Worsened My Tinnitus

I have had minor tinnitus for over 15 years, after a nightclub visit, I dealt with it quite well as it was only hearable when it was completely silenced when sleeping and only if I was thinking about it.

Many times I could listen to loud music and visit clubs unprotected without worsening it, until.

I recently had a job as a driver where the dB inside the vehicle could spike up to 75-80 dB. I was wearing ear protection on one ear, and listening to talk shows on the other ear with an earplug, so I guess I was minimizing the noise with 5-10 dB at most. I was doing this for just some months.

One day at home I was listening to music through my ear phones, quite loud and that spiked my tinnitus, to a worrying level. I could now hear it very much, but could still cope with it. And it never went down even if I tried homeopathic medicine, that same medicine that helped me before.

I quit that job.

Some days ago I was playing a video game for some hours with large earphones. After the session there was loud ringing in my ears, next day same thing but to a lesser level. But now worse than the second time I raised my tinnitus.

How could this be, I measured the dB level I had on my head phones, and they didn't go above 65 dB, and I assume I was averaging much lower. It's said that 80 dB and above is damaging for the ears, while 65 dB is the level we use when we chat... I mean I have been to clubs even after the second time I raised my level without ear protection where they play 90-105 dB, without damaging it further, what is so bad with head phones, dB is still measured in dB, no matter how close or far the source is.

Now I'm really worried and anxious, yesterday it woke me up five times during sleep, it gets worse when you are sleeping.

The level is not creeping back on how it was, and I'm really worried about what is going to happen, I like music.

 

Headphones should be avoided. Even though the DB level might seem low, it's still not a good idea to use headphones.

 

How did you measure the dB level on your headphones?

Well yes, loud music isn't good for any ear, but is particularly bad for fragile ears (like ears that send you a T signal to tell you they need care).
Your threshold for "loud" may need to be adjusted because you have T: what your friends may think is OK may end up being too loud for you. Take it easy.

 

It's an Android phone app: Sound Analyzer App (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dom.audioanalyzer&hl=en)

 

How do you use it? You put the mic of the phone next to the speaker of your headphones and read the value?

 

I guess the rule of thumb is take what level you can hear with your headphones, and add 20% of the dB value. Ex: 100dB through headphones would do the damage of 120dB without them.

 

Where does that rule come from?

 

idk I've just heard it thrown around a lot. Sounds pretty accurate to me. Nonetheless I assume headphones can do damage no matter what volume. If you're going to use headphones, the safest is open headphones.

 

I would give up headphones completely. Everything I've read (which is a lot!) indicates once you develop tinnitus the risk of it getting louder is significantly increased with headphone/earphone usage. I've put all mine in storage now

 

I have a hard time doing that, as I enjoy music or gaming through headphones, but will be even more careful, than I have been.

My damaged the first time came through closed headphones, and this last gaming session they where open headphones. The volume was lower than when I got higher spike with the closed ones, but during the gaming session I was using them for a couple of hours.

I assume either you get lucky or not using headphones, so best would actually be to avoid them as much as possible.

Do you have any source that headphones will add 20% dB, would be interesting looking into, why that is?

 

120dB is something like twenty times louder than 100dB. I cannot recall the math for how it’s calculated. If it’s a 20 percent increase that would not necessarily mean a 20dB increase.

 

Thanks for the correction I didn't think about that. I did some simple math using a base number to get a point across.

 

I found some info, yet we are talking about 35-65 dB if what I used:

Hearing damage from headphones is probably more common than from loudspeakers, because many people exploit the acoustic isolation by listening at higher volumes. Moreover, the risk of hearing damage from headphones is higher than with loudspeakers, even at comparable volumes, due to the close coupling of the transducers to the ears.

In loudspeaker reproduction, sounds must travel several feet before reaching the listener's ears. By the time they arrive, a portion of the high frequencies have been absorbed by the air. Low frequencies are not absorbed as much, but they are more felt through bone conduction than actually heard. With headphones, the ears hear all frequencies without any attenuation, because the transducers are literally pressed against them. Thus, when listening to headphones at the same effective volume level as loudspeakers, headphones may still transmit louder high frequencies that are more likely to cause hearing damage.

 

I stopped using headphones all together. The more I started thinking about it, I realized it's a very unnatural way for your ears to listen to sounds. Especially since many head phones on the market are noise canceling.

 

I have a pair of over-the-ears electrostatic headphones, which work different than standard headphones and earbuds, they sound more transparent and do not have deep bass. I don't intend to use them, but I wonder if they are safer, as long as the volume is not high.

 

I am an Audiophile and before the onset of my tinnitus 21 years ago used to listen to music a lot through high-end headphones that eventually gave me tinnitus. I have auditioned a pair of Stax electrostatic headphones and they are the crème dela crème if one wants the best audio experience through headphones.

They sound beautiful with any type of music but really shine when listening to classical and opera. They are not bass heavy but give a transparency and wide open soundstage that other types of headphones Dynamics for instance cannot match. I no longer miss headphones, instead listen to my music through High-End speakers. As wonderful as Stax electrostatic headphones are, if I were given a pair which are very expensive, I would not listen to audio through them even at low volume and advise anyone with "noise induced" tinnitus not to risk it either.

Michael

 

I have never tried Stax, although I've been aware of them for a long time. I have an old pair of Koss ESP/950's. My best non-electrostatic headphone is the original Grado Signature HP 1000, and matching signature headphone amp, which was partially designed by Sid Smith of Marantz fame, and intended for professional use in recording studios (not my purpose). I currently use the headphone amp as a preamp for a 5.1 system with speakers, but I ditched my subwoofer, which wasn't a good one to begin with, last year and have no plans on replacing it.

Since I do not know if my tinnitus was noise induced or not, I'm not going to take any chances with headphones. I'll eventually sell both of these headphones, and probably the headphone amp as well.

 

I know how you feel Bill @Luman I know of the Koss headphones and Grado's although not the models you mention. They are high-end products all the same. I used Beyer Dynamics beautiful headphones but alas gave me tinnitus after many years of use.

As I said I now enjoy my music just as much listening through speakers and no longer miss headphones.

Michael