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We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

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Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#271

Post by radus »

goda90 wrote: post #241
RonanTheGrey wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been my experience that most places can reduce volume levels (music, theaters etc) about 10-15% without loss of experience or fidelity and I have taken to actually asking managers to turn down volume because my ears actually hurt . It's loud for the sake of loud. I can't understand why the music in a restaurant needs to be so loud that I have to scream at the people at my table to be heard. Obviously we're screa…

I've gone to two rock concerts that the volume was so loud that is was distorting the music. Of course my ears hurt, so I took to covering them a bit. My friend often goes to concerts and wasn't phased at all. I imagine the people in charge of sound have already lost some hearing, and they don't care if it sounds great or not.

Depending on the particular band it's possible that they use distortion as part of their sound..

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#272

Post by Cuckoo123 »

RonanTheGrey wrote: post #239
reeddavid wrote: post #233

There are many calls for personal responsibility here. But I think the average person is not making a choice to sustain permanent hearing damage – most people don't know the risks. I used to own a decible meter. I brought it to a movie theater (large chain) and found sustained volume of 100+ decibels. It was physically painful. I was the only customer who complained to the theater. I asked what sound level they inten…

It's been my experience that most places can reduce volume levels (music, theaters etc) about 10-15% without loss of experience or fidelity and I have taken to actually asking managers to turn down volume because my ears actually hurt . It's loud for the sake of loud. I can't understand why the music in a restaurant needs to be so loud that I have to scream at the people at my table to be heard. Obviously we're screa…

I'd always assumed (maybe wrongly) that restaurants and bars played music loudly so that patrons couldn't hold a proper conversation, and thus, drank more instead.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#273

Post by debatem1 »

olyjohn wrote: post #199
kick wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could just not go. There's no reason other people should have to compensate for your sensitivity and lack of willingness to wear hearing protection.

Right, I like the loud music. But I don't go very frequently at all. I've been to a handful of shows, and the loud ones are always better to me. My ears ring afterwards, I know it's bad for my hearing. If I went all the time I'd definitely bring earplugs. How many times do you have to go to loud concerts before you buy a set of earplugs? They even sell them at damn near every show I've been to, and disclaimers all ov…

Don't buy the crappy foam ones, especially at the price they sell them for at venues. They make good ones that are intended for exactly this use case (earasers, eargasm, etc etc etc) and do the job really well. You can often find them on sale for around $15.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#274

Post by lazyasciiart »

kick wrote: post #186
lazyasciiart wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, you shouldn't expect to cuddle the speakers - but I go to live shows in small venues where I'm trying to dig myself into the wall at the furthest point from the speakers because it's too loud. They just need to turn it down.

Or you could just not go. There's no reason other people should have to compensate for your sensitivity and lack of willingness to wear hearing protection.

What makes you think that I'm more sensitive than average, or that I'm not wearing earplugs? Perhaps you're just unfamiliar with this kind of live show in a bar.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#275

Post by brettnak »

reeddavid wrote: post #233

There are many calls for personal responsibility here. But I think the average person is not making a choice to sustain permanent hearing damage – most people don't know the risks. I used to own a decible meter. I brought it to a movie theater (large chain) and found sustained volume of 100+ decibels. It was physically painful. I was the only customer who complained to the theater. I asked what sound level they inten…

The movie theater one is actually kind of interesting. There is a certain maximum audio power that a room can sustain before loosing fidelity. I think _all_ sound engineers know about this, but a projectionist with a volume knob probably does not.

Next time you're in a place where the audio is too loud for you to hear, try to listen carefully for a few seconds. You might discover that despite being too loud, it actually sounds bad, and reducing the volume would actually _improve_ the audio fidelity.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#276

Post by brentis »

This has merit. You guys do know this trick too?

Place the palms of your hands over your ears so your fingers wrap around the back of your head.

Set your middle fingers on the top of your neck right at the base of your skull.

Put your index fingers on top of your middle fingers and apply pressure.

Now snap them on the back of your head over and over like you’re drumming.

Repeat it about 30-50 times.

Ideally, when you pull your hands away, you won’t hear any ringing, hissing, or buzzing anymore. When I tried it, there was definitely a huge difference and bizarre inner calm that came over me. I wouldn’t say it’s a miracle trick or anything, but to experience what true quiet is even for a few minutes is amazing.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#277

Post by magduf »

bsimpson wrote: post #268
magduf wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like me; I seem to have great hearing (I can still hear those "mosquito" devices used to annoy teenagers even though I'm over 40), but I have a hard time understanding human speech when there's a lot of ambient noise. Noisy restaurants are very unpleasant for me, and I'm constantly asking people to repeat themselves.

I had that experience after attending an overly loud concert a couple months ago - had a much easier time hearing the cacophony of noise in the cafe than I did the person I was supposed to be having lunch with. Got a hearing test and learned I have better than average hearing for a person in his 30s, but there's no baseline since I hadn't been tested as an adult before. Still haven't figured out if the concert gave m…

I always, always wear earplugs to concerts. Once you have hearing damage, it never gets better.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#278

Post by lazyasciiart »

ubercow13 wrote: post #225
lazyasciiart wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, you shouldn't expect to cuddle the speakers - but I go to live shows in small venues where I'm trying to dig myself into the wall at the furthest point from the speakers because it's too loud. They just need to turn it down.

Have you heard how loud an unamplified acoustic drum kit is in a small venue? It would be loud enough to damage your ears alone. On top of that for many kinds of music, drums have to be amplified to give them a certain sound. Then everything else has to be brought up to that volume.

Yes, and "they just need to turn it down" is certainly oversimplified. Roughly speaking, nobody considers "it's too loud" a significant problem, and so nobody puts in any effort to solve it at any level, including venue design. I was mostly responding to the silly statement that people who think it's loud must be "cuddling speakers".

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#279

Post by [deleted] »

brentis wrote: post #276

This has merit. You guys do know this trick too? Place the palms of your hands over your ears so your fingers wrap around the back of your head. Set your middle fingers on the top of your neck right at the base of your skull. Put your index fingers on top of your middle fingers and apply pressure. Now snap them on the back of your head over and over like you’re drumming. Repeat it about 30-50 times. Ideally, when you…

[deleted]

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#280

Post by defulmere »

brentis wrote: post #276

This has merit. You guys do know this trick too? Place the palms of your hands over your ears so your fingers wrap around the back of your head. Set your middle fingers on the top of your neck right at the base of your skull. Put your index fingers on top of your middle fingers and apply pressure. Now snap them on the back of your head over and over like you’re drumming. Repeat it about 30-50 times. Ideally, when you…

I've tried this and while it really does seem effective for a minute or so for me, I'm still not convinced that it's not just an auditory illusion, like the tinnitus is somehow pushed aside by the sensation of the sudden (comparative) silence that starts the instant that you stop drumming on the back of your head.
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