Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on May 22, 2014 19:53:31 GMT
I was chatting to a guy at work today concerning Solderdude's work on getting headphones to measure as flat as possible.
The guy I was talking to started to describe possible hearing damage associated with sharp spikes. He was saying that headphones with large peaks could actually damage your hearing at the frequency of the peak.
If you listen loud (he said) then the peak is extremely loud in comparison to the rest of the spectrum and continual listening, day after day on the same headphone could result in hearing damage at the peak's frequency!!
I've been listening at low volume since he said that!!!!
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on May 22, 2014 20:42:16 GMT
I think listening loud for prolonged periods of time is never a smart thing.
When you look at headphones with treble spikes as high as + 10dB (there are many of those) than the treble energy of a flat headphone is 10dB less than a 'normal' one. Examples are nearly all 'beyer phones', AKG phones, Grado phones, HD681 etc.
Those high treble peaks are removed after a headphone is 'flattened'.
(edited)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2014 20:54:45 GMT
Perhaps the guy could give us some numbers and or research that tells us flat measuring headphones are dangerous and darker sounding ones are not ? Frans, I read Ian's post to mean that the guy was warning of the dangers of high volumes when listening to phones that aren't flat. Jeff
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on May 22, 2014 21:19:56 GMT
Sorry Frans. My clumsy wording. He was saying that your process of getting a flatter response made for a much safer headphone. We were talking about the T40 that you modded for me and he started talking about the 'dangers' of some headphones given the trait of raised bass and treble responses along with anomalies and peaks particularly in the treble of so many modern headphones. Of course, there are no peaks on the T40 so they are a lot safer to listen on for longer periods.
This followed me listening on Grados for extended periods and getting slight tinnitus in the top range of my hearing for a few days afterwards. The Grados seem to set my ears off ringing; even at lower volume. Probably at the same frequency as the spike on the Grados. So my ears had been continuously bombarded at a higher volume at that peak, resulting in my ears ringing.
He was saying that the T40 would be massively safer to listen to than many other headphones because of its flat response.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on May 23, 2014 4:52:26 GMT
Ah... I see I read it 'the other way around' Strange how the brain works some time, after your replies I read the first post again (read it twice the first time) and now totally makes sense where it didn't so much before. It read a bit like this picture for me: Edited my previous post for good measure.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on May 23, 2014 5:00:07 GMT
In fact, this guy was saying that he thought it would be a good idea if ALL headphones were flattened out like my t40.
It might save the NHS a lot of money in 20 years time!!
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on May 23, 2014 8:37:24 GMT
Still... my question remains.
Is there any research he knows of where this phenomenon is investigated or is it just an (educated) guess, because you wrote 'could actually damage your hearing' not 'is found to be responsible for hearing damage' I am not aware of any research done in this area but if there is would like to read about it.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 23, 2014 9:14:06 GMT
My answer to this is that, on the basis of probability (and common sense dare I say? ) it would appear to be a real possibility so why risk it? IMO one's hearing is far too important to take unnecessary risks with - I speak as one whose hearing has been damaged by occasional exposure over a long period to loud (industrial) noises (and old age ) . Dave.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on May 23, 2014 15:32:36 GMT
I doubt whether this involved any research Frans. I think the word 'could' May be more important than 'actually'.
He was chatting about headphones fr after looking at and listening to the t40 with the filter.
I guess if there is a 10db peak as some headphones show on measurements and it adds little to the perceived presence of the music, then the listener will naturally turn the volume up to a louder level so the 10 db peak is also turned up and it's quite a bit louder than the perceived presence?
Quite a few Grado users in the past have reported tinnitus appearing after extended listening and this is what I got. He was trying to explain what might have caused it with Grados in particular but didn't go so far as to try to prove his point with research or collected data.
I'm lucky that my hearing seems to have escaped damage in spite of work, but then I've always plugged up or had a headphone on to lower the live volume that my ears receive. For some reason though, I have been finding that my Grados set something off if I listen for longer periods.
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