Telesales and Headphones — How Does It Affect Tinnitus?

Thinking of taking a job in telesales for about 12 hours a week which of course involves using a headphones set.

Other people who have done this, how has it affected your tinnitus?

I am nervous as mine has got much worse lately anyway.

 

My tinnitus went from mild to problematic because of using a lot of earphones. I had to do a lot of teaching and all my classes were on video conferencing software.

But one thing I have learned from the forum is that everyone's experience is unique and different. So maybe, if you take the usual precautions, it might be fine!

 

Unfortunately @Breakfastisready there are no safe precautions one can take if they have tinnitus and use headphones only risks, especially if the tinnitus is noise induced such as yours. It is true some people with noise induced tinnitus use headphones without problems. Again, this is a risk because the tinnitus only needs to spike once and it can increase to a new permanent level. It can also reduce to baseline but there is no guarantee this will happen.

People whose tinnitus was not noise induced are not so much at risk if they use headphones. However, tinnitus can be a very debilitating condition, why anyone would want to play Russian roulette with their health in this way is beyond my comprehension.

People of various ages have contacted me by telephone and cried because their tinnitus has increased, due to headphone and earbud use.

Michael

 

I would advise against it. You never know someone suddenly starts screaming at you.

 

@Michael Leigh

Do you only use phones on speaker as well?

 

My tinnitus was caused by headphones 24 years ago and have never used them since. I am a HI-FI enthusiast/Audiophile and enjoy listening to my music through speakers. Please click on the link below and read my post: Does your HI-FI sing? There is no need to use headphones if you have tinnitus believe me, music sounds much better through speakers.

All the best
Michael

Does Your Hi-Fi System Sing? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

My question was confusing, I'm sorry for it.

Since onset, I have not been using headphones or earphones and do not plan to do it either. That's a huge loss in my quality of life, but I have to deal with it.

I meant, when you have a conversation on the phone, do you put it on speaker as well? I do, but I'm sure, I will encounter situations when this will problematic.

 

With time headphones will become less important to you as it did for me, so try not to worry as your health is far more important.

If I'm using a landline phone I don't need to put it on hands-free. However, if the conversation is going to be long, perhaps over 30 minutes I'll switch to hands-free.

Mobile/cell phones are another matter. Whether a person has tinnitus or not I've heard it is not good to have them close to the ear for long periods. If the conversation is over 5 minutes I usually switch to hands-free. A neighbour who doesn't have tinnitus but is a sales rep, used to be constantly on the mobile phone. He started to develop pain in his head and ears. Now the longest he can have a mobile phone to is ear is around 15 seconds then he starts experiencing pain. He now automatically switches to hands-free and keeps the phone as far as possible from his head.

Hope this helps.

Michael

 

Thank you, @Michael Leigh.

For me, headphones were a way to keep away the world and my horribly annoying neighbours while studying. Universe does have a weird humor to give me a horrible condition in return.