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Can headphones played at normal volume cause hearing damage?

I used to get tinnitus when using closed-back headphones. IEM is even worse. "Sound waves have nowhere to go but bounce around inside your ear. This creates a lot of pressure on your cilia and eardrums and wears them out very fast." (source here).
 
As a person with a lot of experience with loud metal bands, I feel that sensitivity to tinnitus varies wildly by person. I know people that have logged 10 years of touring with very loud amplifiers on stage without ear protection that have no tinnitus or hearing loss. Then I have friends that developed tinnitus from attending a single very loud show. It seems to be very hit or miss who developes tinnitus.
 
I tend to turn the volume down when using headphones.

It's so easy to hear everything.

"Slam" is the domain of the big amps and speakers and room and body, IMHO.
 
Chalk me up as one of the people who may have developed it or speeded onset from one loud concert - that wasn't really all that loud. Late November 2023, attended a concert at one of our intimate local venues, came down with tinnitus about a week and a half later, just before my 65th birthday.

Probably/mostly age-related but I'm certainly more careful about concerts now. I mostly listen at moderate to low volumes with my home setups and with headphones.

By the by, if one does develop it, go and have a full evaluation. There are some nasty things that can be the cause, and it's better to know early. In my case, it seems due to a mild loss in sensitivity in the 1,000 - 4,000 hz region in my right ear. The tinnitus is continuous, I've mostly acclimated to it, but it certainly is annoying. It fascinates me how it can become more noticeable or less noticeable through the day depending on my concentration, other ambient noise, music etc. But ears are like any body part to me - when you really study the wall chart, you have to say, "how does that contraption work at all?"
 
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