Tinnitus

I don't think it is caused by headphones nor playing too much music nor too loud.
The last few years my left ear's earwax seems to have become less soft over the years and my ears can't get the gunk out by themselves.
Ears are selfcleaning and is what the hairs inside are for.
Had to have my ears rinsed out a few times already in the past.
Hearing was fine directly after.
The last time it did not clear and hurt a little when rinsing.
I guess the lady doing it wasn't as good as the others before.

As the left ear now hears less treble the brain 'recalibrates' and dials up the gain to compensate.
I can clearly see the 12kHz tone in the right ear which is much higher in sensitivity then it was.
Can't find my previous ear test but know it wasn't that sensitive there.
As the test tone is 12kHz and isn't at 13kHz (where my ringing is) you would probably see an even higher sensitivity there.
The brain screwed up the 'gain' to compensate for the other ear.
When listening to music the highs are really unpleasant and shrill because of it.

I hope that once the left ear hears normal again (I just hope that is the problem) the gain will return to normal and the Tinnitus will go away again.
When my hearing is shot (no idea why that would be as I was not exposed to any loud noises) I guess I will have to deal with the beep and learn to ignore it.
During the day don't hear it. Only when it is really quiet.

I have been putting drops of sunflower oil in my ear. This seems to soften the earwax and should come out easily when rinsing.
Monday I should know more.

My Mum used to put sunflower oil in her ears. Also olive oil. She swore by it.

It could well be the difference between the two ears, Frans. Great idea to test your own ears like that to spot any anomalies. I must try that with mine.

In my case, jet engine-like volumes for extended periods has probably done mine in!! So stupid really to be playing so loud, but outdoor places need quite a lot. I have no idea why engineers feel that foldback has to be loud as well. Maybe to overcome external sound? Sometimes it was so awful, I'd feel sick from vibrations afterwards. Even ear plugs had a tough time keeping it out really.

The sounds I really hated were the hits from drums. The attack is so strong that it almost makes you wince at close quarters. The bass drum used to physically hit my chest.

Ridiculous really.

So for me, there isn't that much I can do, but if you weren't subjected to lots of loud noise, then it may be as simple as a good flush out. Hopefully, that'll be it.

Mine does vary enormously though from day to day. Some headphones make it worse for some reason. I think it's headphones with big treble peaks. (Grado does it to me) At times, I can go from perfectly quiet.... wear a headphone and listen and when I take them off, the noise is right there. Not with Senns on Kameleon though. Even quite loud, that's ok. Nor dt770 on it, which is why I use them quite a lot.

Could be that ironing out spikes is beneficial to hearing.

Same for me with the ear noises Ron. Grado and AKG set the noises off.

With foldback speakers, it was way worse when I first started. The speakers used to be behind us, firing into our backs. The physical feeling often made me queasy!! The worst I ever did was an open air festival at Reading in the U.K., where every year loads of bands gather and play on open fields. We had a 'special' set up for that and honestly, it was like standing next to a jet plan for two hours.

I was staying in a place about five miles away in Tilehurst and could hear other bands from there!!!

Nowadays, we can block a lot out with iem's and hear it played back at a better volume, although outside noises do get in, so the reality is that you do still listen too loud really.

Biggest volume and basically on threshold of pain to me when I first heard them was The Who. Sickening volume levels. That was at Reading as well. Indoors though at the town hall I think it was. Daltrey's screaming actually hurt!!! Now, he's pretty deaf. He runs a trout farm up the road from me here. Have seen him around but mostly shouts ..... 'Pardon?' 'Eh?', 'What?'.

I'm not that bad yet.

Just did a volume 'take' on a sound meter, (a weighted, so bass frequencies are largely ignored) and at a healthy loudish volume on speakers, I'm reading 75dBa at the top which is extremely easy to reach in a headphone and exceed without noticing. In room, it sounds pretty robust.

Lowish volume, (when Helena's home) I'm getting a reading of 62dBa. On headphones, that sounds quiet. In room, still fine.

Background level - 54dBa.

So headphones are probably listened to at much louder volumes without realising.

Had it been a C weighting, it would have read higher though.

Oh - you have a posh meter!!

I keep mine handy just to check occasionally if I think something is getting a bit louder. Generally though, I try to keep everything low and clear. I do find that lesser headphones don't work so well at lower volumes. Once Kameleoned though, they seem to relax and come through clear at extremely low volumes!

One that is remarkably close sounding to the hd600 is the px100. That one is nice and smooth and I often use it to compliment the hd6xx if I want to move around after listening to the bigger ones. No Kameleon for that one but it is pretty good really.