hearing loss ?

[just-some-guy]

hello, new guy here.

yes, i did my searching. didn't find what i am asking, though it may be here.
anyway.


i consider myself to be something of an audiophile. i must have my speakers placed "just right". an example. in my 1 car garage, i listen to my music most offen. i have a work bench along the back wall. i lean on the middle of this bench. and to each side, on the wall, i have a speaker placed at ear level. high powered head phones, if you will.

i have been noticing my high Hz hearing going south. somehow, i found that if i hold my nose & breath, and pressurize my upper body (for lack of a better description) . i find that much/most of my high Hz hearing loss is gone, and the music sounds much better. i have to keep doing this, as the effect doesn't last long. but it works.

my question. has anyone ever heard of this phonomena ?
what is it telling me ? i am 42 yo .

thanx

 

[MDS]

A 42 year old man likely can't hear anything above 17 kHz but that is not exactly what you are describing.

If you hold your nose and blow out (gently) to equalize the pressure in your ears do the high frequencies become clear again? If so, I'd guess it's something as simple as you need to clean excessive wax out of your ears. If not you may have some other issue that only a doctor could diagnose.

 

[Adam]

I might experience something similar, but I'm almost certain that mine is caused by pressure changes. I've always had trouble with my hearing when I fly. A common example is that as I change altitude as I drive to/from work, I lose some high-end hearing on the way. If I swallow hard, I can hear fine again.

You might want to try taking some Sudafed (or whatever it's called these days), or perhaps even see an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor.

 

[rnatalli]

Did you have the flu recently? Sometimes this sort of thing lingers long after your flu has passed.

 

[just-some-guy]

i will have to get out my test cd and test my hearing. but i suspect that i could hear the higher hz, if they were loud enough(even before my holding nose thing). its just that my ears seem to be somewhat plugged, and attenuate the entire spectrum..... i tried the home ear wax clearing kit, didn't make any difference. i will try the sudafed thing. but this is all the time. and i hardly ever get colds. perhaps i do need to see a dr.

thank you, gentlemen/(ladies ?)

 

[skizzerflake]

I'd suggest checking with a MD. I had a similar problem that got worse when I got wet (water in the ears). The earwax kits you get in the pharmacy do very little but when I went to the MD, they sent me to a tech who used a water-pick (the kind you use on your teeth) and that reamed out an amazing amount of wax. The cleaning was a miserable experience (you can imagine the noise) but I gained about 5 db and 3000 hz of highs.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You might want to try taking some Sudafed (or whatever it's called these days), or perhaps even see an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor.

Because of all those Methamphetamine labs on the streets, it may be a little bit hard to get Sudafed (plain pseudoephedrine). It's easier to get a combination product like pseudoephedrine + Tylenol or + an antihistamine (like chlorpheniramine).