Ear fatigue getting more frequent but less significant

Yeah. I believe you've posted about this before. It's all quite predictable. You're chipping away at your hearing every day you go there. Up to you to change that. There are plenty of jobs but just one set of ears.

 

At the age of 17, it's hard to find anything other than fast food, especially where I live. I worked at a Hardee's for about a year, not doing it again. Other than that, this is the only place I can get a job. Plus I'm in dire need of a vehicle, so I simply cannot afford to quit a job. I'll ask my boss about earplugs, though. Hearing loss runs in the family anyway. My brother suffered it after a term in the military and my father suffered it after years of working on heavy paving equipment. It's hard choosing between two things you need in life... money or hearing.

 

You can work at a gas station, retail, manual labor, etc. There are far more choices than you seem to be aware of. This is the same excuse you gave last time, too. I had warned you that this would happen but you didn't listen. At 17, I probably would've reacted the same way and told myself this "old'' 40-year old dude is full of it... but you're discovering now that I'm not.

I'd argue that hearing protection won't fix everything but it's up to you to decide whether you want to continue taking risks with your hearing.

Hate to say I told you so but it sure didn't take long for what I predicted would happen to happen, huh?

 

I am in agreement with the majority of opinions here. Your job running go-carts is your primary cause of hearing fatigue and this will definitely lead to permanent hearing damage.

Fast forward yourself twenty to thirty years. You have a successful career, your kids will be leaving the nest (hopefully!), you have equity in your home and now, you are desiring to make your way to a better class of audiophile equipment.

One teeny tiny little problem, your ears are shot, your frequency response is all rolled off and there is a constant ringing in your ears, that just won't stop.

Enough said? Hearing damage is PERMANENT!

You spoke about your love for bass, the reality is that you have to listen to some very, and I mean very loud sub-bass, for long periods of time, for base related damage to occur.

The opposite is true with high frequency sounds. Our hearing is most sensitive between one thousand cycles and five thousand cycles. It is continued exposure at these frequencies, that causes the most hearing loss, to normal people in sort of normal environments. Go-kart engines certainly contain a whole lot of sound in these frequency bands.

One way you can check this out, is to download a free spectrum analyzer app on to your smartphone and look at the frequencies being displayed, in real time. You will quickly get the picture of what frequencies your ears are actually hearing.

Second, download a decibel meter app. That will allow you to get at least a rough enough estimate of the sound level that you are hearing.

A decibel reading of 85-dB is equatable to busy city traffic noise. Your go-cart engines are far louder and you are much closer to the source.

An average modern day lawn mower is around 95-dB. Leaf blowers can easily reach 115-dB, and they are sitting directly on your back.

There are three main things here to be concerned with. The first two are the loudness level, as measured in decibels, the second is time. How long you are being exposed to high sound levels, above 75-dB's.

Here is how you do the math. You can safely listen to a constant 85-dB sound level for only eight hours.

Every time you increase this sound level 3-dB, you reduce you maximum permissible exposure time by half.

Here is an exposure chart:


As you can see, when you start being exposed to sound levels that exceed 88-dB, things start getting ugly, really fast.

At 100-dB, you have barely a 15-minute window!

Keep in mind that the ears sensitivity for tones (at different frequencies), is not the same as the ears damage risk for noise.

Using a dB meter on the "A" scale, closely duplicates your ears sensitivity at the different audible frequencies.

It looks something like this:



By the diagram, you can see that you would need to raise the level of a 20-cycle bass tone almost 70-dB, for it to appear to your ears, to be at the same volume level as a 1-dB tone, at 1,000-cycles.

Look at the "hump" above 1,000-cycles, where the phons numbers are on the graph. This is where your ears are the most sensitive.

This reflects the "A" scale sensitivities, that are designed to have the same weighting curve as human hearing.

Mostly, with O.S.H.A, which measures with the "A" weighted scale, mostly disregards sound pressure levels below 500-cycles.

Which brings me to my third point. When they say 85-dB for 8-hours, they are talking about average sound levels between 500-cycles and 10,000 cycles.

If you have a workplace situation where there are high sound levels in specific frequency bands, like between 1,000-cycles and 5,000-cycles, then this must be taken into consideration, and adjustments made to the length of permissible time.

In your situation, I would make that adjustment by using a reference level of -3 decibels, which would equate to using a reference point of 82-dB over an eight hour time period. Then reducing your time by half for every 3-dB increase above 82-dB's. This would equate to 85-dB's for only 4-hours, and so on.

And those game arcade rooms, filled with people talking and yelling above the loud background noise of the game machines, is also not a good place to be for long periods of time.

Respect your EARS! Your body is trying to tell you something!

Take Care!

S&G

 

Strange thing happening with my headphones. When I put my headphones on, it seems like there's pressure pushing down on the inside of my ears, but if I take them off, the pressure goes away. Even when not listening to music. Could this be a combination of a sinus issue and my headphones or what? Could possibly switching to open air headphones be my fix?

 

Years of working on heavy machinery caused him to get tinnitus when he got older. Started happening about 6 years ago. He was only about 46 or 47 when it happened. Plus, he always listens to music on the road travelling, never listens to music at home.

 

While sinus issues can cause hearing problems, it isn't at all unusual for people to get symptoms such as a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear with other causes of hearing loss (such as noise induced hearing loss). I thought I had fluid in my ears due to sinus problems causing my tinnitus, but when I saw an otorhinolaryngologist I had pure sensorineural hearing loss, presumed due to a mixture of previous infections and noise exposure (i'm a doctor as well as a sufferer so getting my own diagnosis wrong was rather embarrassing).

My previous advice stands: limit your noise exposure and get your ears properly checked out. Part of the assessment includes a proper ear exam to rule out sinus or other issues. Trying to self diagnose or get an internet diagnosis will fail.

 

I understand that you are speaking about cans, but here is a tip about using in ear monitors (IEM's). If you are using them where there is an elevated background noise level, use the Christmas tree plugs for your ears.

This is important, as people who don't use them in situations like that, turn up their volume louder so they can hear better over the background noise.

Which means that they are listening at a higher decibel level, than they would normally have to.

Find out if your father's hearing is worse in his left ear, I will offer an additional explanation later.

 

I have some mild ringing in my left year, which only occurred early in 2014. It was due to several factors, which occurred at the same time, and was caused by a pair of La Scala's that I had recently acquired, early in the year as well.

One of my tube monoblock amplifier's, that I use to drive the horn loaded A7's went south, so I had the A7's down.

I was running the La Scala's off of the front SS amplifier, which is an original first generation Emotiva XPA-2. The way the wall was angled and where they had to fit next to the TV in the corner, left them both pointing at my head.

I had incurred a significant knee injury, right before Christmas that left me in a good deal of pain and substantially affected my ability to walk. It was well into the Summer before the pain started to subside, where it was not constant.

I do not take pain medication under any circumstances, just aspirin and Motrin. Because of that, I would have a solid dose of adult beverages every night so that I could be medicated enough to sleep.

Late in 2013, I started sleeping in my office / living room / listening room. I like to sleep on the couch. So I would fall asleep, pass-out might be a more accurate description, with the music playing loudly, and both of the squaker (mid frequency horns) pointed at my left ear, as I would mostly sleep on my right side, which faces out from the sofa.

The music would be playing at a level of 85-dB or louder. Normally this is never a problem for me, because after I listen to music at a loud dB level, I get tired of the volume and turn it back down. So, even though I attended rock concerts and had concert level speakers in my home, since I was sixteen, It was only at age 61 that I incurred my permanent hearing damage in my left ear, from this particular time in my life. Before that, my hearing has always been excellent for my age. Now, I no longer have a black background in my left year.

The story goes on...

I prior to one of my Rogue monoblock's going out, I had already been in discussion with Mark, at Rogue Audio, about upgrading my older M-120 monoblock's after one of them should fail. I took a couple of months to decide on whether to upgrade to a KT88 based M-150, or the KT120 based M-180. Because I like KT88's. I finally decided to go with the M-150's, so off the pair went to Rogue, and they were returned 6-weeks later, as M-150's.

In our last telephone conversation, while the amps were on the road, back to me, Mark said, that you're really gonna like these M-150's.

Since I first bought the M-120's used off of eBay, I was floored at how much tube amplification brought to the table with the A7's. After they were down, I was relegated to use the XPA-2 SS amp with the A7's, which wasn't what I wanted, but was the best alternative at that time.

I was impatiently waiting for my beloved tube amps to be back on the A7's!

Well, after I finally had the M-150's back in place and fired them up, the waves of joyous sound that I was expecting to be engulfed in, was not happening, not at all. Everything still sounded harsh! Not that warm and wonderful tube sound of prior days.

I was becoming more and more annoyed by HF sound, sounds were harsh and unforgiving.

It was at the beginning of July that it occurred to me that I have a ear infection of some kind. There were no overt symptoms, no pain, nothing else sounded unusual. Well, I went to an ENT and sure enough, I was advised that I had a middle ear infection and was placed on strong antibiotics for 10-day, before it finally cleared up.

Problems solved, I was back in business, thrilled!

But no, the harshness had not diminished. I waited a couple of weeks and spoke to the Doctor. He thought that I had been dealing with this infection for about 3-months and he told me that it was going to take some time, before my hearing would return to normal.

That took August, September and the entire month of October. By the beginning of November, my tube operated equipment chain was pleasurable to listen to again.

As @Sevoflurane had previously mentioned, your sinus issue's can be a lot more than you might have suspected, and a through ear examination by a medical ENT Doctor is called for.

 

Talked to the person over scheduling, they said that we'd work something out, and that they'd put me at go karts less often. Having quiet at home has helped significantly, but I still end up getting headaches that go away after a couple hours after working go karts.

 

Don't know what you're looking for, here. Sympathy? I don't get it.

"Less often" won't cut it. This will keep happening until you leave your current job for a quieter workplace. Getting headaches lasting hours, ear fatigue, being unable to listen to music, etc. All abnormal and unhealthy. LEAVE! No idea why you resist common sense.

Your dad got tinnitus, people everywhere are educating you about the issue and yet you stay. If you're that stubborn and absolutely want to sacrifice your hearing for life, go right ahead...but I have no clue whatsoever as to what you're after in this thread.

 

If you don't think you can afford a specialist, do you at least have insurance-approved bi-annual checkups with a doctor? Your garden-variety G.P. may have a lot of significant advice for you in this earbud culture today.

He's also just as liable to tell you to see a specialist. But listen to his suggestions before you resort to going whole-hog audiologist-shopping. But that's probably where you will end up anyway. A much better investment than a new car IMHO.

 

Infections - from colds, sinuses, etc - that block hearing may be treated quickly to avert permanent damage. Ideally within a week.

I lost part of my hearing in my left ear just over a decade ago. Felt like somebody suddenly sick a ball of cotton wool in my ear. Assumed that it was sinus related and it'd clear up with steam inhalations over time, I left it. Went to see the doctor a few weeks later and then to see an ENT consultant for a hearing test. It was all confirmed then, partial hearing loss, permanent.

A more famous case occurred to composer Michael Berkley a few years ago and there's various articles online if anyone's interested.

Bottom line is if this happens, see your doctor in the first week and get medication. It can be treated effectively, but leave it too long and it can't be reversed.

 

OK, you don't want to leave your job.

Get some EAR PLUGS !!!

Ear plugs at Amazon.com.

You can get the foam disposable kind.

Better to get the plastic reusable kind. They are small and mostly not noticeable.

Plus, it is reasonable and expected that someone around loud engines to be wearing hearing protection.

Suggestion, get the dB meter app for your smartphone and measure the sound pressure level where you stand while you assist with the go-carts.

Check and see what the sound level is and then see how much attenuation in dB you will need to get you get down to a reasonable level of 75-dB or below.

Since your ears are now overly sensitive, you cannot go by the normal 85-dB for 8-hours.

You can order earplugs that provide "X" amount of attenuation. They also sell the types that come with different noise limiting filters and you can install and change them as you see fit.

You spoke of your father and his job related hearing issues. Keep in mind that in years past, people did not think much about the subject of hearing protection in the workplace.

That was then, this is now!

You have the clear option to keep your job and your ears, by simply getting and using INEXPENSIVE hearing protection.

Your ears, your decision.

Once you actually get to the point of actual hearing loss, it becomes permanent.

You have a whole lot of living ahead of you. If you keep the up, your hearing damages will continue to accrue and then some day, you will be completely deaf!

Please help yourself.

S&G

 

I may try finding those, as I will be purchasing earplugs ASAP, and I still need to be able to hear guests, and calls over the radio, etc. I'm not really sure what to look for when it comes to those, though.

 

Look over the link on Amazon that I have provided.

There are lots to look at. You will still be able to hear, they will just cut the sound level going into your ears.

Have you measured the sound level around the go-carts with your smartphone yet?

I remain curious as to how high the sound levels that you are being exposed to actually are.

That is the first place to start, then we can look more closely at some ear plug options.

 

I am not sure, as cell phones aren't allowed while on the clock. I will go there on a day off, or even today, and definitely measure the loudness.

 

Strongly suggest taking all suggestions for seeking a quieter occupation seriously - particularly as hearing loss is something that runs in your family.

That said, you really may want to investigate the sinus issues as a part of the equation as well. I've dealt with allergies that can get pretty severe and it's definitely seemed to connect that really bad sinus congestion affects my ears and, by extension, my perception of sound. Albums I may otherwise enjoy (even love) become unlistenable noise and I need to tailor my listening accordingly. And no, the level at which I'm listening doesn't make much of a difference. It's entirely possible that your sinus issues are affecting your hearing, making certain frequency ranges more unpleasant to listen to.

 

I know this is gonna be a weird thing, but I can speed up music by a small bit (about a 2-3% increase) and it doesn't sound as harsh on my ears. I noticed this about a year ago, I haven't tried it in a while, not sure why I do it. I guess I was used to my old Audio Technica LP60 and it's speed was off by about that much, and I just listened to my music like that for about two years. Just a strange little comment about this.

 

Well, today is the first day in a while I've been able to listen to music and enjoy it. My ears are maybe a 1/10, if that, on a scale of being fatigued. My sinuses have been acting up today, so that may be why, but I can actually listen to music now! I'm certainly not moving up to my loudspeakers or anything and I'm still gonna have absolute quiet time at home, I may be good by the end of the week!

 

Some degree of recovery after serious noise exposure does happen, for sure. I suspect many of us have experienced transient tinnitus after a loud gig. I remember driving home after seeing Rush on the R30 tour having forgotten my earplugs thinking how smooth and quiet my car engine was when in fact I had just experienced a temporary hearing threshold shift. You're probably more likely to overdo it listening to headphones than speakers at home; cranking up speakers usually results in neighbours / family objecting if you get carried away. Do use an SPL meter / app to measure what actual levels you are exposed to, as nobody's ears are very good at guessing.

 

My son has a pair of Skullcandy Aviators. I prefer their comfort and sound to the Bose AE2's I once bought on a whim, and regretted.....

Second the recommendation for Koss Porta Pros, or you could do as well with KSC75's or Sennheiser PX100 or similar...

But...

You obviously have considerable environmental noise at work, and personal and family medical issues relevant to hearing.

We can change our jobs and headphones more easily than we can change our ears, so why not see a doc or audiologist? I would in your shoes.

 

UPDATE: Purchased noise cancelling headphones with mics to hear talking and stuff around me (no music headphones, these are used at shooting ranges, near loud equipment, etc.), they cancel 25dB, and my boss will allow me to wear them. Also, I believe my hearing is not damaged, as a recent online (but official) hearing test proved that I could hear all the way to 19khz (I used my Bose QuietComfort 25s) but I still need to go to an ENT doctor as my sinuses are still giving me issues, and am having horrid earwax buildup. And if all goes well, I'll be done with this job within a couple months, and no more loud jobs for me.

 

Been having some ear fatigue lately. Not sure why this is but I downloaded an app and played a song at about the maximum I ever listen. Reached 82 db at the most.
I did have about a 5 hour listening session today though.

What do you guys think? Time to take breaks between records or lower the volume a bit?

 

Since we’re talking about audio equipment, I say throw money at it until it hurts.