It's not the headphones so much as it is the sounds that damage the ears. But when you use headphones, the sound enters your ears directly. When you listen to sounds coming from speakers, some of that sound is entering your ear through the bone, and some of it though the ear canal. This is how nature intended us to use the ears.
Some headphone designs are supposedly better than others in terms of how much they risk our hearing. Yes, I believe that in-ear headphones are at least twice as dangerous as the over the ear designs with a headband. But I would still advise you against using any kind of headphones or earphones. My reasoning for this is, a) you allow your ears to heal as much as possible, b) you preserve whatever hearing you have left.
I damaged my ears by using headphones. In fact, that's how I got tinnitus. I was blasted by a very loud impulse noise caused by a technical glitch in the audio equipment. My tinnitus has the same frequency as the noise that killed off my hair cells and damaged the nerves. Accidents do happen, and you should be better protected if you do not happen to have headphones on your head or those earphones or in-ear monitors inside your ears. But even before my accident I used to play a lot of music and abused my ears and my hearing. All that adds up.
Does tinnitus somehow contribute to hearing degradation?
No, it does not. You have to flip that around. It's hearing degeneration that contributes to tinnitus.
I always thought that in-ear headphones were worse.
They most likely are! But the alternatives are not that much better either.
So it looks like you are saying all headphones are equally bad when you have Tinnitus.
No, headphones are a bad idea regardless if you have tinnitus or not.
I ruined my ears mostly, at a young age by using my walkman(i miss those days
) with max volumes. I was young and didn't have this board or mentors to teach me and guide me...
Same here! Been there, done that! Cassette Walkman, then CD and MD Walkman. Followed by MP3 players, Spotify, Netflix and other streaming services. The acoustic incident I had was the last straw.
I didn't have anyone to guide me either. The thing is, we tend to think we are invincible when we are young, because we are strong and healthy. We often don't appreciate what we have in life until it's too late. But I have come to accept my tinnitus. It is what it is. I can't do anything about it. Like everyone else here, I wish there was a way to get rid of it, and like most people here I have some good days and some bad days.
What I can do is preserve whatever hearing I have left, and that's what I am doing now. Part of that is saying No to headphones. It's not always possible to protect yourself from external sounds, and it's not always practical not to use a headphone or a headset. But I do what I can.
Member
Manager
