6 ms·

At age 32 my hearing is apparently at the level of a 66 year old. I'm not much of a concert attender nor drug user so the only real explanation the doctor could

by hoggle 11y ago

At age 32 my hearing is apparently at the level of a 66 year old. I'm not much of a concert attender nor drug user so the only real explanation the doctor could give for my disappointing audiogram was my habit of regularly working with headphones on (I always took care of moderate volume, mind you). I wasn't expecting this result at all, I actually thought my hearing was perfect but hearing loss starts at the highest frequencies and continues to the lower frequencies exponentially. The route towards "Sorry, what did you say?" doesn't take as long as you might suspect.

kazinator 11y ago
Get a second opinion. Maybe they are trying to sell you on expensive hearing aids. It's also possible you didn't ever have great hearing. (Do you have any "before" audiogram to compare against, from when you were a child?)
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  Uh, seriously? Right now we have a huge public health issue with young people and hearing loss. It isn't some scam. Turns out the ipod/iphone revolution came with some external costs. http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/one-billion-young-people-risk-hearing-loss-from-loud-music/2723230.html http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/one-billion-young... "If a person takes a subway to go from one place to the other for half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening, and every day has to turn up the volume on his device because there is so much of noise of the train and everything around, and is listening to - let us say 100 db (decibels) for one hour every day, his hearing is going to get irreversibly damaged in a few years, in a couple of years time, for sure." --- Instead of subway, replace that with loud open-plan office and instead of one hour per day, replace that with 8+ hours. I think we need to address hearing damage the same way we started addressing RSI in the office back in the 80s. There are a lot of people who have no idea how much they are damaging their ears.
  - mondoshawan 11y ago
    How about both? Taking BART into SF for an hour every day, then wearing headphones the entire workday because of the open floor plan. I do this now -- pretty worried about my hearing...
    - MetaCosm 11y ago
      Focus on noise isolation. Using ER-4P (https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html) with triple-flange tips is about the best you can get. Better even than $1000+ customs (exception made for Noble silicon customs).
      - mpdehaan2 11y ago
        I mostly have experience with Westone or Shure's, but I like Comply foam tips a lot better - more comfortable, anyway. Worth checking out. http://www.complyfoam.com/ http://www.complyfoam.com/
        yarrel 11y ago
        Oh yeah those are really comfortable. I found they broke/wore out quickly though.
      - Symbiote 11y ago
        Is it healthy to wear these every day? I have some Etymotic earplugs, which I use at nightclubs, gigs and concerts, but from the way they feel I don't think it would be good for my ears to use them daily.
        lukev 11y ago
        Assuming you aren't actually pushing them in far enough to press against your eardrums, you're fine. The physical feeling you get is just pressure on your outer ear canal - it might be uncomfortable (though it shouldn't be, try a different size plug) but it won't lead to hearing loss. The kind of hearing loss that article is talking about is only caused by exposure to loud noise, and you're only going to be better off wearing earplugs for that.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
dominotw 11y ago
Thats crazy, I am sorry. Is the hearing loss irreversible ?
- paublyrne 11y ago
  Hearing loss is indeed irreversible. So take good care of your ears, don't be complacent. (I'm a drummer)
  - duderific 11y ago
    Also a drummer here...for several years I played in extremely loud bands and went to shows without earplugs. By the time I wised up it was too late. Now I have a terrible time hearing conversations in restaurants or other situations where there is background noise. I imagine in my later years I'll probably need hearing aids.
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  Most hearing loss is
kmfrk 11y ago
Earbuds can do that; the audio "sounds" low to you, but you're only perceiving the delta between the device volume and environment noise. That's why I stopped using earbuds; when I would put my hand to my earbuds, the volume would shoot up from isolating the environment noise, and I got an idea of how loud my device actually was. I recommend noise-cancelling earphones, because they deal with the delta problem for the most part; but you can obviously still run into the problem of setting and forgetting the volume, which is fine for one thing but too loud for something else.

by hoggle 11y ago

kazinator 11y ago

Get a second opinion. Maybe they are trying to sell you on expensive hearing aids. It's also possible you didn't ever have great hearing. (Do you have any "before" audiogram to compare against, from when you were a child?)

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Uh, seriously? Right now we have a huge public health issue with young people and hearing loss. It isn't some scam. Turns out the ipod/iphone revolution came with some external costs. http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/one-billion-young-people-risk-hearing-loss-from-loud-music/2723230.html http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/one-billion-young... "If a person takes a subway to go from one place to the other for half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening, and every day has to turn up the volume on his device because there is so much of noise of the train and everything around, and is listening to - let us say 100 db (decibels) for one hour every day, his hearing is going to get irreversibly damaged in a few years, in a couple of years time, for sure." --- Instead of subway, replace that with loud open-plan office and instead of one hour per day, replace that with 8+ hours. I think we need to address hearing damage the same way we started addressing RSI in the office back in the 80s. There are a lot of people who have no idea how much they are damaging their ears.
- mondoshawan 11y ago
  How about both? Taking BART into SF for an hour every day, then wearing headphones the entire workday because of the open floor plan. I do this now -- pretty worried about my hearing...
  - MetaCosm 11y ago
    Focus on noise isolation. Using ER-4P (https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html) with triple-flange tips is about the best you can get. Better even than $1000+ customs (exception made for Noble silicon customs).
    - mpdehaan2 11y ago
      I mostly have experience with Westone or Shure's, but I like Comply foam tips a lot better - more comfortable, anyway. Worth checking out. http://www.complyfoam.com/ http://www.complyfoam.com/
      - yarrel 11y ago
        Oh yeah those are really comfortable. I found they broke/wore out quickly though.
    - Symbiote 11y ago
      Is it healthy to wear these every day? I have some Etymotic earplugs, which I use at nightclubs, gigs and concerts, but from the way they feel I don't think it would be good for my ears to use them daily.
      - lukev 11y ago
        Assuming you aren't actually pushing them in far enough to press against your eardrums, you're fine. The physical feeling you get is just pressure on your outer ear canal - it might be uncomfortable (though it shouldn't be, try a different size plug) but it won't lead to hearing loss. The kind of hearing loss that article is talking about is only caused by exposure to loud noise, and you're only going to be better off wearing earplugs for that.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

dominotw 11y ago

Thats crazy, I am sorry. Is the hearing loss irreversible ?

paublyrne 11y ago
Hearing loss is indeed irreversible. So take good care of your ears, don't be complacent. (I'm a drummer)
- duderific 11y ago
  Also a drummer here...for several years I played in extremely loud bands and went to shows without earplugs. By the time I wised up it was too late. Now I have a terrible time hearing conversations in restaurants or other situations where there is background noise. I imagine in my later years I'll probably need hearing aids.
sliverstorm 11y ago
Most hearing loss is

kmfrk 11y ago

Earbuds can do that; the audio "sounds" low to you, but you're only perceiving the delta between the device volume and environment noise. That's why I stopped using earbuds; when I would put my hand to my earbuds, the volume would shoot up from isolating the environment noise, and I got an idea of how loud my device actually was. I recommend noise-cancelling earphones, because they deal with the delta problem for the most part; but you can obviously still run into the problem of setting and forgetting the volume, which is fine for one thing but too loud for something else.