Take care of your ears – take listening breaks!

[star-affinity]

As someone who two weeks ago damaged my hearing (lost some of the high frequencies on my left ear and got a low volume, but high pitched tinnitus on top of that) I'd just like to to remind people of taking listening breaks (I think the general recommendation is at least 18 hours) if the ears start to hiss and feel "hallow" or "full".

The state of the ears might not be noticed until the music stops and one goes into a quiet room.

The problem for me was that I had music on all night (speaker mode on iPhone 12 Pro Max about a feet (30 cm) from my head) to mask my old tinnitus, and while that worked fine for months my ears was likely too fatigued and couldn't stand the considered harmless sound level anymore – just had the volume three to four levels from zero and even had some toilet paper in my ear to dampen a little of the sound. Woke up to the ear doing a high pitched twisted ”chirp”. Damage done. ?

This is the music I was listening to – ”Sleeping Music” on the service Tidal:

https://tidal.com/album/77525403

I guess most people don't listen to music all night, but still – take care of your ears and perhaps set a timer if you want to fall asleep to music, just in case?

 

[Lovecomputer22]

You are really right. It happened to me too, so I had earaches and whistling for over a week. What did you do then? I put a cold pack on my stomach and waited...

 

[star-affinity]

You are really right. It happened to me too, so I had earaches and whistling for over a week. What did you do then? I put a cold pack on my stomach and waited...

May I aske exactly what happened? Did you get tinnitus and did it start with the ear doing a ”chirp” like sound?

Glad yours went away.

Mine is still around since soon three weeks since the onset.
But I do think it was stronger in volume the first few days. But it's been pretty much the same for the last two weeks now.

Hope as time goes by it will help the healing and/or that scientific research finds a cure in the not too distant future.

I feel really sad.

 

[Ralfi]

I feel really sad.

Sorry about your hearing troubles. But good on you for raising this topic. I’m concerned many generations of kids may be impacted in their older years due to how many more hours in a day they can have wireless earphones plugged in compared to the less-portable years of the past.

 

[star-affinity]

Sorry about your hearing troubles. But good on you for raising this topic. I’m concerned many generations of kids may be impacted in their older years due to how many more hours in a day they can have wireless earphones plugged in compared to the less-portable years of the past.

Thanks!
Yes, I definitely feel the urge to warn and prevent others having to go through what I did during the last three weeks. While I think research might have caught up with the currently young generations once they get older, it's nothing to take for granted. And we don't know how well the treatments will work. Hopefully our ears will be able to get as good as new, but again – nothing to take for granted.

 

[TiggrToo]

My limit is about 4-5 hours of music or other sound during the day.

Any more than that, even the softest, most harmonious melodic music can grate upon me.

Tinnitus sufferer for over 20 years…

 

[Ralfi]

Somewhat related - Recently came across an IOS Control Centre App called Live Listen which can tell you the dB level of the content you're listening to through your AirPods. It also gives an indication of whether it's a healthy level of volume. Maybe more people should be made aware of it.

 

[star-affinity]

I didn't know this was there (in iOS 14.6 at least) and on by default. Settings -> Accessibility -> Audio/Visual

That's great, but I would still be careful and ”listen” to the ears – if you feel and/or hear a change in the ears when it's quiet, then take a listening break until the feeling and sound wears off.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Good reminder

I honestly find this true for speakers also -- really any kind of extended listening to "noise" (like music).

I've become much more sensitive to this as I've gotten older.
Nowadays, I sometimes only listen to music a couple times per week as I find my ears always need a rest (no matter the volume).

 

[Mildredop]

You are really right. It happened to me too, so I had earaches and whistling for over a week. What did you do then? I put a cold pack on my stomach and waited...

A cold pack on your stomach??