Tinnitus? Hyperacusis anyone?

Just to survey the online audiophile community: How many people have constant fairly loud tinnitus or the even more menacing sound sensitivity (ie. Hyperacusis) from too much stress and loud music in the past?

If so how do you manage being an audiophile without making things worse? - ie. controlling volume? no headphones?

Anybody see these kind of problems get better?....

Anybody note if higher quality equipement is less irritating?

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Originally Posted by hundredwaters

Just to survey the online audiophile community: How many people have constant fairly loud tinnitus or the even more menacing sound sensitivity (ie. Hyperacusis) from too much stress and loud music in the past?

If so how do you manage being an audiophile without making things worse? - ie. controlling volume? no headphones?

Anybody see these kind of problems get better?....

Anybody note if higher quality equipement is less irritating?

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I've had tinnitis for over 40 years. It has progressed from slight for most of that time, to medium in the last 5 years or so. I'm not sure of the cause but it might have had to do with shooting at an indoor range without ear protection.

The slight worsening I attribute to the long term effect of elevated blood pressure or just aging -- listening to music has had nothing to do with it as far as I know. I have always listened at very moderate levels, <70dB except for peaks. My tinnitus reduces my music enjoyment only very slightly.

I have about 20-30% hearing lose in my right ear, not sure what it's from, probably phone calls on phones w/o volume controls. I usually need to turn my head or adjust the balance control to hear the right channel equal to the left. I listen at very low levels for the most part to avoid hearing how small my room is.

Pardon?

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Originally Posted by Feanor

I've had tinnitis for over 40 years. It has progressed from slight for most of that time, to medium in the last 5 years or so. I'm not sure of the cause but it might have had to do with shooting at an indoor range without ear protection.

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That's a bad bad thing Feanor. :nono: At the indoor ranges here in the Dallas area you're not allowed on the range without hearing protection. When I was younger I did a lot of small game hunting; never even thought about hearing protection, which really isn't a good idea when you're in the fields anyway, but I paid for it with some HF hearing loss in my left ear. No matter though, I like my music fast and LOUD!!! :3:

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Originally Posted by Rich-n-Texas

That's a bad bad thing Feanor. :nono: At the indoor ranges here in the Dallas area you're not allowed on the range without hearing protection. When I was younger I did a lot of small game hunting; never even thought about hearing protection, which really isn't a good idea when you're in the fields anyway, but I paid for it with some HF hearing loss in my left ear. No matter though, I like my music fast and LOUD!!! :3:

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Don't forget this was over 40 years ago. At the time the club didn't see the need for ear protection of .22 cal indoor shooting and didn't provide ear protectors. Nor at that time did any members use their own.

To tell you the truth I never used hearing protection when shooting my .22, but I don't recall shooting it indoors either. I didn't think it was loud enough to do any damage anyway. A shotgun and 9mm are pretty loud, OTOH.

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Originally Posted by Rich-n-Texas

To tell you the truth I never used hearing protection when shooting my .22, but I don't recall shooting it indoors either. I didn't think it was loud enough to do any damage anyway. A shotgun and 9mm are pretty loud, OTOH.

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When I shot my wife that was indoors and I remember my ears were ringing for almost two weeks :ihih: ! But at least they don't suffer any abuse now!!

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Originally Posted by Les Adams

When I shot my wife that was indoors and I remember my ears were ringing for almost two weeks :ihih: ! But at least they don't suffer any abuse now!!

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We're not laughing :frown2:

Hundredwaters,

I am convinced I have Hyperacusus but it does not interfere with my music listening.
I lost some hearing in my right ear some years ago in a bomb explosion. Since then UNWELCOMED loud noises cause an instant rise in temper and send me climbing up the walls.

Examples are my children arguing, television advertisements, car backfires, noisey Spanish women in supermarkets:)

On the other hand, when I listen to music ..... even at very high levels ..... I am quite relaxed because I am in control of the scene and I enjoy it. (even if there is a sudden loud passage in an otherwise tranquil track).

It's when the loud noise is not expected or controllable that it becomes "unwelcomed" and therefore intrusive on my being.

Hush Puppies On (Shhhhhsh)

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Originally Posted by Feanor

We're not laughing :frown2:

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Who said it was a joke?

:ihih:

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Originally Posted by hundredwaters

Anybody note if higher quality equipement is less irritating?

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Absolutely! Some years ago some idiot swiched on a microphone while I was standing in front of a 20K P.A. system and my left ear took the full force of the resulting acoustic feedback. I had a ringing in my ear for some weeks and during that time I was uable to listen to my a.m. car radio as it irritated my ear, even at low level, but I could still listen to my hi-fi.

A lot of cheaper speaker systems accentuate frequencies that our ears are most sensitive to in order to make them sound "louder" and give them a false sense of efficiency. This "trick" is also used by nearly all rock and pop radio stations that use very high levels of compression and audio shaping to make them sound "louder" than the competition. As theyare ALL doing it, nobody sounds louder, they all just sound compressed and harsh!

It was very interesting when a few years back almost all the radio stations in the UK joined in a 24hr charity event and broadcast the same output, originating from the same studio. How different they all sounded. The BBC and Classic FM came out best (but perceived quietest) while pop stations like Capital FM and Kiss FM in London sounded much louder, but with harsh peaks and squashed dynamics.

I wonder what effect all this compression and sound shaping is doing to the ears of our younger generation who listen to these stations at high volume?

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Originally Posted by Les Adams

Who said it was a joke?

:ihih:

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I'm referring you comments to Scotland Yard. :nono:

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Originally Posted by Les Adams

When I shot my wife that was indoors and I remember my ears were ringing for almost two weeks :ihih: ! But at least they don't suffer any abuse now!!

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Strange that... 'cause I was in the same room that day you arrived early from work and didn't hear a thing....
..

......but then again I got out the window quicker than the speed of sound :ciappa:



Slippers left behind :biggrin5:

I have tinnitus, I read that diet sodas aggravated the problem. I stopped drinking things with artificial sweeteners and feel about a 40% improvement.

It used to be every day, some worse, some better. Now after a year of no diet sweeteners I get 3 to 4 tinnitus free days a week.

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Originally Posted by Feanor

I'm referring you comments to Scotland Yard. :nono:

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It's a fair cop, I'll come quietly...................