I've always considered myself to have really good hearing. I'm 19, and can hear some kinds of bats as they fly past. However, recently my hearing seems to have gone downhill. I started to suspect something when certain sounds - like a running tap or something with a lot of higher harmonics, had lost their 'bite'. They didn't sound as sharp as they used to. It was quite a subtle effect, but I'm pretty sure I noticed something.
A lot of electronics emit lots of HF noises from hard drive motors etc, even my LCD monitor does. A while ago I noticed that I could only hear all the HF junk if I turned my head so my PC was on the right of me, but not to the left. At first I dismissed this has me not positioning my left ear properly as HF sounds are very directional. However, today I was taking some pictures with a digital camera. The LCD display in it makes a high pitch, and I could only hear it holding it up to my right ear. This worried me so I put on some headphones and used the tone generator in WinISD and played 18Khz (the highest my soundcard seems to manage without having some kind of weird distortion). I could hear it. I put the balance to the left - nothing at all! I turned the headphones around, I could hear it. Listening with my left ear, I lowered the tones, getting more and more worried, passing 17,16,15Khz which I could barely hear until I got to 14Khz which seemed even with my other ear.
14khz is pretty rubbish for a 19 year old, and I'm pretty sure both my ears worked evenly not that long ago. Despite this, my hearing actually SOUNDS fine, music doesn't sound any less good, It's just a shame my hearing suddenly deteriorated like it did
A lot of electronics emit lots of HF noises from hard drive motors etc, even my LCD monitor does. A while ago I noticed that I could only hear all the HF junk if I turned my head so my PC was on the right of me, but not to the left. At first I dismissed this has me not positioning my left ear properly as HF sounds are very directional. However, today I was taking some pictures with a digital camera. The LCD display in it makes a high pitch, and I could only hear it holding it up to my right ear. This worried me so I put on some headphones and used the tone generator in WinISD and played 18Khz (the highest my soundcard seems to manage without having some kind of weird distortion). I could hear it. I put the balance to the left - nothing at all! I turned the headphones around, I could hear it. Listening with my left ear, I lowered the tones, getting more and more worried, passing 17,16,15Khz which I could barely hear until I got to 14Khz which seemed even with my other ear.
14khz is pretty rubbish for a 19 year old, and I'm pretty sure both my ears worked evenly not that long ago. Despite this, my hearing actually SOUNDS fine, music doesn't sound any less good, It's just a shame my hearing suddenly deteriorated like it did
Agree.. and don't use cotton buds
Only DIY I use on my ears is Audiclean available at BOOTS Chemist http://www.audiclean.co.uk/
Oh welcome to getting old add a few more decades to 19 and you will be catching me
Then you notice smd is a problem 
Now you mention it - my ears do feel a bit waxy, however there's one thing I forgot to mention
One time on a coach journey a couple of years ago me and my friend were listening to his walkman, one earplug each. (It think I had one in my left ear) The problem is, he had it on stupidly loud and I don't really know why I didn't say anything or even listened to it for any period. It was pretty stupid. When I got off the coach my left ear was definately less sensitive than my right, it lasted a while but not THAT long. I definately realised it was stupid of me even back then.
I think that's pretty much the worst abuse my ears have ever had I think, but does not include these:
Being in a night club a couple of times
Smashing up wood with a hammer for firewood, sometimes the CRACK of the wood would make my ears shriek at about 6Khz for a few seconds - this is also pretty terrible, I started wearing ear defenders.
Listening to a hifi with my dad pretty stupidly loudly but not very often and only for about 20 minutes
I recently went to stock car racing. It was SO LOUD, but NO ONE ELSE seemed to be aware of how PAINFULLY loud it was!! Cars without silencers! I stood as far back from the track as I could while my friends seemingly obvlivously stood really near the track. I warned them but they didn't seem to think it was that loud My ears still hissed as I went to bed afterwards.
I seem to have a much lower pain threshold in my hearing than most people, which is odd. I think I've listed all the abuse my hearing has had, and none of it was on a regular basis but it's quite a lot of things, so it does still worry me. I do try to avoid loud things, but sometimes you just get exposed to loud stuff
One time on a coach journey a couple of years ago me and my friend were listening to his walkman, one earplug each. (It think I had one in my left ear) The problem is, he had it on stupidly loud and I don't really know why I didn't say anything or even listened to it for any period. It was pretty stupid. When I got off the coach my left ear was definately less sensitive than my right, it lasted a while but not THAT long. I definately realised it was stupid of me even back then.
I think that's pretty much the worst abuse my ears have ever had I think, but does not include these:
Being in a night club a couple of times
Smashing up wood with a hammer for firewood, sometimes the CRACK of the wood would make my ears shriek at about 6Khz for a few seconds - this is also pretty terrible, I started wearing ear defenders.
Listening to a hifi with my dad pretty stupidly loudly but not very often and only for about 20 minutes
I recently went to stock car racing. It was SO LOUD, but NO ONE ELSE seemed to be aware of how PAINFULLY loud it was!! Cars without silencers! I stood as far back from the track as I could while my friends seemingly obvlivously stood really near the track. I warned them but they didn't seem to think it was that loud
My ears still hissed as I went to bed afterwards.I seem to have a much lower pain threshold in my hearing than most people, which is odd. I think I've listed all the abuse my hearing has had, and none of it was on a regular basis but it's quite a lot of things, so it does still worry me. I do try to avoid loud things, but sometimes you just get exposed to loud stuff
professional evaluation is a good idea
simple explantion of the problem:
http://headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm
cheap protection:
http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx
simple explantion of the problem:
http://headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm
cheap protection:
http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx
I carry those etymotics around with me where ever I go. They really help in many situations, such as a party, a CES convention, noisy restuarant etc. I'm sure in the long run they'd be the best $12 investment i've made to protect my hearing. Being 16 and being able to hear up to 20khz rules. (Though tones are painful that high). Yea i'd definately go get that checked out a doctor. Maybe you've recently had some loud sound that only your left ear was exposed to gunshot, fireworks, etc.
Hi bigwill,
I've done most of what you have done, and more (being north of 45 years old). This includes industrial noises, gunshots on and on.
Being a lucky fella, I had just had my hearing checked and it's pretty good. Better than most. No matter how you try, something will always surprise you and make a big noise.
In a night club, avoid drinking too much. Things tighten up in there when you are sober, not when you are drunk. This helps save your hearing.
-Chris
I've done most of what you have done, and more (being north of 45 years old). This includes industrial noises, gunshots on and on.
Being a lucky fella, I had just had my hearing checked and it's pretty good. Better than most. No matter how you try, something will always surprise you and make a big noise.
In a night club, avoid drinking too much. Things tighten up in there when you are sober, not when you are drunk. This helps save your hearing.
-Chris
And if you think it is bad, don't worry. You can still enjoy music.
A couple of times in a nightclub (you really only ever been a couple of times?!!) is not going to kill your ears.
Mine at 31 is bad to the point of it can be difficult at work (office, meetings etc) and getting worse. We don't know if it's hereditary or self-inflicted, or both. Yet I was still the only one in a recent group test on another forum to consistantly identify tracks recorded using different codecs. And I still enjoy music as much as ever, and people ask me to set up their systems and I never fail to get them sounding better.
A couple of times in a nightclub (you really only ever been a couple of times?!!) is not going to kill your ears.
Mine at 31 is bad to the point of it can be difficult at work (office, meetings etc) and getting worse. We don't know if it's hereditary or self-inflicted, or both. Yet I was still the only one in a recent group test on another forum to consistantly identify tracks recorded using different codecs. And I still enjoy music as much as ever, and people ask me to set up their systems and I never fail to get them sounding better.
As I recall from a talk by Mead Killian - there is no "age related" hearing loss to 60+ yrs
it is all avoidable damage
modern society exposes us to too much loud noise, and some common drugs (including over the counter anti-inflamitories) can kill off the important hair cells too
OSHA/EPA standards are a joke that create deaf ears – use protection, demand protection, get repeated tests over time to build a case that your job is hurting your hearing if they ignore your concerns
it is all avoidable damage
modern society exposes us to too much loud noise, and some common drugs (including over the counter anti-inflamitories) can kill off the important hair cells too
OSHA/EPA standards are a joke that create deaf ears – use protection, demand protection, get repeated tests over time to build a case that your job is hurting your hearing if they ignore your concerns
Well thank god, that its 60+, I haven't really heard of that before but if true than I can still maintain my hearing well into the future. Remember all the publicity about the mosquito ringtone that said people above 20 can't hear it, well whereever they got that statistic it goes to show how much hearing damage there is in our society.
yeah, deffinately get it checked.
Im 29, and i think im getting tinitus in my right ear.
Last month or so ive notice when its quiet, or im in bed, a high pitch noise in my right ear. Its pretty quiet though.
I blame clubs with really rough sound systems. Really loud harsh distorted treble.
I remember one place we used to go, they pumped it out but only for about 10 seconds.
It was a drum and bass rave, so pretty loud anyway (if you shouted in someones ear 2 inch away as loud as you could they could just about hear something, but not what the words were), but they turned it up so you could actually feel the bass pushing in inside your ears, and not just a little either.
EVERYONE stopped, looked around and jaws hit the floor. Ive never heard/felt anything like it. Then the system blew and all was quiet (exept a loud ringing )
Anyway, last month i was at a club with a small system, playing 40's big band and 50's rock n roll, but it was such poor quality, and too loud for the poor little speakers, really tinny and harsh it actually hurt! I think its tipped my right ear over the edge
Maybe it will recover.
Maybe years of cotton bud abuse havent helped either.
I think ill get checked too!
Im 29, and i think im getting tinitus in my right ear.
Last month or so ive notice when its quiet, or im in bed, a high pitch noise in my right ear. Its pretty quiet though.
I blame clubs with really rough sound systems. Really loud harsh distorted treble.
I remember one place we used to go, they pumped it out but only for about 10 seconds.
It was a drum and bass rave, so pretty loud anyway (if you shouted in someones ear 2 inch away as loud as you could they could just about hear something, but not what the words were), but they turned it up so you could actually feel the bass pushing in inside your ears, and not just a little either.
EVERYONE stopped, looked around and jaws hit the floor. Ive never heard/felt anything like it. Then the system blew and all was quiet (exept a loud ringing
)Anyway, last month i was at a club with a small system, playing 40's big band and 50's rock n roll, but it was such poor quality, and too loud for the poor little speakers, really tinny and harsh it actually hurt! I think its tipped my right ear over the edge
Maybe it will recover.
Maybe years of cotton bud abuse havent helped either.
I think ill get checked too!
bigwill,
This may sound callus but if your hearing is screwed up there is no sense crying about spilt milk.
It what you do from now on that will be crucial.
I once went to a Nazareth concert in the Orphium (sp?) Theater in Boston. That place was one where if someone spoke in normal tones on stage you could hear it in the back row. Fantastic. Well about 1/2 way through the concert one of my ears started to just hum. No sound, just hum. Did I leave? No. Just watched the rest of the concert with my finger closing that ear. Didn't even protect the other one! But from then on (hearing came back the next morning!), regardless of how dumb I looked, I wore ear plugs to every single loud venue I went to. Races, concerts, work. Looked funny but hey, it was my hearing!
Even after 11yrs onboard Navy ships down in the engineering spaces and in the catapult spaces I can still pick out high pitched tones that others can't. I'd say it's all because I saw the light that one night at that concert. I wore double protection down in the spaces as often as I could stand it (big ear muffs pressed on my glasses and caused headaches). Heck, I even wear foamys when I tune my old VW bug!
So, if your hearing is unaffected and no damage was done, Great!
But you've been shown the light.
R/
Jim
This may sound callus but if your hearing is screwed up there is no sense crying about spilt milk.
It what you do from now on that will be crucial.
I once went to a Nazareth concert in the Orphium (sp?) Theater in Boston. That place was one where if someone spoke in normal tones on stage you could hear it in the back row. Fantastic. Well about 1/2 way through the concert one of my ears started to just hum. No sound, just hum. Did I leave? No. Just watched the rest of the concert with my finger closing that ear. Didn't even protect the other one! But from then on (hearing came back the next morning!), regardless of how dumb I looked, I wore ear plugs to every single loud venue I went to. Races, concerts, work. Looked funny but hey, it was my hearing!
Even after 11yrs onboard Navy ships down in the engineering spaces and in the catapult spaces I can still pick out high pitched tones that others can't. I'd say it's all because I saw the light that one night at that concert. I wore double protection down in the spaces as often as I could stand it (big ear muffs pressed on my glasses and caused headaches). Heck, I even wear foamys when I tune my old VW bug!
So, if your hearing is unaffected and no damage was done, Great!
But you've been shown the light.
R/
Jim
My ears I recon are damaged too.
Mostly by my stupidness of listening to headphones, especially the inner ear type at max volume[but on a cd walkman] when I was little means I've always had tinitus since I was about 9. But got used to the very slight noise when its totally quiet like when I go to sleep. But its a funny tinitus noise I hear, very very simular to what a fluorescent light makes when the power goes through it.But luckerly I quit using inner ear headphones when I was 13 as they caused deafness for 30 mins or so after using them.
But within the last few years my hearing has diminished even more. I blame it on the extremely loud and extremely harsh sound systems at some reggae events.
For example 60 piezo tweeters on a reggae speaker stack sizzling out the highs so loudly you can't hear yourself shouting even.And sometimes has even caused pain in my ears.
I don't know why some reggae soundsystems don't stick to sound quality instead of the blasting the music at ear splitting volumes plus using very distorted and very harsh sounding speakers.
The last reggae soundsystem I heard was extremelly LOUD, like 130dBA I recon as everyone was putting their fingers in their ears, even myself. And had to walk out the room at one point when the stupid selector pushed it into terrible screaming treble distortion.
And within the last year or so, I've lost some crispness in sounds[just the highs], can't hear whispers anymore, and got permanent quiet-ish ringing in the ears when I'm in an almost silent environment.
So now I wear earplugs when I go to any very loud or very harsh sounding music events.
Also I invested in some high quality Sennheiser HD25 headphones that can be used at a quiet volume and still you can pick out detail very well without having to turn them up loud to pick up detail unlike with other headphones I've had.
Mostly by my stupidness of listening to headphones, especially the inner ear type at max volume[but on a cd walkman] when I was little means I've always had tinitus since I was about 9. But got used to the very slight noise when its totally quiet like when I go to sleep. But its a funny tinitus noise I hear, very very simular to what a fluorescent light makes when the power goes through it.But luckerly I quit using inner ear headphones when I was 13 as they caused deafness for 30 mins or so after using them.
But within the last few years my hearing has diminished even more. I blame it on the extremely loud and extremely harsh sound systems at some reggae events.
For example 60 piezo tweeters on a reggae speaker stack sizzling out the highs so loudly you can't hear yourself shouting even.And sometimes has even caused pain in my ears.
I don't know why some reggae soundsystems don't stick to sound quality instead of the blasting the music at ear splitting volumes plus using very distorted and very harsh sounding speakers.
The last reggae soundsystem I heard was extremelly LOUD, like 130dBA I recon as everyone was putting their fingers in their ears, even myself. And had to walk out the room at one point when the stupid selector pushed it into terrible screaming treble distortion.
And within the last year or so, I've lost some crispness in sounds[just the highs], can't hear whispers anymore, and got permanent quiet-ish ringing in the ears when I'm in an almost silent environment.
So now I wear earplugs when I go to any very loud or very harsh sounding music events.
Also I invested in some high quality Sennheiser HD25 headphones that can be used at a quiet volume and still you can pick out detail very well without having to turn them up loud to pick up detail unlike with other headphones I've had.
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