Painful topic to read. I have been an audio enthusiast since I was 12 years old. Collecting and enjoying audio gear for over 20 years now. Couple of years ago I got a viral infection and was hospitalized. Doctors couldn't find what was the actual viral infection. I came out ok from the hospital and was good for a couple of weeks. Then one fine morning I started hearing echoes in my left ear, sound became really feeble and echoey. In couple of hours I Lost complete hearing in the left. I went to ENTs and they right away said this is most likely not reversible. Was devastated, second time I ever really hyper ventilated. Then we started steroid injections through the ear drum, no luck but suddenly started hearing some ringing. I was optimistic that I could hear something. But that was gone when the ringing became full blown and constant and almost like somebody is ringing a bell in my ear. I then learned about something called tinnitus and the doctors said they are not sure how to fix this. I have this till date. For what ever reason my sleep is not affected, but I have been an insomniac anyway. I am grateful I still have one ear, but Im depressed all the time. One comment from a hearing technician still haunts me, she said you'll soon lose your right ear as well as there is more exertion on it now. I'm still trying and failing in finding a way to deal with this. Maybe one day.
My chart looks even worse than yours (down 60-70 dB at 4 KHz). I am an object lesson in long-term noise exposure, and you provide a very accurate description of its effects.
That's heavy, I'm really sorry. Good to know that the description of the effects is accurate, let's hope other people will learn from it. Thanks for letting me know.
I think Hearing Loss is caused by Concerts or Night Clubs and it starts from 16 years old because on night clubs or concerts they not properly use correctly equalizer and they dont decrease ~18KHz. The Damage hearing is loudness and for young people damage is high level treble at 18KHz
This is incorrect. The frequency component plays no role other than due to the 1/f rule the energy in high frequencies is a lot less. I know that it feels like the high frequencies do the most damage, but it's just all the energy.
Yes ,i was going sometimes at night clubs and DJs increases ~18KHz and it really hurt my ears so i stopped going to the night clubs because i want to care my hearing range,im 25 and i dont want lost these high frequencies what i hear - i can hear 19,5KHz max with high volume
It's actually when listening to noises/music that's over 85dB for extended periods of time. yeah, loud concerts, loud car stereos, car/motorcyle exhaust from loud cars/motorcycle, earbuds/headphones at loud SPL. night clubs. people that shoot guns without proper ear plugs, being around heavy machinery without proper ear plugs, pretty much loud noises and sounds for extended periods of time. It's a good idea to not listen to music at an average listening level above 85dB. Once you go past that, you will get what is called ear fatigue. Now, I get ear fatigue with too much noise in the 4000hz range and I have found that many audio cables (interconnect AND speaker cables) can have distortions in this area. Thankfully I found two brands that consistently don't have distortions in that range, hence I don't get ear fatigue when listening to my stereo unless it's played at extremely loud volume or the recording has a lot of distortion that can't be helped. Equalizers at concerts are typically used for either tone adjustment of an instrument or they are to remove feedback. But it's simply loud SPL that causes hearing damage and that hearing damage can be short term or eventually long term. Get an SPL meter for your smartphone and see what SPL you are exposed to. Understand what 85dB sounds like. Unfortunately, when wearing headphones/earbuds, there's no way that I know of to know how much SPL we are subjecting ourselves to.
Although I have always worn hearing protectors when near loud noise, I developed hearing damage suddenly in one ear. A hearing test graph looks like the effect of a 6 db/octave filter starting at 1000 Hz. In addition to loss of response, I can't discriminate pitch below about 250 Hz. Sine waves below this point sound the same and are very distorted. One result has been voices being painfully loud. I surmise that this is caused by an excessive threshold shift; my ear is effectively being tricked by the low average sound level (due to the lack of low frequencies) into raising the gain, psychoacoustically speaking.
Unfortunately, wearing hearing protection does not guarantee the prevention of hearing damage. But it is always better than not wearing hearing protection. I am sorry it wasn't sufficient for you Vincent. Thank you for reporting, it does bring hearing damage closer to those that believe it only happens to others.
I didn't mean to imply that hearing protection isn't necessary, I know it's essential. I just thought readers might be interested in the results of my nerve damage.
I know you didn't but some people are bad readers so I wanted to make that clear upfront. And I do appreciate you reporting on this. It is a very serious problem, as you know.
Hey Hans, I just discovered this channel, great videos! I do have a question: Hearing protection for concerts are often plugs that go deep into your ears, are these safe to use? Since you mention not to use cotton swabs?
WHAT? I've worked in High End car Audio for 17 years I can't hear you! can you TALK at 157.2 DB FOR ME? ( I'm joking I can hear just fine, unless my wife said somthing)
Thank you sir these are very very good and important topics
Thank you Hans, this is very important
👍🏼
Painful topic to read. I have been an audio enthusiast since I was 12 years old. Collecting and enjoying audio gear for over 20 years now. Couple of years ago I got a viral infection and was hospitalized. Doctors couldn't find what was the actual viral infection. I came out ok from the hospital and was good for a couple of weeks. Then one fine morning I started hearing echoes in my left ear, sound became really feeble and echoey. In couple of hours I Lost complete hearing in the left.
I went to ENTs and they right away said this is most likely not reversible. Was devastated, second time I ever really hyper ventilated. Then we started steroid injections through the ear drum, no luck but suddenly started hearing some ringing. I was optimistic that I could hear something. But that was gone when the ringing became full blown and constant and almost like somebody is ringing a bell in my ear. I then learned about something called tinnitus and the doctors said they are not sure how to fix this. I have this till date. For what ever reason my sleep is not affected, but I have been an insomniac anyway.
I am grateful I still have one ear, but Im depressed all the time. One comment from a hearing technician still haunts me, she said you'll soon lose your right ear as well as there is more exertion on it now. I'm still trying and failing in finding a way to deal with this. Maybe one day.
My chart looks even worse than yours (down 60-70 dB at 4 KHz). I am an object lesson in long-term noise exposure, and you provide a very accurate description of its effects.
That's heavy, I'm really sorry. Good to know that the description of the effects is accurate, let's hope other people will learn from it. Thanks for letting me know.
All these videos are great
Thnx
A superb video topic! really benefits everyone, it is not only about HIFi hardware and reviews like other channels, Kudos to the HB channel!!
I think Hearing Loss is caused by Concerts or Night Clubs and it starts from 16 years old because on night clubs or concerts they not properly use correctly equalizer and they dont decrease ~18KHz.
The Damage hearing is loudness and for young people damage is high level treble at 18KHz
This is incorrect. The frequency component plays no role other than due to the 1/f rule the energy in high frequencies is a lot less. I know that it feels like the high frequencies do the most damage, but it's just all the energy.
Yes ,i was going sometimes at night clubs and DJs increases ~18KHz and it really hurt my ears so i stopped going to the night clubs because i want to care my hearing range,im 25 and i dont want lost these high frequencies what i hear - i can hear 19,5KHz max with high volume
Well, it's a good thing you are aware of potential hearing damage. Wished more people would be that cautious.
Thats true
It's actually when listening to noises/music that's over 85dB for extended periods of time. yeah, loud concerts, loud car stereos, car/motorcyle exhaust from loud cars/motorcycle, earbuds/headphones at loud SPL. night clubs. people that shoot guns without proper ear plugs, being around heavy machinery without proper ear plugs, pretty much loud noises and sounds for extended periods of time.
It's a good idea to not listen to music at an average listening level above 85dB. Once you go past that, you will get what is called ear fatigue.
Now, I get ear fatigue with too much noise in the 4000hz range and I have found that many audio cables (interconnect AND speaker cables) can have distortions in this area. Thankfully I found two brands that consistently don't have distortions in that range, hence I don't get ear fatigue when listening to my stereo unless it's played at extremely loud volume or the recording has a lot of distortion that can't be helped.
Equalizers at concerts are typically used for either tone adjustment of an instrument or they are to remove feedback.
But it's simply loud SPL that causes hearing damage and that hearing damage can be short term or eventually long term.
Get an SPL meter for your smartphone and see what SPL you are exposed to. Understand what 85dB sounds like. Unfortunately, when wearing headphones/earbuds, there's no way that I know of to know how much SPL we are subjecting ourselves to.
Thank you Hans
Although I have always worn hearing protectors when near loud noise, I developed hearing damage suddenly in one ear. A hearing test graph looks like the effect of a 6 db/octave filter starting at 1000 Hz.
In addition to loss of response, I can't discriminate pitch below about 250 Hz. Sine waves below this point sound the same and are very distorted. One result has been voices being painfully loud. I surmise that this is caused by an excessive threshold shift; my ear is effectively being tricked by the low average sound level (due to the lack of low frequencies) into raising the gain, psychoacoustically speaking.
Unfortunately, wearing hearing protection does not guarantee the prevention of hearing damage. But it is always better than not wearing hearing protection. I am sorry it wasn't sufficient for you Vincent. Thank you for reporting, it does bring hearing damage closer to those that believe it only happens to others.
I didn't mean to imply that hearing protection isn't necessary, I know it's essential. I just thought readers might be interested in the results of my nerve damage.
I know you didn't but some people are bad readers so I wanted to make that clear upfront. And I do appreciate you reporting on this. It is a very serious problem, as you know.
Hey Hans, I just discovered this channel, great videos! I do have a question:
Hearing protection for concerts are often plugs that go deep into your ears, are these safe to use? Since you mention not to use cotton swabs?
Aha right, thanks! Groetjes!
Q-tips are fine. Soak in warm water under the tap and then rotate inside the ear, don't push.
I would still advise against it. Too many 'ear doctors' have told me so.
WHAT? I've worked in High End car Audio for 17 years I can't hear you! can you TALK at 157.2 DB FOR ME? ( I'm joking I can hear just fine, unless my wife said somthing)