When you develop problems with hearing

[steve ridgway]

I read somewhere that this is a clear indication that the volume level is way too high.

Yes, it must be much louder than ambient sounds.

[Florestan]

It depends on the headphone! If you plug in sensitive IEMS you could drive the volume into the danger limit with ease, but plug in some 600 ohm Beyerdynamic headphones and it might be at a low volume.

Oh, my earphones are no-name low-end. 

[ritter]

Oh, my earphones are no-name low-end. 

Well, you wouldn't need anything fancier to listen to Lanner, would you? 

Good day, Andrei!

[Kalevala]

When I was teaching, occasionally a student with earbuds would pass by in the corridor and I could hear the music they were listening to from several feet away. I would warn them that they were probably harming their ears, but I'm not sure they paid any attention. I believe ears can become numb to loud music after a while, limiting the discomfort, but not the damage.

My ears tested normal for all frequencies except for mild hearing loss in both ears at the 4K range. This is the range most often damaged by loud noises, and I blame a guitarist I used to play next to for it. Some consolation is that I let him talk me into buying his Gibson RD Artist which has become somewhat of a collectors item today.

Well, if need be, you can use some of the money from the sale of that to be able to buy some decent hearing aids?  🤔 Lord knows what's going to happen to health care--particularly in the near future. 

I read somewhere that this is a clear indication that the volume level is way too high.

That's what I recall hearing (No pun intended!).

K

[DavidW]

When I was teaching, occasionally a student with earbuds would pass by in the corridor and I could hear the music they were listening to from several feet away. I would warn them that they were probably harming their ears, but I'm not sure they paid any attention. I believe ears can become numb to loud music after a while, limiting the discomfort, but not the damage.

My ears tested normal for all frequencies except for mild hearing loss in both ears at the 4K range. This is the range most often damaged by loud noises, and I blame a guitarist I used to play next to for it. Some consolation is that I let him talk me into buying his Gibson RD Artist which has become somewhat of a collectors item today.

When I was teaching in Oklahoma, I would use my SPL meter. We went to the parking lot to measure the volume of a student's car radio. 100 dB! He learned that he should turn it down... I mean if he could hear me.

[Spotted Horses]

Alright, I found my notes (I believe that I recorded the information correctly, but please feel free to double check!).  I had written it down on the back of my hearing evaluation/report about 1 1/2 years ago.

At 85 dBs, one can listen to (or hear) "X" at 85 dBs for 8 hours before causing hearing damage.

Every +3dBs to that = Double the pressure which means that you can only listen half that amount of time before doing damage to your hearing.

So at 88 dBs = 4 hours max

And 91 dBs = 2 hours max

Personally, I was quite surprised to learn that [Not that I know a ton about dBs].

K

To be a bit more precise, 3dB corresponds to doubling acoustic power. The acoustic power is proportional to the square of the pressure, so doubling the acoustic pressure results in 4 times as much power, for a 6dB increase. The rule of thumb that a 3dB increase, twice the power, would cause damage to occur twice as fast seems plausible, since energy would be dissipated in your ears twice as fast, but it must be more complicated than that, probably depending on the frequency and other characteristics of the sound source. FWIW, different sources put the threshold for damage at different levels, as low as 70 dB, but that may be for continuous exposure.

https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/keeplistening/decibels