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AirPods causing tinnitus?

discussions.apple.com

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Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#101

Post by qwertox »

blindriver wrote: post #4

I wonder if it's the noise cancellation causing problems. I definitely hear a high-pitched noise from the noise cancellation feature and rarely use it at all specifically because of that, except very infrequently like on planes. Maybe the high frequency noise is damaging the ear drums at high frequencies? But I can definitely say I do not have tinnitus despite wearing AirPod Maxes quite often.

I'm convinced that this is it. The DSPs and speakers aren't fast enough to instantly create a counterwave, so I guess sometimes it will amplify the external sound, even in some kind of distorted manner since even the amplification-component won't be identical to the incoming external sound.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#102

Post by projectazorian »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #84
llanowarelves wrote: post #57

Hearing loss is very serious. You know your body better than anyone else so don't be afraid to be its biggest advocate and protector. Nobody else will. I once had tinnitus for a week after a concert and it was one of the worst weeks of my life, it felt like it would last forever (and for some people, it does). I had pristine, "golden ears" for audio engineering and was afraid about how much I'd be able to recover. I…

> I once had tinnitus for a week after a concert This is impossible for me. As a self proclaimed hypersensitive person with hyperacusis and misophonia, I would rather fight and claw my way out of any kind of concert or disco rather than suffering from the loud noises. Any kind of concert or disco noise means intense pain to me. Like getting stabbed in the ears. I found a solution and peace in ear plugs, with them I c…

> Now one question for you: I do realize the majority of humans can stand those levels of noise without earplugs and without any apparent discomfort. Do all you normies and neurotypicals simply do not have this intense pain reaction to loud noise? How the hell could you suffer through a concert so loud it gave you tinnitus without passing out from pain?

Most venues have terrible sound. This can be the result of bad acoustics, a poor quality/poorly tuned sound system, or performers who don’t know what they are doing and think loud = good sound. When I’m in one of those I have your reaction.

In venues with a well-tuned, high quality soundsystem being used properly, your ears shouldn’t hurt much.

But why run the risk of damaging your hearing? Everyone should be wearing earplugs at live events anyway.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#103

Post by hn92726819 »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #84
llanowarelves wrote: post #57

Hearing loss is very serious. You know your body better than anyone else so don't be afraid to be its biggest advocate and protector. Nobody else will. I once had tinnitus for a week after a concert and it was one of the worst weeks of my life, it felt like it would last forever (and for some people, it does). I had pristine, "golden ears" for audio engineering and was afraid about how much I'd be able to recover. I…

> I once had tinnitus for a week after a concert This is impossible for me. As a self proclaimed hypersensitive person with hyperacusis and misophonia, I would rather fight and claw my way out of any kind of concert or disco rather than suffering from the loud noises. Any kind of concert or disco noise means intense pain to me. Like getting stabbed in the ears. I found a solution and peace in ear plugs, with them I c…

I'm the exact same way. I assume our brain translates loud noises into physical side effects while normal brains just don't. Same way anxiety, or an anxiety disorder, can cause physical effects like sweating or increased heart rates when having symptoms.

Personally, I like it because I worry about hearing loss and it's a kind of protective measure, while other people don't seem to care when they're damaging their ears. I also hate it because I can look like a lunatic getting physically uncomfortable when everyone else is fine.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#105

Post by brundolf »

jws wrote: post #23

More anecdotes! I use the AirPod Pros many hours a day and have mild tinnitus. I find the noise canceling makes me more aware of the singing in my ears. I don't live in a place where silence happens, but the cancelling will kill the outside noise enough for me to remember that the ears are always singing to themselves. For people experiencing loud noises, be aware that if the microphones can come loose, then they can…

Yeah, I got a very early pair and they started to break down after about a month. Random pops and sharp high-pitched sounds, before eventually they stopped working at all

A few months ago I decided to see if they'd worked out the kinks and got a new pair of Gen 2 ones. Those have been working pretty much flawlessly

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#106

Post by wnevets »

Whenever I find myself saying this music isn't loud enough I better turn it up, I stop and assume that actually means I need to do the opposite or turn it off.

Even moderate volume is bad over time, the louder the sound the less time your ears can be exposed to it. I wouldn't be surprised if this rule also applies to ANR.

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#109

Post by mdmglr »

fwlr wrote: post #98

Lifelong tinnitus sufferer here. The prevailing theory (edit: this is misleading, it is not the “prevailing theory”, I typed that without thinking. It is actually a new-ish/fringe-ish alternative to the actual prevailing theory of accumulated damage to ear fibers): The theory I subscribe to is that tinnitus is a breakdown of the ears’ and/or brain’s noise filtering and suppression mechanisms. Long-term use of white n…

My ENT recommended white noise long term especially for sleeping which I’ve been using for months. Based on everything I’ve googled the last few months this is the first time I’m reading the claim that “ breakdown of the ears’ and/or brain’s noise filtering and suppression mechanisms.” so I’m a little skeptical in what you are saying.

My understanding is that tinnitus is the damage to the hairs in the cochlea. Which causes the audio processing nerves to have issues. Not anything to do with noise filtering.

However as I’ve been suffering from tinnitus I don’t want to discount anything you are saying. Do you manually adjust volume or are you doing something automated? How can I do the same?

Re: AirPods causing tinnitus?

#110

Post by originalvichy »

qwertox wrote: post #90

I have the feeling that this is related to noise cancelling in general. I have some Sennheiser over-ear headphones with ANC and initially I had the same feeling. After using them I notice that my ringing (I already had tinnitus) got worse. It wears off after half a day or more, but it's slowly getting worse overall. My theory is that it's not possible to create an exact counterwave, so occasionally the delayed ANC "c…

My totally non-scientifi guess why ANC is uncomfortable is that it could be ear ”fatigue”. What you said about the imperfect noise counterwave is what I’m guessing is the source of fatigue in the ear, because even though your surroundings sound more quiet, the ear canal is getting blasted by soundwaves right next to it.

If I focus I can clearly feel my ears in ”active” mode when using ANC. A sort of soft pressure. I have a feeling ANC silence is not real silence.

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