Ear ringing affecting the enjoyment of home theater

[Klipschhead302]

Well, with projects going on the Doctor appointment will be made in September, everybody makes good points, I believe it is here to stay. I have noticed that I am still enjoying movies but most of the time I have them quiet unless it's more of a dynamic movie. Nothing I have tried, quiet room, plugs, many of the things mentioned in this thread hasn't brought it down and I wasn't expecting it to.

I know it's not Meniere's but worried about it initially because my Grandmother died during an episode impacting her balance.

I'll see what happens when I finally get to see the Doc, thanks for the responses everybody.

 

[killdozzer]

This has to be the saddest thread of this forum by far.

You got me down, guys.

 

[Alex2507]

What you need is a bigger amp. If you give us an idea of what your budget is ...

There's no real help for tinnitus and it's gonna get louder as you get older so make sure your new amp is a powerhouse.

 

[Pogre]

What you need is a bigger amp. If you give us an idea of what your budget is ...

There's no real help for tinnitus and it's gonna get louder as you get older so make sure your new amp is a powerhouse.

Yup, that's what I did.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

I see the articles about tinnitus, and I've noticed when simply scrolling to the very bottom of the article it usually turns out to be a sales pitch for some kind of herbs or vitamins "designed" to "cure" hearing problems.

 

[dre23456]

I've had ringing in my ears for several years and have gotten used to it as background noise. I also I did one of those UTube hearing frequency tests and I seem to lose hearing at about 8000 hz. I'm 62 so that's life. But I just put in a 7.1 in the living room and after a day or so the ringing has increased. The volume is typical for TV watching. Not loud. I wonder if adjusting levels to reduce a particular speaker type would help. This is a pretty esoteric question but does anyone know if a high or low pitch would impinge more on the ear drum? The subwoofer was initially set only 4 feet away and I could feel the pressure in my ears so I moved it and turned it down. Ringing still increases after about an hour of listening. I really don't want to have to turn it off.

 

[TLS Guy]

I've had ringing in my ears for several years and have gotten used to it as background noise. I also I did one of those UTube hearing frequency tests and I seem to lose hearing at about 8000 hz. I'm 62 so that's life. But I just put in a 7.1 in the living room and after a day or so the ringing has increased. The volume is typical for TV watching. Not loud. I wonder if adjusting levels to reduce a particular speaker type would help. This is a pretty esoteric question but does anyone know if a high or low pitch would impinge more on the ear drum? The subwoofer was initially set only 4 feet away and I could feel the pressure in my ears so I moved it and turned it down. Ringing still increases after about an hour of listening. I really don't want to have to turn it off.

Well obviously this system is harming your hearing so something will have to change.

Certainly bass sounds can be harmful, and excess high frequency sound. However the biggest culprit is too many db.

Now the quality of the equipment matters, especially the speakers.

What speakers are you using? One of the big issues is that many so called Hi-Fi speakers are actually not very good. There are far too many of them about. For HT, speech clarity without "shout" is very important. Far too many rigs have poor speech intelligibility at normal conversational speech levels. This is a big problem.

In addition people tend to turn the sub up far too high. Did you set your speaker levels by Audessy, or some other set up program in the speakers?

Lastly you should get a hand held db meter to see what the sound pressure level actually is in your listening room, especially the minimal level at which you can easily understand the dialog.

You do need to attend to this issue, otherwise this rig may well make you profoundly deaf.

You should get a professional audiogram done.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

I've had tinnitus most of my life, but I can still hear steady-state (what an audiologist uses to test your hearing) to 17,500 Hz. Your hearing and tinnitus are not directly correlated. Hearing damage from loud sound can cause both hearing loss and tinnitus, but one doesn't necessarily lead to the other.

I can still hear the flyback transformer in CRT monitors and televisions, and I can hear the so-called "mosquito noise" that is supposed to annoy teenagers.

If your hearing is damaged due to long term noise, you can lose frequency response. People who need hearing aids have issues in the high midrange, where speech frequencies lie.

Short-term very loud exposure might bring on temporary ringing, but not tinnitus or frequency loss.

Repeated very loud exposure can bring on tinnitus, but not frequency loss. Long term exposure, at a significantly lower level can bring on frequency loss, with or without tinnitus accompanying it.

Ear damage is as much about exposure time as it is level. 110 dB for 10 minutes might be OK, while 100 dB for 10 hours will cause damage.

In our current world, hearing protection is so cheap there is no reason not to use it. Dropping the Sound Pressure Level 10 dB is huge when it comes to protecting your hearing, and you can get that from a 50 cent foam earplug. After a few moments you adjust to the lower SPL and can hear everything well, so there's no reason not to use it. More expensive protection offers near 20 dB of attenuation.

My tinnitus doesn't detract from my enjoyment of HiFi or movies, in fact whenever there is something to listen to, your attention is drawn to it rather than the ringing, and it's as if you aren't afflicted at all. In a quiet room, trying to sleep, that's when it becomes very noticeable.

I also have another strange (to doctors) thing where I can hear the blood pumping via my ears; I can "take my pulse" without touching my neck or wrist. Again, not noticeable except when it's super quiet. And finally I can ... don't ask me how ... reduce the level of noise by some muscle movement in my head. I can't really describe what I'm doing, but it does involve a gentle tensing of my facial or neck muscles somehow.

Just typing about the subject here, it's very noticeable. For my day up to now, I didn't notice it. If you do have tinnitus, I suggest you listen to more, not less, music through your sound system.

If it bothers you while viewing movies, perhaps your centre channel could use an upgrade; that's where intelligibility of dialog resides, mostly, with multichannel. In fact the centre channel is arguably the most important one with multichannel setups.

 

[MrBoat]

Hope y'all know, I'm taking notes. . . . next time someone tells me about Audessy or room modes and you're on that list. . . .

J/K of course. I am very lucky having been in construction/industry my entire life. This recent revisit into audio does have me listening quieter than I used to by far and I do have a db meter. It's been more about the quality of sound and the type of music I tend to listen to these days.

Fortunately for me, the bass and effects from HT irks me. I just don't need it to connect the imaginative association or the need for realism there. Having grown up on the cusp of B/W- colored TV and having most of my entertainment coming from reading books as a youngster, has probably helped keep that threshold low.

Hopefully the condition is temporary or that your brain learns to cancel most of it over time.

 

[andyblackcat]

I drink orange juice it seems to help as sort of remedy. I had since 1979 more less same year I saw Battlestar Galatica in SENSURROUND which was the only powerful sound system that I could have possible been exposed to its 120db! Mostly nighttime noticed this hissing sound both ears that has come an gone on and off now since 1979 aged 12 at the time. since the late 70's and early 80's been into drinking orange juice and unaware of what I had till my doctor diagnosed me around mid 90's with Tinnitus.

I stumbled on this video thou few years old and I read that using sine wave tones at low level can sort of canal the noise out.

I tried hissing in my ears years ago by cupping my hand around my moth and the other hand around each ear and gently make high hissing that when I looked at on an RTA is around so 8khz. What I noticed was something that reminded me of audio compression when set at different threshold and release time the sound raises slowly upwards. That's what I noticed many seconds or so of relief but it soon comes back. I seen other videos that its nose related with pressure build up? That makes sense to me. I just wished I never saw Battlestar Galactica but how was I to know what db was back then if I knew it was going to be possible harmful I would have covered my ears.

 

[TechHDS]

I have tendinitis, some days it’s bad some not so. Working near engines, and of course loud music all had a hand in me getting this. Sometimes it’s not there but on the days it’s bad can drive me nuts!! My Doctor said there is a med for it but expensive and you have to take it for a. year, I wear ear plus when cutting grass, when I worked in the oilfield Gulf of Mexico I was exposed to very loud Diesel engines. Really huge engines, you could stand in one of the Piston boars in the Engine block. I wore ear plugs all the time out there. I’m 60 years old now and my hearing is good. As I type this post it’s very low but I just woke up 45 minutes ago.

Mike

 

[andyblackcat]

Well, with projects going on the Doctor appointment will be made in September, everybody makes good points, I believe it is here to stay. I have noticed that I am still enjoying movies but most of the time I have them quiet unless it's more of a dynamic movie. Nothing I have tried, quiet room, plugs, many of the things mentioned in this thread hasn't brought it down and I wasn't expecting it to.

I know it's not Meniere's but worried about it initially because my Grandmother died during an episode impacting her balance.

I'll see what happens when I finally get to see the Doc, thanks for the responses everybody.

It sounds like with mine a hissing white noise at high frequency that Yes can mask some quiet high frequencies. I've struggled at times when it has been I guess few db louder not in the sense of you know as only suffers can notice it. Sounds to me like below 20db? Who knows? Last year I wanted to punch the wall as it been taxing for 4 or 5 days in row at loud level and was really getting to me I just had to bite my tongue.

 

[andyblackcat]

I have tendinitis, some days it’s bad some not so. Working near engines, and of course loud music all had a hand in me getting this. Sometimes it’s not there but on the days it’s bad can drive me nuts!! My Doctor said there is a med for it but expensive and you have to take it for a. year, I wear ear plus when cutting grass, when I worked in the oilfield Gulf of Mexico I was exposed to very loud Diesel engines. Really huge engines, you could stand in one of the Piston boars in the Engine block. I wore ear plugs all the time out there. I’m 60 years old now and my hearing is good. As I type this post it’s very low but I just woke up 45 minutes ago.

Mike

Same here I wear earplugs if using electrical drill a handsaw even a hammer as the loudness of the real world can't be level controlled like fabricated audio systems. Sometimes wear earplugs when walking down to the shops to reduce sound of traffic db noise. But the downside is I hear THUMP! THUMP! Of my own footsteps as inner head cavity noise and that means I have to walk slower there is no way getting around it.

 

[TechHDS]

Same here I wear earplugs if using electrical drill a handsaw even a hammer as the loudness of the real world can't be level controlled like fabricated audio systems. Sometimes wear earplugs when walking down to the shops to reduce sound of traffic db noise. But the downside is I hear THUMP! THUMP! Of my own footsteps as inner head cavity noise and that means I have to walk slower there is no way getting around it.

Bro, lol thump thump, I know feeling. We all know those things can damage our hearing sometimes permanently we take our hearing for granite.

Mike

 

[theJman]

I drink orange juice it seems to help as sort of remedy. I had since 1979 more less same year I saw Battlestar Galatica in SENSURROUND which was the only powerful sound system that I could have possible been exposed to its 120db! Mostly nighttime noticed this hissing sound both ears that has come an gone on and off now since 1979 aged 12 at the time. since the late 70's and early 80's been into drinking orange juice and unaware of what I had till my doctor diagnosed me around mid 90's with Tinnitus.

I stumbled on this video thou few years old and I read that using sine wave tones at low level can sort of canal the noise out.

My tinnitus has become increasingly distracting and invasive the past few years. It is now so pronounced that it's begun to effect my sleep, which has more impact on my ability to function than I would have assumed. I wish OJ or some auditory therapy could minimize the problem but thus far no such remedy exists for me.

 

[andyblackcat]

My tinnitus has become increasingly distracting and invasive the past few years. It is now so pronounced that it's begun to effect my sleep, which has more impact on my ability to function than I would have assumed. I wish OJ or some auditory therapy could minimize the problem but thus far no such remedy exists for me.

Do you consult you're GP of possible remedies that may have eluded? Keep searching there's bound to be something out there that may give you relief.

 

[andyblackcat]

Bro, lol thump thump, I know feeling. We all know those things can damage our hearing sometimes permanently we take our hearing for granite.

Mike

Its true. "thump, thump" without wearing earplugs its not noticeable and same goes with talking you can hear a deep in-head cavity when you lower or modulate the tone of your voice so no getting around it.

I wonder when we are inside our mother do we hear sounds that we can remember and inside the womb. I would say we hear a muffled and defused confusing world on the outside and maybe wish I was back inside as the outside of this world is noisy. Yeah I lived a quiet life for 9 months plus 12 years before Sensurround gave me tinnitus.

Wearing earplugs at present. If tiptoeing you don't hear the thumping noise. Its the heel that transmits most of the thump noise to head and ears. Edit: of walking slowly its minimized but everyone else will be looking at you wondering why, walking so slowly.

If the brain is the key to transmitting the noise not our ears (gritting my teeth) no I don't think I want some RF signal or other to cure it may do some other damage.

 

[theJman]

Do you consult you're GP of possible remedies that may have eluded? Keep searching there's bound to be something out there that may give you relief.

I've been to several different ENT's over the years and the result is always the same; "you have tinnitus but there's nothing we can do about it". I had one try to prescribe some anti-depressant but I'm not depressed, just tired of the constant ringing. It does get frustrating though.

 

[andyblackcat]

I've been to several different ENT's over the years and the result is always the same; "you have tinnitus but there's nothing we can do about it". I had one try to prescribe some anti-depressant but I'm not depressed, just tired of the constant ringing. It does get frustrating though.

I take anti-depressants it mellows me down. I believe they used to call it a "happy pill".

The only time I don't notice it is when getting some sleep .... then when I wake up I hear its still with me. When I was a child aged 12, I thought it was some imaginary-friend at night time and would get excited about it. Now I realize when my doctor told me mid '90's it was called, tinnitus and explained about it.

Often I hear a middle tone in my right ear sounds like 300hz tone when waking up on most months it comes around and when standing up vertically walking around for less than minute it clears away ... Strange?