in the ears is nothing to mess with. That combined (but not necessarily) with headaches, fuzz floaters in your vision, etc can mean much bigger things like brain tumors (lost my father-in-law to this in 2000), blood pressure problems, etc. If you have good health care insurance (even if you don't), I would consider calling your primary care physician and getting their advice-since you have the where-with-all to look that far into the future already!

[koolaid man]

After reading some of these posts and googleing, this ringing is really starting to freak me out. I'm gonna get on it tomorrow.

I only hear it, or should I say, "notice it" late at night but never during the day starting with when I get up. It's got to be close to silent. It's definitely present when I try to sleep, I hear ringing. I think I have tinnitus. :(

[Notladstyle]

I hear ringing all the time, have since I was like 15. happened after I got electrocuted by an ac outlet.

Not really worried though. When its my time, its my time.

Do you hear the whine of a CRT TV or monitor? You might not have tinnitus but simply have sensitivity to high frequencies. I have sensitivity to the far ends of each spectrum, only things doctors tell me is to wear earplugs and that I will probably go deaf prematurely.

130db at 200 hz isnt going to cause as much damage as 130db at 3,000hz (it WILL still cause damage, but not as much), unfortunately its much easier to produce 130db at 3khz(stock stereos can get close) than at 200hz which means you have got to be very careful in your car.

If I had to lose ne sense, deafness is #2 on my list. As long as I can see so I can surf the internet and feel the warmth of my wife laying next to me im fine.

[Mafiakiller]

I am hard of hearing (not because of sound systems)....i was born from it. I had two 2 12inch CVRS in a 'teg hatch which hit pretty hard. i ask my doctor if this could effect my hearing and he said NO but have some common sense such as knowing too loud is too loud....this probably wont help you but just to let you know

[TJElite]

happened after I got electrocuted by an ac outlet.



This explains a lot :D

Actually, you can use this in your audio resume.

'to better understand audio theory, I decided to become the speaker, and play 60hz through myself'

Toby

[88RedRex]

lol^^^, how ya been toby

[Notladstyle]

This explains a lot :D

Actually, you can use this in your audio resume.

'to better understand audio theory, I decided to become the speaker, and play 60hz through myself'

Toby

I can imagine the weird looks I would get when my interviewer reads that line on my resume...

Broken DVM ftl.

[koolaid man]

Notladstyle, "Do you hear the whine of a CRT TV or monitor? You might not have tinnitus but simply have sensitivity to high frequencies." It's so hard to to tell. I've done some small tests, going outside lowers the faint ring some, and covering my ears makes it louder. But since it's high pitch it's hard to judge whether the sound is coming from an outside source or not, where it's coming from etc.

"I hear ringing all the time, have since I was like 15. happened after I got electrocuted by an ac outlet." I think you're being serious? How did that damage your ears?

[Notladstyle]

Notladstyle, "Do you hear the whine of a CRT TV or monitor? You might not have tinnitus but simply have sensitivity to high frequencies." It's so hard to to tell. I've done some small tests, going outside lowers the faint ring some, and covering my ears makes it louder. But since it's high pitch it's hard to judge whether the sound is coming from an outside source or not, where it's coming from etc.

"I hear ringing all the time, have since I was like 15. happened after I got electrocuted by an ac outlet." I think you're being serious? How did that damage your ears?
Yeah I only notice the ringing in my ears when its dead quiet, but when I do notice it, its annoying as hell.

I would say go to a hearing specialist and at minimum have them perform a frequency perception test. From that they can give you a preliminary as to whether its a problem or not.

I figure, as my hearing goes, I'll have a good excuse to buy more and more powerful equipment. When I get tickets for it I can sue and argue I'm deaf and I have the right to enjoy music just like every other citizen. I'm going to be rich off the lawsuits.

as for the electrocution causing it - I couldn't say for sure since I'm not a doctor; but that's when it started... or maybe that's when I noticed it :-o

[FrodoGT]

After reading some of these posts and googleing, this ringing is really starting to freak me out. I'm gonna get on it tomorrow.

I only hear it, or should I say, "notice it" late at night but never during the day starting with when I get up. It's got to be close to silent. It's definitely present when I try to sleep, I hear ringing. I think I have tinnitus. :(

Your fine. That ringing is normal, but only if it is while dead silent or close to it. Like when your trying to sleep. In fact my ears are doing it right now because im wearing headphones with no music playing. It when you hear it in normal environments you should worry.

[pnrcaraudio]

This is one of the most interesting Audio HQ posts that I have ever seen. LOL:lol:

[pnrcaraudio]

That was a good one Toby.

How you liking the cool weather up there?
Just wait it will be getting cold here soon.:P

[P057]

dalton, you've been electrocuted more than once, and I saw one of those times you have been. Granted it wasn't severe, but I can imagine how often you do get it.


Anyways. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I used to have that problem a LOT even before i got into car stereos/loudness/whatnot. The thing is most people get it. Extremely common, because we just live in very noisy environments. The only time you should worry is when it's "loud" enough to really irritate you or it's "audible" during the day through normal activities. At that point a good amount of hearing damage has been done.


Just be careful. Go to a specialist just in case anyways to be on the safe side, and report back with results.

[TJElite]

I can imagine the weird looks I would get when my interviewer reads that line on my resume...

Broken DVM ftl.

Having been one of those high up types that reads through a jillion resumes, I can tell you for a fact, that standing out has its advantages.

To those of you that asked, I'm doing great. Managing the business end of a professional race team, and selling high end race parts / cars is a big step from peddling crap Chinese audio gear to the interwebz generation.

Its already starting to get 'cool' up here. Saturday morning, it was 38. It is nice having a change of seasons, though, and I'm looking forward to winter sports like snowmobiling...at least for this first winter. And considering I think we had a total of 5 days this summer where it got above 90, so far its a fair trade.

Toby

[koolaid man]

Sorry to re-post this question... but I'm still wondering...
Can too much bass damage your hearing? From what I googled it doesn't but I wanted to double check. Thanks.

[TBSpyder]

Sorry to re-post this question... but I'm still wondering...
Can too much bass damage your hearing? From what I googled it doesn't but I wanted to double check. Thanks.

There's no difference in bass or treble....it's the decibel/spl level that damages your hearing. Generally bass produces the highest decibel/spl levels in a system, so it's contributing the most to your hearing damage. Even a stock system can cause hearing damage though, so you can only imagine what a high output aftermarket system is doing to you. Permenantly.

[Notladstyle]

Having been one of those high up types that reads through a jillion resumes, I can tell you for a fact, that standing out has its advantages.

To those of you that asked, I'm doing great. Managing the business end of a professional race team, and selling high end race parts / cars is a big step from peddling crap Chinese audio gear to the interwebz generation.

Its already starting to get 'cool' up here. Saturday morning, it was 38. It is nice having a change of seasons, though, and I'm looking forward to winter sports like snowmobiling...at least for this first winter. And considering I think we had a total of 5 days this summer where it got above 90, so far its a fair trade.

Toby

I'm going to try it just to see what happens... probably on a job app I don't care about though like Geek squad.

good god, 38 that's too friggin cold for me. I best those quality racers cant argue how superglue and masking tape alter the Fs of a subwoofer making it more efficient.

[95Ride]

When it's dead silent I here a high pitch noise(isn't that normal, I hope?), that's why I started this thread :)


Tinnitus: The Noise Inside Your Head (http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002301.html)

MEI: Head Noise (Tinnitus) Patient Brochure (http://www.michiganear.com/library/brochures/tinnitus/index.html)

i thought i remembered somone telling me that the noise you hear in true silence is called headnoise but when i searched it for you this is what i came with...maybe they called it something else or were wrong....

this is from the research done on mythbusters for there supesubwoofer from season 4

Decibels chart
140dB: severely damage hearing in a short amount of time
~160dB: shatter windshields
165dB: jet engine with 16,000lb of thrust
198-201dB: shockwave fatal to humans
248dB: atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

i was trying to find a link to video of the episode but i havent been able to...they talk about your exact question and show a demonstration in Mike Bartells champion db drag van....they shred newspaper with nothing but audio inside the van....search his name if you want to check out the van its pretty cool.