4 ms·

I feel your pain. One thing that used to really irk me was a manager (with an office) that would have loud speakerphone conversations with the door wide open...

by 6DM 10y ago

I feel your pain. One thing that used to really irk me was a manager (with an office) that would have loud speakerphone conversations with the door wide open... I used to use ear buds to block it out, but I don't recommend it. It actually does damage your hearing. I didn't figure that out for a while. Luckily my hearing has seemed to improve a bit. I highly recommend over the ear noise cancelling head phones. They get rid of the office A/C sounds, turn the volume down on voices and are less damaging.

pzh 10y ago
I'm curious... could you explain what you specifically meant by ear-buds being damaging to your hearing? Were you blasting the volume to drown out environment noise or were you talking about noise-canceling earphones? (I personally use noise-canceling earphones a lot, and the only bad thing I've heard is that they may cause vertigo in some people...)
- 6DM 10y ago
  I was turning the volume up loud enough to drown out the loud conversations when using ear-buds. By damaging, I mean I was constantly asking people to repeat them selves because while I could hear them I couldn't distinguish their words. Not everyone was like that, just moderate to soft spoken people or those with deep voices. I didn't make the connection until I happened across one article about it, which I think was posted here. The only thing I don't like about noise-canceling headphones is that I can't just wear them without sound. It creates a kind of pressure on my ear drums that just feels weird to me.
  - zzalpha 10y ago
    In-ear headphones? All the benefits of passive noise cancellation without big hefty cans on your head. I switched to them mainly to protect my hearing (I tend to listen to music on the bus or on airplanes where there's a lot of ambient noise, and with open-air buds I had to crank the volume) but they're also a godsend in the workplace when I really need to focus (and I have a private office).
  - gingerrr 10y ago
    Only anecdata, but I used to feel the same way about noise-canceling headphones without sound playing. After a cross-ocean trip where my devices all died and I was only left with the unsoothing silent hiss, my ears adjusted to it. It's just a matter of sticking it out long enough that your ears get over the weirdness, and now I can actually use them to just cancel noise rather than mask with other noise. Of course, if it's a painful pressure, please don't risk it :)
  - jordwest 10y ago
    I had the same feeling when I first bought noise cancelling phones. From what I recall (and don't have any references on me) this is because they tend to filter out the lower frequency sounds, which your brain associates with a pressure change. After some time wearing them on silent, I've found that the sensation goes away. Still, I usually use rainymood.com to block out the other subtle sounds that get through.
  - kough 10y ago
    I had the same issue with noise-cancelling headphones (the bose qc 20 in-ears) where I couldn't wear them without sound pumping through them, so I ended up buying a pair of custom-molded in ear monitors (IEM is the search keyword to learn more). For a little cheaper than the price of the bose headphones, I had an audiologist take molds of my inner ear and then sent them to a guy in Poland (http://thecustomart.com/music_art-custom.php http://thecustomart.com/music_art-custom.php), who made me the best pair of headphones I've ever used. Noise cancelling is on-par or better than the Bose headphones, but all passive, and they sound fucking amazing. Highly recommend looking into this or another custom IEM solution -- it's made me a lot happier and more productive and less worried about hearing loss. One question that the audiologist answered that you might want to know -- the noise-cancelling hiss has no impact on your hearing in a short-term or long-term way, so it is totally safe to use them without music or with low music all the time.
    - barabba 10y ago
      Can I ask you which model you did buy? I am in the process of doing precisely the same and wondering if their acrylic models are isolating enough. Silicon apparently isolates better but requires more maintenance, makes them more difficult to insert and remove, and I'm not fully convinced I should go for a Music Two sound-wise. Thanks a bunch!
      - kough 10y ago
        I bought the Custom Art Music One that I linked to in the above post. Most of the reviews I'd read agreed that it was an insanely good deal considering the quality-per-dollar ratio. And I don't regret it. Maintenance: there's a little wire loop with a plastic handle included in the pelican case it ships with, lets you clean wax out of the canal. Tip: if you think one of your headphones is dead, just clean the wax out of the canal, it was blocking the sound. That's it – super simple, no idea what other maintenance you might be talking about. Insertion/removal: nope, still quite easy. You have to give them a slight twist but definitely not hard. Can't speak to the Music Two vs. Music One because I only have the latter, but I'll tell you that I've owned a decent number of headphones (in ear, over ear) and that the Music One are the best I've ever had. EDIT: I swear I'm not shilling for this company. There are plenty of other great IEMs on the market. I just like these.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  The Who were the loudest band in the world for a very long time. but Pete Townsend attributes headphones in the studio for most of his hearing loss.
  - hasbroslasher 10y ago
    Until Pete Townsend gets a medical degree I'm disinclined to just take his word for it.
    - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
      I'll take r-squared loss for 40 dB, Alex :)
      - foobarian 10y ago
        Given Keith Moon's love for explosives I wouldn't be surprised if their pyrotechnic stunts helped this along too, like the accidental overdose of gunpowder in the bass drum on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
        wiredfool 10y ago
        One of those drum explosion incidents was credited with the deafness in one of his ears. (IIRC, been a few years since I saw the documentary)
- andrei_says_ 10y ago
  A different person, but hopefully my answer is also helpful: I used to wear etymotic research headphones with really good isolation for the same reasons. A few hours a day would cause redness/itching/wounds/bleeding on the skin of my ear canals.
  - zimpenfish 10y ago
    Contrapuntal Anecdata: I've been regularly wearing ER headphones for ~10 years and all I get is mildly sweaty ear canals after an hour. Probably depends a lot on which style of end you use and your own ear flora.
phunehehe0 10y ago
The trick that worked for me was to use something like https://coffitivity.com/ https://coffitivity.com/. The sound is similar enough to the usual office noises and thus is very effective in cancelling them out. Also it has enough chaos to avoid becoming a distraction by itself. And then it doesn't hurt your hearing that much because you don't have to turn the volume too high to be effective. I like to combine it with a little music. The only problem is, I can't find headphones that don't hurt after an hour...

by 6DM 10y ago

pzh 10y ago

I'm curious... could you explain what you specifically meant by ear-buds being damaging to your hearing? Were you blasting the volume to drown out environment noise or were you talking about noise-canceling earphones? (I personally use noise-canceling earphones a lot, and the only bad thing I've heard is that they may cause vertigo in some people...)

6DM 10y ago
I was turning the volume up loud enough to drown out the loud conversations when using ear-buds. By damaging, I mean I was constantly asking people to repeat them selves because while I could hear them I couldn't distinguish their words. Not everyone was like that, just moderate to soft spoken people or those with deep voices. I didn't make the connection until I happened across one article about it, which I think was posted here. The only thing I don't like about noise-canceling headphones is that I can't just wear them without sound. It creates a kind of pressure on my ear drums that just feels weird to me.
- zzalpha 10y ago
  In-ear headphones? All the benefits of passive noise cancellation without big hefty cans on your head. I switched to them mainly to protect my hearing (I tend to listen to music on the bus or on airplanes where there's a lot of ambient noise, and with open-air buds I had to crank the volume) but they're also a godsend in the workplace when I really need to focus (and I have a private office).
- gingerrr 10y ago
  Only anecdata, but I used to feel the same way about noise-canceling headphones without sound playing. After a cross-ocean trip where my devices all died and I was only left with the unsoothing silent hiss, my ears adjusted to it. It's just a matter of sticking it out long enough that your ears get over the weirdness, and now I can actually use them to just cancel noise rather than mask with other noise. Of course, if it's a painful pressure, please don't risk it :)
- jordwest 10y ago
  I had the same feeling when I first bought noise cancelling phones. From what I recall (and don't have any references on me) this is because they tend to filter out the lower frequency sounds, which your brain associates with a pressure change. After some time wearing them on silent, I've found that the sensation goes away. Still, I usually use rainymood.com to block out the other subtle sounds that get through.
- kough 10y ago
  I had the same issue with noise-cancelling headphones (the bose qc 20 in-ears) where I couldn't wear them without sound pumping through them, so I ended up buying a pair of custom-molded in ear monitors (IEM is the search keyword to learn more). For a little cheaper than the price of the bose headphones, I had an audiologist take molds of my inner ear and then sent them to a guy in Poland (http://thecustomart.com/music_art-custom.php http://thecustomart.com/music_art-custom.php), who made me the best pair of headphones I've ever used. Noise cancelling is on-par or better than the Bose headphones, but all passive, and they sound fucking amazing. Highly recommend looking into this or another custom IEM solution -- it's made me a lot happier and more productive and less worried about hearing loss. One question that the audiologist answered that you might want to know -- the noise-cancelling hiss has no impact on your hearing in a short-term or long-term way, so it is totally safe to use them without music or with low music all the time.
  - barabba 10y ago
    Can I ask you which model you did buy? I am in the process of doing precisely the same and wondering if their acrylic models are isolating enough. Silicon apparently isolates better but requires more maintenance, makes them more difficult to insert and remove, and I'm not fully convinced I should go for a Music Two sound-wise. Thanks a bunch!
    - kough 10y ago
      I bought the Custom Art Music One that I linked to in the above post. Most of the reviews I'd read agreed that it was an insanely good deal considering the quality-per-dollar ratio. And I don't regret it. Maintenance: there's a little wire loop with a plastic handle included in the pelican case it ships with, lets you clean wax out of the canal. Tip: if you think one of your headphones is dead, just clean the wax out of the canal, it was blocking the sound. That's it – super simple, no idea what other maintenance you might be talking about. Insertion/removal: nope, still quite easy. You have to give them a slight twist but definitely not hard. Can't speak to the Music Two vs. Music One because I only have the latter, but I'll tell you that I've owned a decent number of headphones (in ear, over ear) and that the Music One are the best I've ever had. EDIT: I swear I'm not shilling for this company. There are plenty of other great IEMs on the market. I just like these.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
The Who were the loudest band in the world for a very long time. but Pete Townsend attributes headphones in the studio for most of his hearing loss.
- hasbroslasher 10y ago
  Until Pete Townsend gets a medical degree I'm disinclined to just take his word for it.
  - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
    I'll take r-squared loss for 40 dB, Alex :)
    - foobarian 10y ago
      Given Keith Moon's love for explosives I wouldn't be surprised if their pyrotechnic stunts helped this along too, like the accidental overdose of gunpowder in the bass drum on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
      - wiredfool 10y ago
        One of those drum explosion incidents was credited with the deafness in one of his ears. (IIRC, been a few years since I saw the documentary)
andrei_says_ 10y ago
A different person, but hopefully my answer is also helpful: I used to wear etymotic research headphones with really good isolation for the same reasons. A few hours a day would cause redness/itching/wounds/bleeding on the skin of my ear canals.
- zimpenfish 10y ago
  Contrapuntal Anecdata: I've been regularly wearing ER headphones for ~10 years and all I get is mildly sweaty ear canals after an hour. Probably depends a lot on which style of end you use and your own ear flora.

phunehehe0 10y ago

The trick that worked for me was to use something like https://coffitivity.com/ https://coffitivity.com/. The sound is similar enough to the usual office noises and thus is very effective in cancelling them out. Also it has enough chaos to avoid becoming a distraction by itself. And then it doesn't hurt your hearing that much because you don't have to turn the volume too high to be effective. I like to combine it with a little music. The only problem is, I can't find headphones that don't hurt after an hour...