Thanks for the reply. Is there anything I can do to fix the damage? What is the maximum volume I could listen to without further disturbing my ears? I unfortunately have to keep working until I get protection.
@Eric1305
My advice may seem a little harsh Eric but I am trying to save you from the misery of severe tinnitus. I wish I had someone like myself or people in this forum to advise me years ago before I got tinnitus due to headphone use at high volume.
Your ears are not damaged yet and if you take precautions now I believe you will be just fine. We are all different. Whilst hearing damage can start to occur at levels above 80 decibels it also depends on length of time one is exposed to it? The best way to judge whether sounds are too loud or safe for your ears and auditory system is to listen to them because they will let you know. Start by reducing the current levels of sound that you have been listening to and please take my advice and not use headphones, even at low level. Please also be aware of what I said about wearing hearing protection. You will not be safe if external sounds are too loud. These sounds will pass through your skull and be transferred to your inner ear and will irritate your cochlea.
Please read the post below, it is from an Audio engineer who is a member of this forum and you might find it helpful. Read my posts and hopefully in time you will improve.
All the best
Michael
@Bill Weir
Hi!
I'm an audio engineer and now have T. I hate to have to tell you this but there are no earplugs that can protect you in the typical nightclub environment. The best protection will only lower the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) by about 30 db. Assuming the sound is typical, it's going to hover around 105 db A when measured using long term averaging, slow response on a meter. This means there will be peaks well in excess of 120 db"A" weighted. Weighting the scales of measurement on the sound meter gives more accurate readings. "A" weighting approximates what your eardrum is sensitive to... meaning sound with the deep bass filtered out. "C" weighting includes the bass and is generally 15-30 db higher than an "A" reading.
So, 105 db A (typical nightclub or major concert translates into 130 db "C" or more including the bass. How long do people generally stay in the average nightclub? Too long! 4 hour stay is average. A concert is generally 2.5 hours. Many people will stay in the club all night until they are "OK" to drive and be back in public LMAO. The drugs people do screws up their judgement and desensitizes them to physical sensation and people damage themselves without realizing it.
Sound levels pretty much everywhere are TOO loud IMO. Instead of the industry standard 105 db A (Live Nation SPL cap) I like to keep it at 96-98 for people. Why so loud? Above 96 db the fight or flight response begins to kick in and you get that rush of excitement you get at a concert. It's a lot of what people pay for. Deep bass goes in through bone transconductance. You don't "hear" it with your eardrum you feel it This is how it is possible to have bass with headphones. If this transconductance did not occur, the long wavelengths that make bass would not have enough distance to unfold when using headphones. So, earplugs DO NOT protect you from low frequency damage. Not even a little bit.
So, on the one hand, you're going to have 100db + peaks getting through your earplugs in the range above 100 Hz (low note on a 4 string bass guitar is 41.7 Hz) and the bass below will pressurize your cochlea like nothing is even there, straight through the bone. Some of the subwoofer arrays I have installed in places must have security grating around them to keep people from getting within ten feet of the subwoofer array because the array produces well over 150 db down at 35Hz at 1 meter distance and would make them nauseous or in some extreme cases even worse than that.
I can say this definitively from direct personal and professional experience. If you value your hearing and do not want your tinnitus to increase, avoid these places or if you must go limit your exposure considerably.
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