Are your listening levels healthy? Doing damage?
Do you know decibel levels when listening to your system, and how loud do you go?
Since upgrading my system, again, I find my listening levels have tended to increase. Not because I'm slowly going deaf but because it's more enjoyable.
I measured the decibel level with a few iPad Apps, and there was lots of disparity. Plus or minus 25 dB.
Certainly if it's too loud I sense things are not healthy but I'd really like to know how loud things are since Google tells me prolonged listening above 70 dB could be damaging my hearing.
The apps on an iPad are clearly unreliable and now I have to contemplate spending several hundred dollars for a sound meter as well as a calibration device so I can know what my limits are and so I can be in compliance with Google.
Anyone know a good sound meter, and do most serious listeners get one of these things?
@mlsstl clever idea. @moonwatcher I’m setting up an appointment with a doc that offers the Lenire device. Not covered by insurance yet - $5,500 and the treatment period is 12 weeks. Not convinced yet but I’m going to hear the pitch (pun intended) |
@macg19 That's expensive, but less than a hearing aid. In the three clinical trials I read about with the Lenire device, about 87% said it improved their symptoms. Now, how "much" it improved their perception of it I don't know. Hopefully your doctor can clue you into his own experience with it and his patients. Good luck! |
I am lucky, i never went to any rock/pop concert young ... Younger i listened only classical not even jazz as i do now too.. My hearing is good for my age i tuned by ears my 100 helmholtz resonators in my acoustic room ...😊 Any big noise exceeding 85 db made me mad and i run.... The last live concert i goes was in a small room and amplified, it made me sick... i will listen ONLY to my audio system till my death ... When there is public pop music concert in street festivities i change my walking course... I dont understand crowds... 😁
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Industrial hygienist here, very versed in the OSHA standards. 1. For a phone app, try the NIOSH app. Clearly not as good as a top shelf sound meter, but one we use if we don't have our "good" equipment with us just to screen sound levels. Phone quality obviously plays into this, and/or whether or not your phone's speaker is dirty and caked with dust and grime. 2. 85 dB is the level at which an employer is required to have a Hearing Conservation Program, monitor employees with baseline audiograms and provide hearing protection. Hearing protection in a workplace setting MUST be worn at levels exceeding 85 dB as an 8-hour time-weighted average (which basically means, if your work environment is really loud, right around 85 dB (+/- 2 dB or so) for your entire work shift, you need to be wearing appropriate hearing protection. In practical terms for home audio, you're probably not listening for 8+ hours at levels above 85 dB. If you are, you're destroying your hearing. Intermittent excursion above 85 dB won't destroy your hearing, but could still do damage. So, glad to report that those who identified 85 dB as the magic number.........all get a blue star for the forehead (for those who remember that kind of grade school stuff). |
