Are Headphones a Bad Idea?

I fly a lot and I love podcasts. I recently developed tinnitus and I want to still be able to hear podcasts. My doctor told me I shouldn't worry about earbuds


So I guess I wanna ask, are there certain headphones I can get? I plan on keeping the volume low and only use it in planes.

Should I ditch it and just find something else to do in long flights?

 

From my strong beliefs on information I've read through articles and documents about what causes tinnitus and the mechanisms involved in it, I would say stay away from headphones.

Maybe invest in a cool book about tinnitus or hearing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...den-hearing-loss-risk-study-article-1.2230945

 

I gotta concur with Nick. Quite frankly I'm not sure why any doctor who treated you for a hearing issue would say not to worry about earbuds. The fact of the matter is that you are sticking those earbuds directly into the ear canal. This puts the speaker probably closer than a centimeter away from your ear drums. Not a good thing in my estimation.

Just my two cents.

 

Yeah true. It wasn't really the doctor it was the hearing test lady. I don't need headphones. Just would be nice. Thanks for the honesty guys.

I'll read on planes from now on

 

- Don't use noise cancelling headphones, since they can cause nausea due to stimulation in the inner ear. You can google studies about this.
- Consider soft sounding headphones like Sennheiser HD600. I switched to these after I got my T from HD700s.
- Be cautious about the volume and you'll be fine!

 

I guess the most important thing is the volume, but the HD700 seems to have a peak around 6lhz and then all the way at the very top 20khz, would be interesting to know what frequency your T is. (if it is tonal).

 

Im kind of in the same boat. I think I got T from loud headphones. I use headphones for 6 hours a day minimum and watch volume levels and most of it is talking to my friends on skype and doing video editing. My audiologist said it was fine if you keep the volume low but then again who really truly understands how hearing works? Still not sure if its a dangerous gamble or not. I use Turtle Beach X12 over the ear headphones.

 

Hard to say, high pitch around 10Khz +/- something

 

I haven't heard or found anything official (from studies) saying that headphones or earbuds cause damage just from their use. I've only read about volume being the culprit. My ENT agreed.

 

The damage to your hearing has already been done so stay away from headphones /earbuds etc they will only aggravate your Tinnitus be warned

 

Depends on where you use them. Flights are a noisy environment to begin with so you would likely have to turn up the volume just to be able to hear them. If you listen to them in a quiet environment at a low volume there's probably no problem .

 

I've used headphones on and off for 15+ years with tinnitus and I've never seen any problems as a result.

The issue is with volumes and tone frequency, not with the source. Meaning, the same volume measured at the eardrum, is either okay or not okay, regardless of whether it's coming from a speaker 0.5" from your eardrum or 15' away. Headphones probably make it easier to be reckless, but there's no inherent reason they are more dangerous.

The reason doctors tell you not to worry about headphones is because there is literally no good evidence-supported reason to suggest that a given volume would be more damaging through headphones than through any other input source.

Just be smart. If something is uncomfortable or seems to cause an increase in symptoms, it's probably bad.

 

I use a combination of earplugs, active noise cancelling headphones like Bose QC-15, and standard earplug headphones. You won't get good sound quality with this combination but it's good enough for movies and podcasts on an air flight.

I first insert foam earplugs, then cover my ears with the noise cancelling headphones, then I squeeze in standard earplug headphones between the two (letting the earplug headphones sit in the cup of the noise cancelling headphones).

The foam earplugs for first layer of noise protection.
The active noise cancelling headphones with nothing playing to reduce the airplane vibrational noise.
The earplug phones playing the podcast.