I’m 43 and have tinnitus.

Some tracks have an annoying ... It’s difficult to describe ... Like a ‘BLARB’ type sound when the volume and frequency meet at a certain point. It’s like certain parts of the music are obscured by a BLARB at the same frequency. It’s a bit like frequency related clipping.

All the music I listen to (now) is digital. So am I suffering from a hearing loss feature, or is it a result of digital encoding?

Can I fix it by getting a record player?

TIA.

 

I have it, too. In my case, it's a combo of loud music and watching the 5" gun line work out at Dam Neck, Va. I have a constant tone around 400 Hz that is louder on some days. When things get too loud, my right ear overloads and mostly shuts down.

Stay away from loud noises if you want to preserve any of your hearing.

 

I'm 56 and I've had tinnitus since the mid 70s.

In my case it was failure to wear hearing protection in a high noise enviroment.

I'm sure listening to 2182 kHz with alot of loran chirp in the background didn't help. Listening to AM channels with the typical noise wasn't conducive to maintaining that high pass filter in your ear ... the bone that resonates with the higher frequencies.

Working on an ultrasonic cleaner (industrial type) and the paint booth wasn't helpful either.

Even firing a 30-06 will damage the ear closes to the noise. Being a right hand shooter, my right ear suffers more than the left ear (thick skull blocks the sound from the left ear).

I'm sure those gunner mates assigned to the Iowa class destroyers suffer from tinnitus ... those 16 inch guns ...

My high frequency response is terrible. My last test showed me loosing more of the high end. I told the audiooligist I suspected it was above 1 kHz, probably 8 kHz or so. He asked and I answered how I knew what 1 kHz sounded like. He reminded his student assistant that most people wont know things like frequency response and specific frequencies.

I have about a 60 dB loss at higher frequencies. Well, it might be only 60 dB because the scale doesn't go any lower.

I also have a constant tone in my ear ... which I think is higher than 1 kHz.

 

Sometimes I get this high frequency pitch in either ear, and eventually it will stop. I'm not sure what causes that, but I think breathing oxygen when it occurs prevents it.

 

I'm sure those gunner mates assigned to the Iowa class destroyers suffer from tinnitus ... those 16 inch guns

Not at all. The whole turret on one of those battleships (please note, lubbers) weighs in at around 2200 tons, with a 16" face plate. No noise penetrates. One was struck by a kamikaze and was not aware of it until after securing from GQ.

My father was pretty deaf from his 155 mm guns. But even he said the Navy 5" was the loudest gun in the world.