Big surprise for me. Age related hearing loss.

[Arindal]

I can hear up to 17kHz with a test tone, but if frequencies above 14kHz are cut off while listening to real music, it doesn't impact my enjoyment at all.

We seemingly have a similar frequency threshold, but I see things a bit differently. While above 14K there might not be a lot of ´musical information´, but I do notice the difference of a low-pass filter in this region and I would argue that cutting it off might lead to misjudgments when listening to a recording, and may it be just some ´air´ missing.

I noticed that I am particularly sensitive to problems in the 10-13K region, being eager to correct even slightest problems with what seems to be harmonics of sibilants in this band.

 

[Joe Smith]

Same here. Did the scans too & came out of nowhere. I wonder if planar headphones had anything to do with it too or if it was just a coincidence. I'm in my early 40s and all my hearing tests say that I only have 5% hearing loss and I can hear up to 16khz.

Did your sensitivity go through the roof? I've always been sensitive to sibilant and 2-3khz area. But now I'm a bit overly sensitive to the smallest sounds & repeating sounds. Instead of going deaf it seems to have made me too aware of sounds. I am trying to buy some speakers too, still debating & I saw the JBL 308s for sale and I wanted to get a pair but that hiss.. When I had the 305s I could hear it across the room. I wish the tinnitus would mask it cause I'm fighting not to buy the 308s for 400 a pair.

It's also ruined my life. Whatever tinnitus did to my brain it's ruined my joy of just about everything. Been trying to find speakers to help me get more engaged into movies or music... Although music has been totally wiped out. I can't believe I rarely listen to music anymore, but the JBL 305s sure did help a bit. Maybe the Kali Audio in-8 v2s might be a massive help or some other similar speaker.

But to anyone out there,take care of yourself. Cause beyond the hearing damage from tinnitus it can also change other stuff like it did to me. The before and after for me is like a completely different person.

No, sensitivity is about the same. But I listen to things mostly at low to medium volumes. After two years of having tinnitus, I find my awareness of it still varies a lot through the day. It's always "there" at about the same level, but when my brain is busy, awareness of it drops. I find at times if it's bothering me, my cheap Audien OTC hearing aid helps mask it a bit. At night, I use an older iPhone on my bed table that plays a specific band of white noise.

I listened on a webcast to an update on a new treatment device that may be ready for market in about 2028 that uses a combination of electrical stimulation and sound (this one has electrodes that are placed on the neck, not on one's tongue). They had nice data from small-count clinical trials and are working with the FDA already. First item I've seen that really does seem to have some promise and some decent medical clinical trial data to back up what they are doing.

 

[gorman]

Waiting for stem cells therapy to become viable. Not much faith in that but, apparently, it’s the only hope for really restoring hearing to what it was in our teen years.

 

[Soandso]

Quote:

Source of (2025) free full text available on-line:

 

[DSJR]

Oh that's wonderful, so my brain is in worse nick than I thought it already was as regards my Tinnitus

I suffer acute Rhinitis and since May this year, have had two nasty and rather frightening bouts of Vertigo and so far, despite two lots of antibiotics, my right ear seems blocked although some signs this afternoon the gunk may be starting to shift (everything crossed that it does). My Tinnitus has been awful too and listening to reproduced music hasn't been a pleasant experience. It took a while after the May Vertigo attack and I'm praying hard quietly that my current hearing issue can sort itself out in due course. An ENT consultant seemed satisfied it's not anything bad after thoroughly kneading my face and neck and giving me an internal nasal examination.

 

[EJ3]

Oh that's wonderful, so my brain is in worse nick than I thought it already was as regards my Tinnitus

I suffer acute Rhinitis and since May this year, have had two nasty and rather frightening bouts of Vertigo and so far, despite two lots of antibiotics, my right ear seems blocked although some signs this afternoon the gunk may be starting to shift (everything crossed that it does). My Tinnitus has been awful too and listening to reproduced music hasn't been a pleasant experience. It took a while after the May Vertigo attack and I'm praying hard quietly that my current hearing issue can sort itself out in due course. An ENT consultant seemed satisfied it's not anything bad after thoroughly kneading my face and neck and giving me an internal nasal examination.

Vertigo: my wife had an episide of it a number of years ago. But usually a completely seperate issue than our Tinnitus.

 

[Soandso]

Vertigo …usually a …seperate issue than …Tinnitus.

I'd like elucidate that vertigo is not associated with altered levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor ("BDNF") which was brought up in this thread's comment #84 above. It was actually researched for any possibility BDNF was a bio-marker for vertigo which ruled that out.

 

[EJ3]

I'd like elucidate that vertigo is not associated with altered levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor ("BDNF") which was brought up in this thread's comment #84 above. It was actually researched for any possibility BDNF was a bio-marker for vertigo which ruled that out.

Pretty much what I said: not usually associated with tinnitus.
So, I'll expand: if you have both tinutus & vertigo, you most likely have 2 seperate issues.

 

[DSJR]

Pretty much what I said: not usually associated with tinnitus.
So, I'll expand: if you have both tinutus & vertigo, you most likely have 2 seperate issues.

I do appreciate that. My tie-up was that the infection that has/is causing the Vertigo has made my Tinitus worse due to my ears feeling more blocked than ever with even more depleted hearing

 

[DMill]

There are many doctors who test and remedy hearing loss. My guess is this site is a pretty terrible rabbit hole of information. You need a plumber? Hire a plumber. Not somebody who understands speaker design.

 

[gorman]

I have age related hf hearing issues in both ears, falling below the "mild" impairment area starting around 8kHz, pretty similarly on both sides. Hearing aids help, but can get uncomfortable and can have odd effects (feedback, resonance, occasional alias-like distortions).

I have a Wiim Ultra running my audio system and found that it is pretty easy to incorporate the needed correction curves into its PEQ along with other customizations. Fortunately, my partner has similar impairment to mine so the modified setting works well for both of us. We don't need subtitles on video anymore, and music sounds great this way.

I don't boost hf as much as my measured curves would indicate, as that sounds too bright (and I don't need to correct to match a 5 year old's hearing anyway!). I have it about 3 or 4 dB below a correction to approximate normal.

When visitors are here, I switch to an EQ setting that doesn't include the hf boosts, and put in my hearing aids. That sounds quite similar but not as clean or clear. The Wiim EQ controls make swapping cutved really easy to do, selecting between eq curves is just a few taps on my phone.

I'm curious about the strategy you adopted in what you describe.

Could you go into more details about this?

 

[EJ3]

There are many doctors who test and remedy hearing loss. My guess is this site is a pretty terrible rabbit hole of information. You need a plumber? Hire a plumber. Not somebody who understands speaker design.

And all the Audiologist quack's, I mean Great Dr.s in the field of hearing: that I have ever been to (in the USA, Guam, Saipan, Singapore, Germany, Austria, Australia and other places), have not had a good solution for me and the tinutus problem that obfuscates my being able to understand people unless they are facing me & I can read their lips.
So, it is natural to reach out to other places and sources that may have had better luck with the situation or found a specialist that actually helped them solve this problem.

 

[Joe Smith]

Yeah, reading through these I feel fortunate. After two years, my main issue is sleep, the relative amount of the tinnitus tone and my awareness of it. So far, white noise us enough to still let me get a decent sleep. Daytime is no real issue. I am aware of it at times, but does not interfere with life....

 

[Bwaslo]

I'm curious about the strategy you adopted in what you describe.

Could you go into more details about this?

Not very complicated. Here's the chart from the hearing test at the audiologist:

So I did this in the Wiim EQ --

I've played with the settings a little over time. I originally had it go higher when above 16k, but I couldn't hear much difference there (probably hearing totally shot up there) so no point in boosting more.

Wiim has the room EQ (done via auto, only below 300Hz) stored in a separate chart, so I keep the room eq and the eardrum eq curves separate.

 

[EJ3]

Not very complicated. Here's the chart from the hearing test at the audiologist:
View attachment 491019

So I did this in the Wiim EQ --
View attachment 491021

I've played with the settings a little over time. I originally had it go higher when above 16k, but I couldn't hear much difference there (probably hearing totally shot up there) so no point in boosting more.

Wiim has the room EQ (done via auto, only below 300Hz) stored in a separate chart, so I keep the room eq and the eardrum eq curves separate.

My ears have a vastly different from each other FR.
And one actualy has a "I don't hear a thing" zone between 7KHz & 8KHz.